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The Lights of Christmas presents | A drive-thru Christmas

12-11-2021

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There is something special about The Lights of Christmas! More than dazzling lights, The Lights of Christmas brings both nostalgia and innovation together for a Christmas experience to lift the spirit and uncover the hope of the holidays. This year The Lights of Christmas presents… A Drive-Thru Christmas, Located in Stanwood, Washington State. This drive-thru event lavishly celebrates the meaning of Christmas through new and classic displays alike.

This is just one of the many Christmas drive-thru’s we have spotted in the last couple of years. As long as we are facing another winter with COVID-19 amongst us, it’s a great way to bring the joy of the Holiday Season to people when they are collecting ordered presents or food boxes. As most streets in shopping areas are decorated this December anyway, why not create a ‘Christmas Wonderland’ and have your clients pick up their orders in a fun and save way! Organise it together with other entrepreneurs, like these restaurants last year. The drive-thru Christmas by The Lights of Christmas is great inspiration.   

Reading time: 1 minute

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The Mariah Menu at McDonald’s USA

11-11-2021

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The twelve days of Christmas – what will McDonald’s US sent to their customers? Each day from Dec.13 through Dec.24, U.S. customers can get a different menu item for free from the Mariah Menu on the McDonald’s app with a $1 minimum purchase.

Another example of marketing with a celebrity, in this case Mariah Carey who takes the Holidays up an octave with 12 Days of McDonald’s® deals. Inspiration for more local deals with celebrities? We only sorry that she doesn’t sing in their commercial! And of course that the Mariah Meal isn’t available in Europe.  

Reading time: 2 minutes

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A Finger Lickin’ Chicken Mitten Bucket Hugger by KFC

11-11-2021

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To celebrate the upcoming holiday season, Kentucky Fried Chicken® is unveiling winter’s hottest dining accessory – a limited-edition and original Finger Lickin’ Chicken Mitten Bucket Hugger, to turn your bucket of KFC’s world-famous fried chicken into the ultimate holiday must-have, according to their press release.

A combination of a new Holiday Bucket and a sweater for this bucket to keep the bucket and the hands of their fans warm! No longer available in the US but we loved the idea, a combination of a ‘ugly Christmas sweater’ with a big plus for fans of your brand. It’s great inspiration for upgrading the ugly Christmas sweaters from the past, a ‘sweater + mitten’ for warm drinks or buckets of food.  

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‘Lecker Chess Tournament’ in Utrecht

9-11-2021

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Yesterday the ‘Lecker Schaken Schaaktoernooi’ (Lecker Chess Tournament) started in Utrecht (The Netherlands). The ‘Lecker  Chess Tournament’ lasts four weeks and has been organized by the ‘De Leckere Brewery’ in collaboration with local cafes and restaurants.

Great idea to organize at a local level, we also happen to know people who started playing chess again after seeing the Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit. And great that after a lot of online quizzes we can finally play a board game with each other again! By organizing it on the first days of the week, the De Leckere brewery creates an extra source of income for the catering industry. Inspiration for other cities? Or some bars?

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NL Delivery Game | Meal deliverers safer and more aware on the road

9-11-2021

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Since the corona pandemic, the number of meal deliveries in the Netherlands has increased excessively. According to the Food Service Institute Netherlands (FSIN), this market grew by 37% compared to 2019. This development is leading to an increasing number of meal delivery in the industry, especially the 16 to 24 year old age group. According to Veilig Verkeer Nederland (the Safe Traffic Association Netherlands (VVN), this age group takes more risks in traffic, which means that they are more likely to be involved in accidents. To prevent this, the Dutch Association of Meal Delivery Services (NLVVM) has created the NL Delivery Game. The initiators – consisting of ten large delivery chains – join forces and launched this training game for the more than 20,000 meal deliverers they employ. In the game, the traffic and behavioral rules of the Safe Traffic Association Netherlands are tested. Resulting in more meal deliverers safer on the road and more aware in traffic.

Reading time: 2 minutes

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New Amarula cream liqueurs | Liqueur with a story

9-11-2021

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The range of South African Amarula cream liqueurs has expanded with the arrival of two new flavors. The first Amarula vegan cream liqueur has the recognizable taste of the rare marula fruit, combined with coconut, caramel and vanilla. Unlike the other variants of the liqueur, the vegan Amarula contains no dairy. Another new flavor will be launched at the end of this year: Ethiopian Coffee, a deliciously creamy liqueur with a coffee flavour.

