What’s better than reading about the latest out-of-home trends? Eating and drinking them! As you know, we are well-versed in the out-of-home market, but we love keeping up to date with the latest developments through Lumina’s Food Strategy Forum Debrief (which you can read here), swiftly followed by the Lumina Food Concept Study Tour.

This time around, we took a venture out to Hackney for the latest food safari, looking at all the new, exciting operators and concepts that are at the forefront of innovation and trends. Here is a quick whistle-stop tour of the afternoon…

Mare Street Market

We started our afternoon off at Mare Street Market – an all-day dining concept, which offers everything from a deli to coffee shop to restaurant to bar and even a florist, barber’s shop and tattoo parlour! Founded in 2018, Mare Street Market hits a range of day-parts and has a focus on sustainability and ethical consumption. Here, we tried a range of sides and to keep in the festive spirit, had their very own Mulled Wine.

Trend Spotting:
• All-day dining
• Sustainably sourced coffee
• Ethical consumerism
• In-house coffee roastery

Lumina Food Study Tour 2023
Yeast Bakery

Following on, we hit a couple of bakeries, starting off our tour on the sweet side. Yeast Bakery was founded in 2011 with the simple goal of making the perfect croissant. This beautiful viennoiserie bakery had a range of delicious bakes to show including their Kouign-amann, Raspberry Swirl, and a group favourite of the tour, Pistachio Swirl.

Trend spotting:
• Indulgence
• High-quality ingredients
• Seasonal specialities
• Premium
• Artisan

Forno

A recent arrival on the scene, Forno opened in 2023 of this year, offering a wide range of options in its Italian bakery, pastificio and deli. We tried a range of their signature pastries including Maritozzo, a traditional sweet bun filled with cream, and Veneziana, a Milanese pastry with sugar grains and almond icing.

Trend spotting:
• Premium indulgence
• High-quality
• Authentic Italian
• Artisan

Lumina Food Study Tour 2023

Rogue Sarnies

Now that we’d had our pudding, we could move onto the main dishes! Originally a pop-up concept, Rogue Sarnies is now a permanent restaurant offering wood-fired sandwiches. An ever-changing, seasonal menu (and often sold-out!), we were lucky enough to try their Crimbo Roast Turkey, and Crimbo Roast Beef sandwiches – a must-visit in my eyes!

Trend spotting:
• Street food origins
• Indulgence
• Sustainable
• Seasonal produce
• Provenance

Lumina Food Study Tour 2023

Lumina Food Study Tour 2023

Arepa & Co

Up next (and voted group favourite of the day) – Arepa & Co. Setting off on a mission to make Londoners fall in love with Venezuelan food, Gus and Kathe Salguero founded this restaurant in 2014. Offering a range of brunch, lunch and dinner options, Arepa & Co is a must-try for any time of the day. We ate our way through (some of) the authentic sharing dishes on the menu – including Cachapa del Campo, Arepas, Bunuelos, Tequenos and Yuca Fries.

Trend spotting:
• Omni-channel
• Sharing plates
• Authentic Venezuelan cuisine
• High-quality

Lumina Food Study Tour 2023

Flat Earth Pizzas

Our final stop of the tour – recent winners of Britain’s Best Pizza 2023, Flat Earth Pizza. With an aim to create meat-free pizzas that are kind to the planet, Flat Earth also ensures any amount of unavoidable food waste is turned into fertiliser for local farms. On the menu, we tried two must-haves, the locally named Hackney Hot, and the award-winning Kimchi Fiorentina.

Trend spotting:
• Sustainable
• Meat-free
• Low intervention wines
• Interesting and unique flavour combinations

Thank you to Lumina for another wonderful, and insight-driven food tour – we’re already excited for the next one!

If you have any recommendations, why not share them with us on our socials @jellybeanagency!
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