Berlin’s first Salmon Kebab
21-10-2015
The so called ‘Lachdöner’ from Rauch Zeichen consists of juicy salmon, cucumber, tomato, crispy fresh onion, well-seasoned with homemade honey-mustard-dill sauce and conveniently packed in traditional flatbread.
Salmon Kebab
Berlin’s new specialty, the ‘Lachdöner’ is invented by the self-made entrepreneur and amateur fisherman Ronny Unger. Often there are long lines waiting in front of the ‘Rauch-Zeichen’- food truck, that drives from market to market around Berlin. Beside the Salmon Kebab they also serve a salmonwrap, fish fries, fish buns and smoked fish. Most fish is bought at the company ‘Fischerei Angermünde’ in Uckermark but the salmon comes from antibiotic-free fish farms in Norway. The smoked fish is smoked over beech wood. For his fish ideas Ronny Unger has been awarded the ‘Seafood Star 2015’ as best starter in fish in Germany. Check out the Facebook page of ‘Rauch Zeichen’ for more information.
Inspiration
Check out other kebab concepts;
Like the robotic arm that slices the meat at restaurant ‘Super Kebab’ in London. Or the first European location of Baba Rafi that recently opened in Alkmaar. In Asia, the chain has more than 1,300 locations and the location in Alkmaar serves a kebab adapted to the European market, Kebab 2.0. And in Paris ‘Grillé’ serves a kebab that even the biggest snob can’t wait to be in line for! A Fancy Kebab or as the French say; ‘kebabs quasi gastronomiques’.
Croquettes made of 100% organic spelt
20-10-2015
An article about one of our Dutch prides, our ‘kroketten en bitterballen’ (croquettes and small croquettes). Royal Spelt created the first croquettes made of 100% organic spelt. Prepared with fresh herbs, vegetables and the best organic beef.
Royal Spelt makes croquettes made of 100% organic spelt
Royal Spelt wants to make the tastiest and best snacks in the Netherlands, made of 100% natural and organic ingredients and 100% spelt. Their slogan ‘Pure nature in a jacket of spelt’. Royal Spelt has chosen for the Eko-grain spelt, consisting of a mixture of vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates and fats. The Eko-grain spelt also has a high protein percentage and is rich in amino acids. In addition is the filling made of biological meat without artificial colors, flavors or fragrance and the salpicon is made with spelt flour.
Healthier snack
Okay, the croquette will still be fried, but for the group of people who consciously checks the ingredients of the products they eat, the croquette is a healthier alternative. The demand for organic and spelt products increases and as ‘organic snacks’, these croquettes are an addition for caterers, restaurants and snack bars.
Royal Spelt delivers their products to companies with a conscious mind for healthy but tasty food. The aim is to make the best and most responsible croquette of the Netherlands and develop more flavours.
Robotic arm to slice kebab.
16-10-2015
Super Kebab in Stoke Newington, North London has introduced a new robotic arm to slice their döner meat. We noticed some technical improvements excluding a lot of manual labour.
At Super Kebab they’re working with a robotic arm
The user controls the robot with a remote control enabling him to adjust the speed and the thickness of the slices. If you watch the video, you will notice that the slices are very thin making your döner kebab more yummy!
The robotic arm is made by Atalay döner in Istanbul, Turkey. They installed the first Robotic arm in the United Kingdom at Super Kebab in London. The robotic arm glides up and down the tower of meat guided by sensors. The owner Hakan Gorenli is very happy with his investment (around 5.000 pounds) and thinks many kebab restaurants will follow. His customers are happy with the precise and hygienical way the meat is cut.
Robots in the hospitality industry
We recently wrote about the healthy fast food (lunch) restaurant ‘Eatsa’ in San Francisco that looks more like an electronics store than a restaurant. There is no staff to take orders and everything is fully automated. The founders of Eatsa promise faster, more nutritious, affordable and tastier meals. This is realized without staff at the front of the restaurant, like the robotic arm that reduces the manual labour. In the hotel section we spotted The Hen-na hotel that opened this summer and is staffed with robot receptionists, porters, cleaners and waitresses. Are robots slowly taking over? I hope that hospitality remains human. 😉 ^Marjolein
A breadstick crust at the pizza of Pizza Hut
14-10-2015
Pizza Hut created ‘The Twisted Crust Pizza’, this pizza combines pizza and breadsticks. The pizza features a tearable, dippable breadstick crust with a choice of 2 dipping sauces…
A breadstick crust?