Last week I went to Rotterdam for Horecatrends to taste the new Amarula flavors. I had never tasted Amarula before, but I had heard of the brand. Normally I’m not a cream liqueur lover, but the Amarula liqueurs have now become the exception for me! My favourite? The new flavor: Ethiopian Coffee. ^Sifra Holtslag

Reading time: 2 minutes

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Trends we spotted | Week 44

1-11-2021

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At horecatrends.com or hospitalitytrends.eu we spot many national and international trends on a daily basis. We pick the most interesting ones to write about, the other trends we use in our weekly column ‘Trends we spotted this week’.

With this week links to articles about the pop-up ‘Vurger King’ in Madrid, this Burger King location will serve only meat-free items. And Ruby Hotels outlines their Asia expansion plans.

The Accor group will also be entering the house rental market, the accor-residences.com website shows the group’s selected collection of homes.

Last weekend was Halloween, which is also becoming more popular in Europe. Some Halloween  inspiration for 2022: ‘Haunted House of Fryght’ by Wendy’s, ‘Haunted Restaurant with Fright Castle Takeover’ by White Castle and in Paris you could go to a Halloween party at ‘Le Manoir de Paris’.

You can enjoy the afternoon tea, ‘Prêt-à-Portea‘ autumn/winter 2021 collection, again in The Berkeley hotel! And recently the Chiaro restaurant opened in the Rocco Forte Hotel de Rome in Berlin. Here chef Tim Mälzer developed an Italian cuisine with Japanese elements.

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Pop-up Petit Latour by Ruinart | Grand Hotel Huis ter Duin

29-10-2021

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This week, Grand Hotel Huis ter Duin in Noordwijk opened a temporary champagne bar: Petit Latour by Ruinart. Located on the first floor of the iconic hotel, this stylish champagne bar is open til the end of February next year. At Petit Latour it is possible to order various special champagnes with matching French dishes, such as crostinis with salmon and Gillardeau oyster with champagne-mignonette. The bites are created by chef Marcel van Lier of big brother restaurant Latour, the restaurant of Huis ter Duin, which has been awarded a Michelin star. Grand Hotel Huis ter Duin is located at the coast of the Nord Sea, half a hour drive from Amsterdam.

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Opening of Brasserie Bruis in Haarlem

29-10-2021

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Disclaimer: directed more towards Dutchies. But if you’re living in the vicinity of Haarlem this might be a brasserie you have to visit!

Opening – Chef-owner Jozua Jaring and maître Bas Averdijk of Michelin star restaurant Ratatouille Food & Wine in Haarlem will open their Brasserie Bruis in Haarlem on November 3, 2021. The brasserie is located at Lange Veerstraat 15, where the Petossi restaurant used to be. Bruis is an informal brasserie where guests can enjoy high-quality international brasserie dishes, a snack and a good glass of wine.

Reading time: 2 minutes

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Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort | Caribbean’s only CO2-neutral hotel shares framework for sustainable holidays

28-10-2021

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It’s been 29 years since the world-famous UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and Ewald Biemans, owner/CEO of Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort in Aruba, is still as inspired as the day he heard the call to action made to the world at that conference. As an passionate news follower, Biemans read and watched all the coverage he could find about the summit in 1992 on the tiny island of Aruba. The conference, which he described as ‘a wake-up call’, accelerated his efforts to what has been awarded the Caribbean’s most ecologically and first CO2-neutral hotel since 2018 and eventually led to an award from the United Nations in 2020: the prestigious Global UN 2020 Climate Action Award for Climate Neutral Now.

This year, Ewald Biemans has been invited to be one of speakers at the 26th annual UN climate conference – the Conference of the Parties or COP26 – which will take place from 1 to 12 November 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland and is expected to attract 30,000 attendees. COP26 is considered the world’s most important climate change conference in the race to keep the temperature rise within 1.5°C as mentioned in the 2015 Paris agreement. The importance grows with just nine years to go before the ecological consequences would be catastrophic and irreversible.

Reading time: 2 minutes

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