For suppliers, wholesalers and operators
Sales data tells you what sold last month. Dream Menu tells you what the people who set Scottish food taste are asking for now, broken out by category, tracked across five quarters, and tied to named venues.
Headline movement
Change in share between the opening two quarters (2025-Q3 and 2025-Q4) and the latest three, pooled so a small quarter counts for less. Only moves outside the margin of error (95% confidence) and categories with 25 or more mentions are listed.
Category breakout
Share of respondents naming each category in the most recent quarter, with movement beside it. A category can lead its course and still be sliding, which is why we show both.
Seafood leads starters at 30% of answers this quarter, with no significant change since late 2025. Falling: fried chicken & wings (−3.0).
Steak & beef leads mains at 25% of answers this quarter, with no significant change since late 2025. Falling: Asian noodles & hotpot (−3.8).
Chips & fries lead sides at 18% of answers this quarter, though they have lost 6.6 points since late 2025.
Ice cream & gelato leads desserts at 28% of answers this quarter, with no significant change since late 2025. Rising: cake (+3.6). Falling: cheesecake (−3.4) and chocolate (−2.5).
Soft drinks and beer, lager & ale share the lead in drinks at 12% of answers this quarter, with no significant change since late 2025. Rising: beer, lager & ale (+5.2) and Negroni (+2.7). Falling: margarita (−4.3).
The biggest shifts since late 2025: sparkling up 10.9 points and tap down 10.1 points. Comparing the opening two quarters with the latest three; grey bars have not moved beyond the margin of error.
Base: 2025-Q3 n=57 · 2025-Q4 n=254 · 2026-Q1 n=363 · 2026-Q2 n=301 · 2026-Q3 n=191. Percentages use responses classified for that course. Drinks use the original single "dream drink" question, so drinks end at 2026-Q3 (125 interviews in that quarter answered the old question before the form split it in two). 2026-Q4 joins the tracking once it has 50 or more interviews.
The supply side
The same market from behind the pass: 54 owners, chefs and managers in the 2026 Look Ahead survey (Apr–May 2026). A small base, so read it as direction.
Energy and food input costs top the pressures (33 and 34 mentions), price rises are the first response (33), and 23 have cut menus back. Full breakdowns sit in the platform.
Trend fatigue
Guests are asked which food trend they would happily see disappear. It is the only question in the set that measures fatigue rather than appetite, and fatigue is what tells you when a line is about to stop moving.
Share of guests naming each trend, with movement beside it. Note the divergence: some of these are still gaining fatigue, while others have already peaked. A trend people have stopped complaining about is usually one they have stopped buying.
The counterweight: what the same people admit to actually eating. Comfort formats dominate, and they barely move from quarter to quarter. Fads churn; guilty pleasures don't.
What this is for
Categories rising in demand before they reach menus. Beer, lager & ale gained five share points across five quarters; the operators who moved first are already selling it.
Venue-level advocacy: which venues Scotland's food community names, for which dish, in which area, filterable to a sales territory and exportable as a call list.
Just as useful. Several long-standing staples are losing share quietly, well before it shows up in reorder data.
Partner
Dream Menu insight is supported by Dunns Food & Drinks, Scotland's independent foodservice wholesaler.
What that does not mean. Dunns has no influence over the questions asked, the methodology, the analysis or the findings. They do not see individual responses, and no supplier or brand is prompted for in the interview. The value of this data to a wholesaler depends on it not being a wholesaler's marketing, so it isn't.
How to read it