Every dreary Louisville January, after the excitement of the Holidays, Wedding Seasons and the New Year have worn off – you will find our Crushed Ice Catering & Ice House Coordinators and Culinary Team pondering over the previous year, and wondering with great excitement, what the future year will hold. This blog post is always one of my favorites to write – my fingers move faster than the keyboard will allow. I can barely keep up. And this year’s predictions exceed any we have seen thus far. Curious to see our predictions – check it out!
2017 Food Trends and Predictions from our Executive Chef, Laurence Agnew and our Sous Chef, Zach Tackett:
- Chicken Salt – long used and started down under in Australia in all the chippers. It’s actually a vegetarian seasoning used on chips (fries) that’s very tasty.
- Proper old school butchery using animals either raised by the butchers or very close to the source and introducing real authentic bone broths and animal fats in classic and more modern takes.
- Continued use of cannabis! As states continue to legalize recreational marijuana, so does the edible market continue to sky rocket into the billions from candies, tortillas, baked goods and cocktails.
- Plant based cooking using Heirloom varieties, legume based pastas and dinners focused on plant leftovers and waste.
- Drone delivery whether it’s pizza, burritos or burgers. We wouldn’t be surprised if Amazon started offering a delivery service for bigger cities and companies such as Shake Shack (it’s coming! you heard it here first).
- Fried chicken in a bowl, bun, Nashville style, for breakfast, lunch or dinner – it’s not going anywhere anytime soon.
2017 Bar/Beverage Trends and Predictions from Derek Steinbrecher, Bar Manager
- Higher focus on beverages and beverage pairings (food/wine), vertical tastings for both beer and wine, bourbon themed events, bigger budgets for better quality booze.
- For cocktails, continued pushing the envelope of high tech crafty cocktails. I see Italian wines continuing to be highly demanded and educated about also see Croatian and Slovenian wines continuing to be of high interest
- Bourbon, Bourbon and more Bourbon great for all Kentuckians, and there’s even a bourbon emoji now, we’ve gone mainstream.
2017 Event & Decor Trends from the lovely ladies at Crushed Ice Catering, Lindsay and Madeleine
- Creating more vertical impact for event spaces with the use of draping, aerialists, hanging lights, greenery ceiling installations and even an increased use of aerialist entertainers.
- Black is Back – using black in a strong or subtle presence, which will lead to a more formal “feel” for events.
- The bouquet and garter toss is going to be a thing of the past – and we are completely okay with that :)
- Both Band & DJ – it’s the best of both worlds! Starting the evening with a live band and switching to DJ for dancing. It is sure to be a crowd pleaser, as the younger guests may enjoy the DJ (it’s hard to find a live performer that can belt out Hotline Bling) and the older crowd may love that jazz trio for the dinner portion.
- Drone Videography, because who doesn’t want an awesome wedding video or a cool tech-y gadget flying around their event?
- Lighting change during the event – transitioning from a soft romantic glow during cocktail hour/dinner to a more party atmosphere (think neons, gobos and strobes) for late night dancing.
2017 Event & Decor Trends from the lovely ladies at The Ice House, Erica and Christina
- Seeing a shift in DIY from crafts/goodies to DIY services – photo booths, videos, DJ service apps and other service related niches that Brides can simply download on their phone and plug in to their event.
- Less Instagram Hashtags to more event specific snap chat filters and groups
- More unique configurations of event space and design. Away with the traditional “head table” or half round conference style set-up. We will see more unique table configurations (elevated, stage, etc) as well as alternatives to traditional “boardroom” style – more lounge furniture, and creative workspaces.
- Event Flips – larger budgets will give way to satisfying client’s high demands for flipping event spaces during an event. From theater style, to cocktail hour, to seated dinner – clients will be more demanding than ever. And we will aim to please!
- Mixed wedding parties – with marriage equality passing in 2016 we expect to see less common and new titles such as Best Lady or Man of Honor
- Color Trends: Winter=glamorous (silver, white, gray), Spring=floral (blush, sage, champagne), Summer=bright (yellow, blue), Fall=earthen (amber, sage, orange)
- Incorporating Pantone’s Color of the Year “Greenery” – We are not seeing this trend go anywhere anytime soon. It will be continuously popular – Eucalyptus, Ferns, Sage, Thyme color themes are here to stay in 2017.
So there you have it folks – Do you agree with our predictions? There is only one way to find out if we are correct… wait and see what 2017 really has in store for us here at the Ice House and Crushed Ice Catering!
Cheers!
Erica
