Street Food Couture ANZ

Two-thirds of Gen Z diners eat out 3–4 times per month or more (SevenRooms 2024 Australian Restaurant Trends report), making this group by far the most active consumer of out-of-home meals. Yet almost a quarter of all Australians under the age of 24 hold multiple part-time jobs—a record number—according to 2025 figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

This data underlines the cost-of-living pressures younger generations face, all while choosing to live active lives centred around food experiences.

In Australia and New Zealand, pop-up eateries, hole-in-the-wall cafés, farmers’ markets, sports stadia and food trucks have established interest in street food, with diners increasingly looking to expand their culinary horizons.

The opportunity now exists for local restaurants to meet the complex needs of Gen Z and Millennial diners by reinventing menus with elevated yet cost-effective takes on traditional street foods, leveraging on-trend and emerging flavours and offering exciting twists on familiar formats.

Tips from our UFS Chefs to bring this trend to life:

Explore trending ideas that elevate popular street food formats and dish types, for example BBQ skewers with global flavour influences to create interesting takes such as Indonesian satays, Portuguese espatadas and South African sosaties

Check out new flavour frontiers that are hotspots for trending street food favourites, such as Argentina (choripán hot dog), West Africa (suya spicy beef kebab) and Mexico (all-day breakfast chilaquiles)

Reinvent local handheld favourites with exotic twists, like loaded halloumi fries with za’atar and yoghurt or the South African bunny chow

Look to presentation, which can evoke street food vibes, even when the food within is taken to a new level. Consider handheld dishes served in cardboard containers and include classic checked paper napkins. Offer sauces in corner shop condiment squeeze bottles