“Food as medicine”, “You are what you eat”, “A healthy mind is a healthy body” – these insights into food and well-being have been around for millennia, but today they are gaining more traction as consumer trends shift towards an increased demand for healthy, ethically-sourced food.
Health awareness has increased and so have expectations. Today, food is more than just a source for sustenance and pleasure. It’s also a way to support the personal and global well-being of people.
In this transformation, the hospitality industry will play a key role. The hospitality industry has the ability to influence food systems and promote better habits as it is a daily part of millions of lives.
This article presents the condensed findings of a recent EHL Group survey. report On food and wellbeing. The goal is to encourage businesses to put a priority on well-being and food offerings, as well as to realize their unique position in meeting evolving consumer needs.
The deeper dimensions of food and wellbeing
The concept of well being is at the core of the transformation of food attitudes. It’s a complex, multidimensional construct that’s been studied in disciplines from philosophy to psychology to public health and economics. Well-being encompasses more than physical health. It also includes emotional satisfaction and community harmony. Three lenses are used to frame this concept in academic literature. These include hedonia (the quest for pleasure), life-satisfaction (the subjective evaluation one’s own life) and eudaimonia.
These dimensions of well being are relevant to the hospitality sector. It has been proven that hospitality experiences, whether they are through aesthetics or entertainment, mindfulness practices, or culinary offerings, positively impact both hedonic as well as eudaimonic wellbeing. Guests who experience a sense of well-being are more likely than others to remain loyal to a particular brand.
Beyond its nutritional value food is a cultural touchstone and source of pleasure. It also helps to build social and emotional connections. Food Well-Being encompasses a wider role. It recognizes that food not only contributes to physical health, but also to a feeling of psychological satisfaction.
In a hedonic view, food stimulates the senses by engaging color, smell and sound. This creates moments of intense pleasure, especially when shared with others. Food can become a tool for self-realization and purpose from a eudaimonic point of view, whether it is through learning a recipe, growing food at home, supporting ethical food sourcing, or reducing the amount of food wasted.
This holistic understanding of food wellbeing creates a framework that is important for rethinking the contribution of the hospitality industry to individual, collective and planetary well-being. It is not enough to simply offer “better” foods, but rather develop more meaningful and intentional relationships with them.
Six Major Food Well-Being Trends
It is important to note that the word “you” means “you”. 2025 EHL Hospitality Business School Food and Well-being Trend Report This report provides a comprehensive analysis of emerging consumer behaviors, and strategies for hospitality operators to align their business with changing market dynamics. It was designed for hospitality professionals, business innovators, educators, changemakers in the food world—and anyone curious about what impacts good health. The key messages are: Food contributes to many pillars in well-being. More than just nutrition it is deeply personal, and food is also social. Today, food stands at the crossroads between tradition and innovation.
Based on more than 50 expert interviews and case studies conducted globally, our research identified six key trends that are redefining today’s food and wellness landscape.
1. Conscious Consumers Are on the Rise
Today’s consumers are more educated and driven by ethics than ever before. They want to know the nutritional value of their food and where it comes from. They believe that reliable information is essential to building trust and loyalty. But despite greater awareness, factors such as affordability and misinformation can often impede the journey from intent to action. The hospitality industry has a unique chance to guide these “conscious, but conflicted”, consumers through effective and responsible communication.
Industry Tips
- Encourage new behavior: Make healthier options more visible on the menu to guide your guests.
- Engage your consumers Communication is essential to understand the needs and preferences of guests. Feedback can be used to help improve services and products.
- Integrate technology: Use tools such as QR code or blockchain to display nutrition value, ingredient sourcing information, trusted certifications and other relevant details that demonstrate transparency.
2. Enjoy the convenience of personalization
Convenience plus personalization = tailored experiences in health. The more authentic these tailored health experiences are (i.e. the link to culture and tradition), the better. The best food experiences today are characterized by these winning characteristics. Nevertheless, convenience must not be sacrificed for personalization. The best models offer both efficiency and meaningful guest experiences, tailored to individual health goals.
Industry Tips
- AI-based nutrition: AI and data analytics can be used to customize meal suggestions according to dietary and medical needs.
- AI powered One-click Delivery: Offer flexible ordering and loyalty programs.
- Make your own meals at home and take cooking classes. Create custom meal kits and other creative experiential options that are tailored to your specific tastes.
