You’ve already chosen a platform for the online food business you want to start—now, what will you offer?

Here are some of the food trends that exploded since quarantine began. These range from the simplest baked goods to recreated dining experiences. What would work best for your online food business?

Party bilao

Pancit isn’t the only dish to come in bilaos now. Now that most people have to spend their birthday in quarantine, the party staple spaghetti made its transition to bilaos. Your own version can include more than just the usual tomato sauce, hotdog and spaghetti, just like what Sarsá Kitchen did with their 14-inch Pinoy spaghetti bilao. Toyo Eatery’s lockdown menu also includes bilao offerings, this time with silog meals and house-made pancit. 

Reinvented desserts

Cater to the sweet tooth of consumers while reviving classic childhood desserts. Your online food business can offer giant servings of taho, DIY ice scramble and uniquely-flavored ice cream (such as Chocnut and Yakult flavors). Be experimental with your dessert flavors by appealing to your market’s sentiments—they’re probably looking for food that reminds them of what life was like pre-pandemic.

Ready-to-cook meals

Restaurateurs are clearly having a hard time with quarantine restrictions still in place. To survive, some restaurants chose to offer ready-to-cook meal versions of their menu. These do-it-yourself (DIY) meal kits, often available for takeout and delivery, give diners a sense of normalcy. You can try to make this work for your small business by making your own version of ready-to-cook meals. 

DIY samgyupsal

On the subject of DIY meals, samgyupsal is making its return to the top of the trend tier—this time as an at-home dining experience. People are used to eating Korean barbecue in restaurants, but you can offer almost everything that’s there in your online business, too. You can sell your own marinated pork or beef, offer the usual side dishes like kimchi and spicy cucumber salad and provide staples like lettuce and cheese dip. Through this, you’re not just selling samgyup but also recreating the experience consumers are looking for.

Ube cheese pandesal

If you’re a home baker (or an aspiring one), this food trend might prove effective. More and more varieties of the ube cheese pandesal are becoming available and it only proves that freshly baked pastry is timeless. Just a reminder: Accept purchases at a pre-order basis to ensure that it can be delivered at its peak quality. 

Sushi bake

The traditional sushi is now laid out in a casserole and baked. People have become more innovative in recreating popular dishes and sushi bake is one of them. This dish is versatile, which means the options are infinite. Some sushi bakes are now made with sisig, wagyu and taco. Assess the type of diners you want to target and work around it to come up with sushi bake that will sell.

Banana bread

Banana bread has always been available in our local bakeries. This pastry uses the most basic ingredients such as banana, flour and vanilla essence, which is why it’s a popular choice among fledgling bakers. This business venture is an efficient way to make profit and lessen food waste (you can use overripe bananas for this)  at the same time.