Predicting the Washington Food Trends of 2025

More often than not, a food craze will take the Internet world by storm and everyone else will do their best to replicate it.

This has happened in the past when the cronut was introduced in New York then you see every other bakery try to come up with their own version.

Or how often you'll hear about avocado toast and, overnight, it becomes a premium at any coffee bar.

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Yakima saw it, specifically, when drive-thru coffee stands started popping up left and right in the early to mid '90s. And they must have done something right as many of them are still standing today.

But if we knew what was going to trend, we'd all jump on them earlier. All it takes is one pho restaurant to come in to town for other places to have a look to see what's making the new place so successful and take notes for themselves.

So, what's are the trends going to be for 2025. What food craze will take the world by storm?
Well, of course we don't exactly know, but we can make some educated guesses.

Small Cakes
There was a time maybe 15 years ago when cupcakes were the trending thing. So many indie businesses and Food Network shows were based on making cupcakes. I think we'll see a resurgence of that, but not for cupcakes, but for mini Bundt cakes.

Y'know, those rounded cakes with the hole in the middle so every slice that sometimes have a light drizzle of frosting? With places like Nothing Bundt Cakes opening up (our closest location is Richland) I could see more bakeries take a page from this and offer their own.

Chicken - Lots of Chicken
Okay, the fact that Taco Bell even has chicken nuggets now should tell you everything. I don't know if chicken is easier to produce than beef or in more abundance, I'm not sure, but I think you'll see more businesses offering more chicken varieties. Fried, Fresh, Grilled, 'Nashville Hot'... more places with more chicken.

Dirty Sodas
We have a place or two in town that does this now. It's like making a mixed drink but with soda instead of alcohol or even Red Bull like many coffee places do. Instead of just getting a Dr. Pepper you can get one with coconut and lime. Or a root beer with toasted marshmallow flavoring and vanilla like a root beer float soda. I could see more places do this, too.

Regional Dishes
I also think you'll see more items found in specific regions coming to more of a wide stream audience. KFC has offered their Nashville Hot chicken recently. I think it's high time we saw chicken riggies from upstate New York being offered in other parts of the United States. Or if we can get a national ice cream company to bring Superman ice cream to all grocery stores, that'd be wonderful.

The Trending Flavor of 2025? Dubai Chocolate
We've seen a few recently. There was that time when everything had to be pomegranate flavored. I remember maybe 15 years ago when everything was 'salted caramel', but what about for 2025? Could this be the year for Ruby Chocolate? I thought it was going to trend a couple years ago, but didn't. If you're not familiar, ruby chocolate is like a white raspberry-flavored chocolate. It's interesting.

I could see the chocolate-pistashio be a trend for 2025. So many talking about the 'Dubai chocolate' that others will probably jump the bandwagon to create for themselves as well.

As always, time will tell and I'll be here for it when it does.