Pizza Hut introduced the twisted crust pizza 21 September in the USA. The company loves to stretch the possibilities of the old-fashioned pizza. Like the hotdog pizza with a hotdog in the crust and their ‘doritos crunchy crust pizza’, we wrote about last year.
Jared Drinkwater, vice president of marketing at Pizza Hut: “We are not afraid to experiment with new and innovative flavor combinations for our food, but sometimes it’s the most obvious innovations that amaze us the most – and Twisted Crust is an example of an innovation that has done just that. We know America loves our pizza, but we have an enormous, loyal group of Pizza Hut breadstick lovers out there, too. We believe our new Twisted Crust Pizza is the ultimate flavor combination of these two popular items that consumers will absolutely love.”
Inspiration
We have seen some unusual pizza combinations in the Netherlands as well. Like last year, the sauerkraut pizza from Domino’s Pizza. Pizza Hut only serves a pizza with a crust stuffed with cheese in the Netherlands though. We wonder what pizza variations we will see this winter in the Netherlands! Anyway the ‘Twisted Crust Pizza’ can be added to the list of 10 times pizza inspiration.
Kebab 2.0, the next big thing in food?
28-9-2015
The first European location of Baba Rafi opened in Alkmaar. In Asia, the chain has more than 1,300 locations. Kebab 2.0 adapted to the European market.
In June 2015 we wrote about plans for the initial European establishment of Baba Rafi in Alkmaar. We then wrote about how 176 private investors invested € 250.000,= in the company via Collin Crowdfund. On September 24, the entrepreneurs Sinan Gul, Hans Gradient, Baris Kürkcü and Herman de Haas opened the doors of their Baba Rafi at an AA location in the center of Alkmaar. We saw in Paris that Kebab, if adapted to local customs, can become hugely popular. There Grillé serves ‘un Kebab quasi Gastronomique‘!
Kebab for the modern, conscious consumer
Baba Rafi is the largest franchise chain in the world in the field of kebab products. With more than 1300 locations in Asia the concept is very popular. The Asian concept is fully adapted for the European market where respect for food, the customers and the environment play an important role. Baris Kürkcü: “Every niche in the food industry, from French fries-, hamburger- and chicken formulas to sandwiches, has seen a trend towards more sustainable and responsible food in the recent years. With Baba Rafi we introduce a kebab concept that is tailored entirely to the needs and desires of the modern, conscious consumer. The dishes are freshly prepared with a minimum of E-numbers and maximum sustainable and organic ingredients. In addition, we have worked closely in the development of the food with a culinary consultant and nutritionist. Thus, the dishes are suitable to eat for lunch. For everyone, even for women and children.”
With Kebab 2.0 they want to realize the largest kebab chain in Europe
Along with financial expert Hans Verloop and former McDonald’s CEO, Herman de Haas the Baba Rafi team want to realize the largest kebab chain in Europe. There is no comparable franchise concept in Europe and in total more than 10 billion euros is spend on kebab. Hans Verloop: “We can apply our experience in Alkmaar to future franchisees in many other comparable cities. From the North of Holland we want to expand Baba Rafi all over the Netherlands and after the start-up phase also start in other countries in Europe.”
German-style drive-through deli in Zeddam
23-9-2015
Zeddam will have a unique drive-through deli in the beginning of 2016.
Drive-through deli in Zeddam
People from the Zeddam region regularly drive to the other side of the border to get tasty and healthy sandwiches in Germany and drive back again. Daphne Kempers (21) was inspired by this and initiated an innovative deli in Zeddam with so-called “German pastries” that will be ready early 2016. The new deli-concept will be open seven days a week from seven o’clock in the morning until seven o’clock in the evening. Next to the German sandwiches the deli also offers cakes, coffee and wine.
Convenient, quick and healthy
The innovative sandwich shop is convenient, quick and healthy. With these three key features Daphne addresses important trends that are relevant today and in the near future. The price / quality ratio will meet German standards, so expect good and affordable sandwiches. Guests can order and pay through an app to prevent standing in line.
Crowd sourcing for the name
To come to the perfect name, Daphne calls out to the public. A competition has been started for the best name of the future deli. Creative people can participate via the Facebook page Broods.
Online click-and-collect service for Germans?
We hope the Germans will visit the drive-through deli for a sandwich in the near future, instead of the other way around which happens now. Perhaps an online click-and-collect service for Germans that order products through Dutch web shops can contribute to this. It may be an additional reason to pick up a sandwich on the go. Armand Sol has recently written a blog (in Dutch) about integrating online click-and-collect points in the hospitality industry.
