Datassential

Five Mediterranean and halal concepts entered the Datassential 500 for the first time in a single year. In the context of the 2026 Datassential 500, which tracks 500 of the largest restaurant chains in the United States by unit count, that’s a meaningful signal. To have five concepts from a single cuisine cluster enter simultaneously suggests something deeper than a good year for a few brands. It suggests a category arriving at scale.

The 2026 Plant-Forward Opportunity Webinar – featuring experts from Datassential, The Culinary Institute of America, BITE: Building Impact Through Eaters, and the Menus of Change University Research Collaborative – unpacks breakthrough research on plant-forward dining in today’s economy. This year’s webinar tackles the critical challenge facing operators: the plant-forward value equation. Consumer openness has rebounded to four-year highs at 54%, but operators face a paradox.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off June 11, and the world’s biggest sporting event isn’t just filling stadiums. It’s filling menus. From Tim Hortons in Canada to McDonald’s in Argentina, foodservice operators around the globe are rolling out World Cup-themed limited-time offers (LTOs) to capture the energy of the beautiful game. According to Datassential research, 52% of World Cup watchers say they’re interested in food and drinks inspired by the countries competing.

Beverage Trends, Consumer Insights, Europe, Foodservice, Restaurants, Sales Effectiveness The France foodservice beverage market is worth €7.7 billion — and wine and champagne account for nearly half of all alcoholic purchasing across 230,000 outlets. Wine and champagne dominate alcoholic spend at 45%, making France one of the most distinctive beverage markets in Europe.

Europe’s food and beverage market spans millions of operators, but spend, segment, and opportunity vary significantly by country. Here’s what the data reveals. Europe, Sales Effectiveness The European foodservice market — spanning restaurants, hotels, and cafés, collectively known as the HoReCa sector — is one of the largest and most complex commercial landscapes on the planet. Yet most suppliers, distributors, and technology vendors are still navigating it on instinct.

The European Bread Market: Why It Still Matters Strategically? For food and drink manufacturers, distributors, and restaurant operators, bread may be one of the most familiar categories in the market, but familiarity should not be mistaken for simplicity.

Sustainability is reshaping how Europeans choose where, and what to eat away from home. New Datassential research surveyed 2,500 consumers across France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, and Germany, and the findings highlight a shift: sustainable dining in Europe has moved well beyond a niche market. For foodservice operators, the real potential now lies in making it easier for consumers to put their sustainable intentions into practice.

Datassential, the leading food and beverage intelligence platform, is proud to announce the winners of the 2026 Datassential 500 Awards — a program spotlighting the most dynamic, beloved, and forward-thinking restaurant brands in the United States according to consumer sentiment data. What Are the Datassential 500 Awards? The Datassential 500 Awards are designed to spotlight the most beloved, innovative, and impactful brands in foodservice today.

Datassential’s new AI chat brings together consumer demand, menu activity, and market trends, empowering teams to move from question to decision in seconds. CHICAGO, IL – April 14, 2026 – Datassential, the leading food and beverage intelligence platform, today announced the launch of AI chat within Datassential One, a new generative AI capability that enables teams to move instantly from questions to trusted, data-backed answers.

Chicago, IL — May 5, 2026  Sales teams don’t struggle because they lack information – they struggle because they lack the right signal at the right moment. Datassential is addressing that challenge with the launch of Sales Strategy Builder, a new capability that delivers clear, targeted, and immediately actionable strategies for every operator conversation. In today’s environment, showing up informed isn’t enough.