Posted on Tuesday, 22ⁿᵈ January, 2025
At UFS, we recently took a deep dive into the sandwich menus of cafés and caterers across Australia and New Zealand, revealing the headline trends that are exciting consumers and keeping sandos at all-time levels of popularity.
With sandwich joints popping up everywhere, not to mention old-style delis and reimagined milk bars muscling in on the action, it’s essential to keep your menu fresh to stay in the game.
In our most recent Killer Classics modern chef series: Rizzing up the S'wich, we'll unpack the latest trends and provide you with recipes and techniques to take advantage of the surge in sandwiches. In the meantime, let’s explore the themes that will underpin the next wave of sandwich innovation.
Call it a throwback to the unfussy offerings of the school canteen or seaside kiosk, but right now new twists on time-honoured sandwich builds seem like the perfect fit for a complicated world.
At the front of the queue are reinvented takes on the chip butty, where carbohydrate-rich goodness meets the creativity of Middle Eastern spices, Asian sauces and eye-catching presentation.
Also trending are forward-facing interpretations of the corner shop salad sandwich, bringing modern techniques (smoking and pickling) and fillings (colourful veggies, sweet chillies and exotic cheeses) to the classics. Chefs are increasingly experimenting with avocado instead of butter, provolone instead of cheddar, dukkah instead of salt, rocket instead of cos and pickled rather than fresh veggies.
Once considered a meal to be strictly consumed solo, sandwiches are being increasingly reimagined as a share dish. This behaviour reflects a wider shift: The New Sharing is one of eight global trends identified in our 2024 Future Menus report, underlining the impact of shared dining experiences on menus.
Large format loaves like ciabatta, Turkish bread and panini are ideal for chefs to explore innovative ways to create a meal for two (or more).
Stromboli-style sandwiches are a great sharing platform and offer enormous scope for intriguing ingredient combinations. Add a dipping sauce to really bring the sharing concept to life. On a similar theme, bánh mì made from long baguettes and sliced into shareable portions is proving to be an instant crowd favourite.
These versatile creations meet the requirements of a culture that is rediscovering the joy of sharing in the company of friends and family, while also being budget friendly.
With cost-of-living pressures and persistently high interest rates influencing the spending patterns of customers, and the cost of goods continuing to challenge food operators who are trying to keep prices in check, sandwiches occupy somewhat of a sweet spot.
While it might have been unthinkable a decade ago to see sandwiches pushing $20, venues are today creating exceptional slabs loaded with premium ingredients for what is, after all, roughly the same price as a Caesar salad.
The moderate cost of producing a top-class sandwich, alongside the low kitchen staff skill threshold, means customers can enjoy great value while operators make solid margins.
Chefs are turning to distinctive breads, like ciabatta, brioche, panini and sourdough, to set their sandos apart and create a higher perception of value, while finding new ways to elevate their slabs with exotic spices, colourful ingredients, loaded portions and signature sauces.
Reflecting the rise of the all-day eatery, sandwiches are breaking free from their traditional role as a lunchtime standard.
Now, we’re seeing sangers for every daypart, with the versatility of the sandwich opening avenues to creatively meet the needs of a new generation of casual eaters.
Among the innovations are breakfast sandwiches, sometimes on a panini base, often open-faced and typically dominated by eggs. Even the end of the day is coming along for the ride, with the likes of a French onion meatball sub adopting dinnertime flavours and substance.
A counterpoint to loaded, indulgent sandwiches are sandos designed to meet differing nutritional needs, whether due to allergies or life choices. By way of example, we are seeing dark rye, gluten-free and wholegrain breads as standard sandwich menu inclusions.
Also becoming more prominent are sangers with lean proteins, lower carbohydrate counts and plant-only ingredients.
But, as with all dishes built upon a base of perceived health and nutrition, consumers are becoming less tolerant of making flavour and appearance sacrifices. This unwillingness to compromise poses an exciting challenge for chefs and is encouraging a new wave of creativity headlined by interesting formats, exciting ingredients and adventurous flavour ways.
Stay tuned for the exciting new Chef’s Modern Guide to ‘Rizzing up the S’wich’.
Disclaimer: The content of this article is created for inspiration purposes only. It is not intended as clinical, medical or nutritional advice.
