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As a restaurant owner, caterer, or professional party planner, you already know that color can set the tone for your client’s entire event! From creating an atmosphere, to capturing attention, to enhancing decor, and much more – it is safe to say that color and catering go hand-in-hand. So read on to discover how the Pantone Color of the Year can expand your food horizons.
Trending Pantone Color of the Year
Your ear is probably pressed to the ground as you eagerly await the industry’s most anticipated and trend-setting proclamation of the year: Pantone’s Color of the Year. Considered the industry’s leading authority on color, Pantone has been inspiring and guiding the worlds of design, fashion, home décor, catering, and entertainment since the year 2000. Brands and businesses of all sizes turn to the Pantone Color Institute to stay up-to-date with the latest color trends, updating their products, marketing campaigns, and branding strategies accordingly.
How is the Color of the Year chosen? According to the Pantone website, the choice is: “A symbolic color selection; a color snapshot of what we see taking place in our global culture that serves as an expression of a mood and an attitude.” For example, Pantone’s 2017 Color of the Year was Greenery, described in a press release by the institute as “a fresh and zesty yellow-green shade that evokes the first days of spring” intended to encourage the world to “take a deep breath, oxygenate, and reinvigorate.” Expounded upon further by Pantone Color Institute Executive Director Leatrice Eiseman: “While Serenity and Rose Quartz, the Pantone Color of the Year 2016, expressed the need for harmony in a chaotic world, Greenery bursts forth in 2017 to provide us with the hope we collectively yearn for amid a complex social and political landscape. Satisfying our growing desire to rejuvenate, revitalize and unite, Greenery symbolizes the reconnection we seek with nature, one another and a larger purpose.”
Color in the Special Events Industry
Hues of green immediately began popping up in the special events industry following this announcement, influencing choices in indoor/outdoor decor, wedding and party decorations, bridal fashion, apparel, and even food and beverages. In fact, the restaurant and catering industries have long embraced Pantone’s Color of the Year, using its tones, undertones. and overtones to tasteful effect in choosing everything from event invitations to place cards, menus, tablecloths, napkins, napkin holders, party bags, party favors, flowers, centerpieces, coasters, barware, entrees, appetizers, hors d’oeuvres, and a rainbow of delectable desserts.
Party Planning Success with Color
Looking for a recipe for event-planning success? Then keep your sights and wits on Pantone’s favored pick. In fact, now is the time to cash in on Pantone’s 2018 Color of the Year: Ultra Violet. No matter what type of eatery or catering service you manage (bakery, pizza shop, ice cream parlor, coffee house, bar, brewery, fast-food chain, fine dining restaurant), there are savvy and even sassy ways to add a touch of ultra violet to the mix.
First, here is what the color leaders had to say about the rich, blue-based purple hue:
- “A dramatically provocative and thoughtful purple shade, PANTONE 18-3838 Ultra Violet communicates originality, ingenuity, and visionary thinking that points us toward the future.”
- “Nuanced and full of emotion, the depth of [ultra violet] symbolizes experimentation and non-conformity, spurring individuals to imagine their unique mark on the world, and push boundaries through creative outlets.”
- Eisenman: “We are living in a time that requires inventiveness and imagination. It is this kind of creative inspiration that is indigenous to PANTONE 18-3838 Ultra Violet, a blue-based purple that takes our awareness and potential to a higher level. From exploring new technologies and the greater galaxy, to artistic expression and spiritual reflection, intuitive Ultra Violet lights the way to what is yet to come.”
- And in a special interview with the New York Times: “We wanted to pick something that brings hope and an uplifting message.”
Colorful Food for Thought
So how can you utilize ultra violet and its multihued nuances to its greatest effect in your party planning or restaurant business? Here is some food for thought:
Imagine choosing bold shades of purple, cherry, or violet to create a stir, make a splash, or add boundary-breaking innovation to your client’s birthday party, bridal shower, wedding, or graduation. You can also interpret ultra purple into more sophisticated choices, such as shades of wine, crimson, or plum to invoke introspection and add a touch of refinement and regality to your corporate client’s next board meeting.
Or, if you are planning an event such as a wedding anniversary, romantic getaway, or spiritual retreat, use softer shades of rose, mauve, lavender, lilac, or amethyst to create a soothing, romantic, or mystic atmosphere.
Purple Food Ideas
While you are no doubt hungry, thirsty, and chomping at the bit for information about Pantone’s upcoming pick for Color of the Year 2019, here are some more trending ideas to help stir your creative juices and inspire your culinary vision for ‘purple’ foods and beverages reflecting the reigning ultra violet hue.
Try some of these menu ideas for using “purple” foods: For breakfast – blueberry pancakes or blueberry French toast. For a light brunch, how about a purple cocktail such as the Apple Fell Far from the Tree cocktail, crafted with butterfly pea-infused blanco tequila, pimento dram, lime, and Fuji apple syrup, along with creamy blueberry gelatin salad and blueberry ice cream? For your dinner crowd, try an appetizer of purple cauliflower in a bed of purple (red) cabbage with blueberry-dijon chicken or blackberry sauced pork chops as an entrée.
Of course, there are numerous food ideas you can come up with that can utilize the color purple. So, let your imagination run wild as you have fun incorporating this exciting — and very instagrammable — color into your menu.
Purple Food Health Benefits
Did you know that colors contain key nutrients your body needs? According to the American Diabetes Association and the American Heart Association, the more vibrantly colored your fruits and vegetables are, the more nutritious they are. Moreover, a diet rich in fruits and vegetables has been shown to lower the risk of multiple serious and chronic health conditions, including heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, diabetes, kidney disease, certain types of cancer, osteoporosis, and obesity.
Likewise, many common foods that you eat contain a host of essential vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Here are some of the health benefits associated with purple foods that take center stage this year as the Pantone color of the year:
- Purple and blue foods (i.e. grapes, blueberries, blackberries, plums, eggplant, radishes, purple cabbage, cranberries) are especially good for your brain and heart, containing two powerful antioxidants (anthocyanins and proanthocyanidins) that also help reduce inflammation and boost cellular strength
- Colorful berries such as raspberries and blueberries are loaded with Vitamin C
- Blueberries are good for your brain!
The Pantone Color of the Year: A Caterer’s Best Friend
No matter what event you are hosting, remember that color can put people in the mood for a happening party or set the tone for a more formal affair. That’s why caterers in the know and many food service professionals eagerly await the Pantone Color of the Year to set the tone for their parties and events. With the wide array of colors available to dazzle the eye and entice consumers, the Pantone color can help streamline your ideas as you capitalize on the latest and most hip contemporary color.