Broth-to-go at Brodo in NYC
3-9-2015
Broth is very popular, especially in those cities with very cold winters. Last year we’ve spotted Brodo in NYC at the end of wintertime. And as we’re all rethinking our winter menu’s it might be an idea to consider serving broth-to-go.
Broth-to-go instead of coffee-to-go
We already wrote an article about it last March, with the main focus on an European soup initiative in Montpellier (France) by chef Marc Veyrat, Urban Soup. At his soup place, guests can create their own soup. With the first week of bad weather in the Netherlands, we would like to inspire entrepreneurs to follow the example chef Marco Canora of Brodo gave us last winter and start serving broth-to-go during the cold days.
In NYC you go to the window of Brodo for a broth-to-go
Marco Canora started the trend of broth-to-go with his East Village take-out window dedicated to bone broth, offered in a few different varieties and served in a steaming paper cup for easy sipping. There are a handful of add-ins like bone marrow, fermented beet juice and fresh turmeric, plus a couple of more traditional soups too.
Check out Zagat’s interview with Marco Canora and reconsider serving broth-to-go this winter at your place, whether you’re a butcher, restaurant owner or a coffeeshop.
Van Dobben Corner in Amsterdam Arena
1-9-2015
At the first tier of the Amsterdam Arena, behind the F-side, opened the first ‘Van Dobben’ Corner. As from this footbal season, the beef croquettes, bitterballs (small round croquettes, famous in The Netherlands) and rolls with the Van Dobben veal frikandel or the Van Dobben luxury cheese soufflé are no longer only available at mobile snack carts. The Van Dobben Corner also serves: a ‘Van Dobben’ sausage roll and a special meatball roll with Hellmann’s Honey Mustard Sauce.
Van Dobben Corner
The first Van Dobben Corner just opened before the first home game of Ajax and was officially opened by former Ajax player Johnny Rep. There are already plans for several Van Dobben Corners in the Arena. Hans van der Linden, Catering Club and director Frank Visser, Commercial Director of Van Dobben are happy with their successful co-creation and have plans for more Van Dobben Corners in the Amsterdam Arena.
The Green Toaster, an asset for your café or restaurant?
31-8-2015
The Green Toaster is a smartphone cleaning device. One of the places the Green Toaster would be a benefit would be in cafes or restaurants. You could offer your guests a sanitization of their phone while they have a drink.
Smart phones do have a big effect on how to accommodate your guests
We’re already getting accustomed to delivering ‘free Wi-Fi’, some restaurants, grand-cafés are even able to give their guest the opportunity to charge their mobile phone. Through either charging tables or pillars like ‘Charge to go’ and ‘Implug’ for smaller businesses. And now we’re faced with a new ticker to boost our sales and another investment… Ad agency Innored and UK-bases design school Kinneir Dufort created a sanitizing device for Korean e-commerce giant Gmarket. The Green Toaster.
The Green Toaster
The Green Toaster cleans every smartphone. Did you know that there are up to 7000 types of bacteria living on every smartphone? How often do you clean your smartphone? Wouldn’t you like to have the opportunity to clean it somewhere?
The Green Toaster does deep clean any smartphone using UV light! Wouldn’t it be great to have as excuse to go to a bar; “Honey, I’m going to have my smartphone cleaned.”
More about the Green Toaster on Springwise.
Mix and match your favorite chips with a sandwich at Mr. Crisp
28-8-2015
Mr. Crisp is England’s first crisp sandwich shop supplying over 35 varieties of crisps to enjoy. It’s a shop in West Yorkshire, entirely devoted to the art of potato chip sandwiches.
At this moment in time the most new concepts we spot are preparing healthy foods or intent do it. But with every survey we take, people often admit not to have too much eye for the healthy cuisine when dining out. Potato chips in sandwiches is new to me! I did notice small bags of crisps served with sandwiches in the United Stated, but I always thought it was meant to eat them on the side. It seems that people put the potato chips on top of the sandwiches to add a crunchy bite to the sandwich.
Mr. Crisp
Marc Pearson, owner of Mr. Crisp, was inspired by a similar shop in Belfast and he offers 35 different varieties of chips and an extensive sandwich menu, tea and baguettes according The Daily Mail. Mix and match your own favorite flavour combinations in your ultimate crispy sandwich.
