Unusual new flavour concepts with a side of smart business are the cues for this year and next so stretch the day with profit-friendly aperitivo hours, give old-school chicken a retro-chic makeover and serve up global comfort food with a twist.

There’s also a steady shift towards nutrient and flavour- dense bite-sized small plates as popular US weight management medicine GLP-1 becomes more popular here.

Olly believes venues that ignore the four trends will miss out on potentially straightforward margin-maximising additions to their menu.

Retro rotisserie

A few cutting-edge London restaurants are starting to offer French-style market chicken cooked on a rotisserie and served with fries and salad.

It’s not anything fancy, in fact it’s positively retro. But influencers are loving the simplicity of finest quality juicy chicken done well, with sauces.

Toum rotisserie, a Lebanese restaurant in London, is rocking the French culinary influence and plating up with salad, garlic sauce, chimichurri or Café de Paris butter in a bougie cocktail vibe.

For a twist, others are running with Basque Country chicken or an authentic French feel. But all are embracing the sheer theatre of it all that customers love.

Khao soi

Help will soon be at hand for customers who can’t decide between katsu or ramen, in the shape of khao soi.

The northern Thai dish combines a spicy coconut curry broth with both soft and crispy fresh egg noodles, along with toppings of beef, pork or tofu.

Served as a street food and lunch dish or something more substantial, it’s already on the radars of new and existing venues here after taking Australia and south-east Asia by storm. It’s a great way to push margins alongside small plates such as sai ua (Chiang Mai sausage), larb kua (spicy stir-fried minced pork) and tam khanun (young jackfruit salad).