The Romanian customer is becoming more selective. The trends now reshaping the restaurant market.
Dining out is entering a more disciplined phase, where variety is losing ground to clarity and execution. Over the past five years, consumer preferences in City Grill Group restaurants have changed noticeably: interest in ingredient origin has increased, more focused menus are preferred, and the overall experience, price-quality ratio, service, design and atmosphere, has become the main reason customers return. The trend signals a real maturation of the local market, aligned with developments in international markets.
Shorter, clearer menus
One of the most visible changes in the industry is menu simplification, not because of a lack of options, but as a response to the need for coherence and quality control. Globally, restaurants are reducing complexity and concentrating resources on flawless execution. The trend is already visible in Romania, where mature groups are beginning to favor consistency over variety.
“Compared to five or ten years ago, the customer is far more informed, more curious and much more attentive to what ends up on the plate. The conversation is no longer about quantity, but about balance, freshness and the real quality of ingredients. People read the menu differently and want to understand what they choose. A large menu is no longer enough, you need a well-thought-out concept and very strong execution. Pressure on labor and costs is accelerating this direction across the entire market,” says Dragoș Bercea, Corporate Executive Chef, City Grill Group.
A return to familiar flavors, reinterpreted
Alongside openness to international influences, there is also a growing return to local cuisine in a more contemporary form. Traditional dishes are not disappearing; they are being rebuilt with more precise techniques, cleaner plating and more carefully selected ingredients. City Grill Group approaches this direction through restaurants with strong historical identity, where menus combine tradition with relevance for today’s urban consumer.
“We have a very valuable gastronomic base that can be reinterpreted elegantly and in a modern way. We do not change the identity of the dish, but we bring it into a contemporary language. The right technique and good ingredients can elevate many Romanian dishes into a refined space without losing their authenticity,” Bercea explains.
International trends, filtered locally
City Grill Group constantly monitors developments in Western and Asian markets, but interprets them through the lens of local realities, the Romanian customer, operational capacity and the identity of each concept in its portfolio.
“I don’t believe in copying. I believe in filtering and adapting. Asian influences make sense when integrated naturally, not aggressively: acidity, fermentation, umami, textures, balance between sweet, salty and spicy. What will not catch on too soon are the extremes, highly conceptual menus, overly abstract dishes or experiences where the story becomes more important than the taste. The Romanian market still needs clear anchors: recognizable flavor, real satisfaction and perceived value,” says Dragoș Bercea.
At the same time, Bercea sees untapped potential within local cuisine itself. Traditional Romanian fermentation, pickles, brines, smoked foods, freshwater fish, seasonal vegetables, sea buckthorn or sour cherries are ingredients with depth and identity that could be integrated far more creatively into restaurant menus in Bucharest.
“I would like to see a more courageous Romanian cuisine, one that uses local techniques and ingredients as the foundation for new, relevant and memorable constructions. A successful restaurant will be the one that knows exactly who it is, who it cooks for and why it exists,” adds Dragoș Bercea.
In the medium and long term, differentiation in the Romanian restaurant market will no longer be built on the diversity of the offer, but on the coherence of the concept and the quality of the overall experience. The Group is investing €6.5 million in 2026 in destinations with a strong identity, including Cazinoul din Constanța, Cerbul Carpatin in Brașov, Gambrinus and Monte Carlo in Cișmigiu, a clear signal that its growth strategy is based on locations capable of building long-term loyalty.
For City Grill Group, which generates 28% of its revenue through the Out4Food loyalty app (380,000 active users and an average bill 20% higher than that of other customers), loyalty is both a strategic direction for shaping the restaurant experience and a performance indicator.
*This is a press release.
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