3. Eating for Vitality
Food is increasingly seen as a source of vitality by consumers, i.e., mental and physical energy. This perspective is driving demand for nutrient-dense, plant-rich ingredients known for their functional properties that support well-being over time, (e.g., ‘superfoods’ or adaptogens like ginseng, licorice root and medicinal mushrooms). Menus are being developed by hospitality providers that emphasize health benefits while maintaining taste and enjoyment. Netflix documentary “Secrets of the Blue Zones”. The media has been a great help in popularizing the link between diet and long life.
Industry Tips
- Work with experts Create menus that are healthy and appealing by working with chefs and professionals in the health field.
- Digital Tools Apps that offer wellness resources to guests, as well as apps and platforms for personalizing their experiences.
- Health-focused menus:You can also include a wide variety of healthy options, such as plant-based meals, ingredients that are gut-friendly and alcohol-free beverages.
4. As a core metric, we should consider the planet’s well-being
Today, sustainability is a basic expectation. The hospitality industry must embrace its role in creating more resilient food systems, from regenerative farming to zero-waste programs. Brand identity and customer satisfaction are increasingly based on responsible sourcing and planetary diets. The effective communication of ethical practices that define the offer is of utmost importance and must be woven into all narratives – from frontline staff to digital presence.
Industry Tips
- Source transparency: List the origin of ingredients, their nutritional benefits and as much as possible information about the producers and distributors.
- Sustainable sourcing: Prioritize regenerative agricultural practices and sustainable methods for nutrient rich foods.
- Waste reduction: Implement strategies such as reusing excess food and improving forecasting.
5. Social Eating – Building Community Through Food
Shared meals can be powerful tools to connect people in a world that is fragmented and alienated. The hospitality spaces that encourage communal dining, intergenerational exchanges and cultural exchanges have become increasingly valuable. These moments of togetherness can enhance the guest experience and provide additional brand identity for the food provider.
Industry Tips
- Social connection Design inclusive dining experiences that encourage shared meals, storytelling and human exchanges—such as family-style formats, shared tables, collaborations with chefs and artists to celebrate heritage.
- Community engagement: Create partnerships with local organisations (schools and retirement homes) to align your hospitality practices with social impact initiatives.
- Local ecosystems Work with local businesses and farmers to strengthen the regional economy, and to reinforce ties between place and season.
6. Co-responsibility in the Food Ecosystem
Cross-sectoral change requires a multi-disciplinary approach. Chefs, educators and policymakers are all responsible for building food systems which promote a healthy society. Collaboration and innovation that is inclusive are the keys to meeting the changing expectations of consumers. Message to the public: Small, conscious changes can be made in how we source food, serve it, educate about food, and communicate with food. To build food eco-systems, all stakeholders need to be involved and actions must be driven by value.
Industry Tips
- Shared Responsibility: To improve nutrition, work towards a collective effort between industry and governments rather than relying only on isolated efforts.
- Empower frontline personnel: Train your cooks and server to encourage healthy, local food options. This will directly affect the diners’ choice.
- Transdisciplinary education Refresh hospitality Learning & Development to include nutrition and environmental science.
Education is essential. We can teach our staff to be happier and healthier, so that our customers feel the same.
Stefani Bardin, Professor of AI & Food Design, NYU
Tensions and Opportunity: Reimagining the Food’s role in Hospitality
The Food and Well-being Report offers a guide to the changing relationship between food and well-being, and the hospitality industry. However, it is also important to note that the research revealed some key challenges.
The hospitality industry must find a way to balance the inevitable contradictions between tech-driven individualization vs. tradition authenticity, operational efficiency vs. an emotional connection, lab-grown innovations vs. handcrafted integrity and cost-consciousness with purpose-driven value. The future of food is not about choosing between these two extremes, but rather managing the tensions in order to craft holistic and human-centered experiences.
Affordability remains a major barrier to consumers, even though they place a greater emphasis on health and sustainability. Future research can take advantage of this gap between aspirational goals and actual access. In general, consumers are more willing to spend money on food that supports their well-being. Health is therefore a good entry point for broader narratives about ethical sourcing or regenerative practices. Unfortunately, not everyone has access to certain nutritional options in the modern world.
As we continue to face increasing complexity and changing cultural expectations, it is important that the role of food as a connector in hospitality be reimagined. The food that we eat isn’t just something to put on a plate. It’s also what brings us all together. This narrative can be shaped by the hospitality industry. The hospitality industry can shape this narrative by adopting a more integrated view of food and wellbeing.
EHL Hospitality Business School
Communications Department
+41 21 785 1354
EHL
