• by Teresa Buyikian , 8 hours ago

Despite Americans’ obsession with chicken, Malaysia emerges as the top country for ordering fried chicken in Technomic’s latest report.

The weekly trends report, seen here, found that while nearly “half of all consumers worldwide order fried chicken when dining out at least occasionally,” Malaysia has all others beat in order frequency. Approximately two-thirds (65%) of consumers in the Southeast Asian country order fried chicken when dining out at least once every 90 days, which is the  highest of any surveyed market and “well above the global average of 42%.”

Malaysia is followed by Indonesia at 62%, the Philippines at 61% and Colombia at 55%. Other countries that also eat more fried chicken include Singapore at 50%; UAE, South Korea and South Africa all at 49%; Mexico at 47%; and Chile at 46%.

Restaurant customers aren’t just concerned with the quality of the food; they are increasingly concerned about the atmosphere and music played while they dine as well. When choosing a restaurant for an occasion, 51% of those surveyed voted music selection  was “important/very important,” up 10% over 2019. Unsurprisingly, the increased numbers are primarily driven by Gen Z, as 60% of 18-34-year-olds said music was important/very important, compared to 47% of those age 35 and over.

Technomic also took a look at what’s trending online in “adult beverages.” Overall, online “adult beverage” mentions grew by 1.8% in the last year. But the category that experienced the biggest growth was adult non-alcoholic beverages, which saw a whopping 47% increase in mentions in 2025 over the previous year. Spirits mentions only increased by 5%, with specialty drinks up by 4%. 

Wine is on a downward trend, with white wine mentions decreasing by -5%, and Champagne/sparkling wine and red wine both down -4%. Wines in the “other” category were also down -5%. A few select varietals were up, including Bordeaux, which increased 35%, Moscato at 12% and Prosecco at 6%.

But non-alcoholic wine had the largest category increase, up over 169% from the previous year. Mentions of “other alcohol-free beverages” were up 233%, with alcohol-free cocktails and mixed drinks up 54% and alcohol-free beer up 32%.