Food Fighters Universe | The first NFT-backed restaurant group
11-4-2022
Andy Nguyen and Kevin Seo, the foodpreneurs behind the world’s first Bored Ape restaurant, Bored & Hungry, recently announced Food Fighters Universe (FFU), an NFT collection that will connect food and Web3. Launching in May, FFU will be a collection of 10,000 unique tokens on the ETH (Ethereum) blockchain. Each purchase will help to develop the world’s first NFT-backed restaurant group, focused on building gathering places in real life (IRL) and the metaverse, while offering utility and experiences for Food Fighters NFT holders. “I saw the Web3 space as a way to fix those problems and save the restaurant industry.” – Andy Nguyen.
Although we don’t see exactly what Andy Nguyen means with saving the restaurant industry, it’s an interesting development. They opened Bored & Hungry last Saturday and the 10,000 tokens will give members access to special events, rewards, and other perks. In January 2022 we wrote about the exclusive Flyfish Club, which is expected to open in New York City in 2023. A membership card for this exclusive club and restaurant is an NFT purchased with cryptocurrency.
3 minutes read
RoboBurger | The world’s first robot burger chef in a vending machine
7-4-2022
RoboBurger, the world’s first fully autonomous robotic burger chef, recently launched with a ribbon cutting at the Newport Centre, a Simon Mall in Jersey City, NJ. This restaurant in miniature cooks restaurant-quality freshly grilled burgers from scratch, and it will soon be heading to airports, malls, colleges, offices, factories, and military bases across the country.
2 minutes read
Diego’s Burgers| Plant-based Chef’s Table pop-up at DGTL festival
5-4-2022
During the 8th edition of DGTL festival (16-17 April 2022) at the NDSM Docklands in Amsterdam, chef Diego Buik from Diego’s Burgers will provide an exclusive, fully plant-based Chef’s Table pop-up. This pop-up is made possible thanks to Beyond Meat, who will open a plant-based foodcourt together with Apenkooi events. Diego’s signature dish this day? The Smashed Burger, especially developed for DGTL. Think of a juicy plant-based patty, made of Beyond Meat mince, served on a bun with tomato, pickle, lollo bianco, Violife cheddar and of course a good burger sauce. Finger licking good and guilt-free for the festival visitor with a great appetite.
1 minute read
Trends we spotted | Week 13
4-4-2022
At horecatrends.com 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 and amongst others three Instagram posts we spotted, the special branding of Mr. Charlie’s in Los Angeles with their red/yellow colors as well as the upside down smile. And Miss Crispy Rice who recently opened inside the Oasis Wynwood in Miami, serving crispy rice sushi!
Another Instagram post that we really love is one from Paris where restaurant La Bourse et la Vie hired 3 refugees from Ukraine and changed their cuisine and their name in Le Borscht et la Vie as of yesterday for 2 months.
Dubai is the 36th destination which will have its own Guide MICHELIN! The first selection of restaurants will be revealed in June. And McDonald’s USA surprises fans with unexpected Szechuan Sauce drop. Great idea a limited time offer of products from the past, which product would you bring back?
SALSA SHOP is a fast growing brand of fresh Mexican food restaurants, they recently opened the 10th restaurant in the Netherlands and they have big dreams for Europe. And a great initiative of Culinair Leiden in our hometown, a 6.5 km long festive ribbon of tables along the Singelpark route on 25 and 26 June 2022: Singelpark Dinner.
Restaurant commerce platform, GoTab, recently announced that it is partnering with Mastercard to transform the digital checkout experience in hospitality venues across the US with the implementation of Click to Pay.
Wendyverse™ | Wendy’s® opens first restaurant in virtual reality
1-4-2022
Wendy’s® is teaming up with creators in Meta’s Horizon Worlds to make (virtual) dreams come true with the grand opening of the Wendyverse™ in Horizon Worlds on April 2. Virtual reality becomes reality as Wendyverse™ gives fans all-new 3D opportunities to virtually interact with each other and the brand – as only Wendy’s can.
Another brand that seeks the Metaverse, recently we read that McDonald’s USA also has plans in that direction.
3 minutes read
Vegan fast food chain in California | Plant Power Fast Food
29-3-2022
Another plant-based fast food chain, with 11 locations in California. Plant Power Fast Food, the country’s fastest growing 100% plant-based fast food restaurant chain recently announced the opening of its new Los Angeles location in the heart of Hollywood, California.
In this article one of the founders says that most of the guests are omnivores who know it’s better for the environment and for themselves if they eat vegan once in a while. Becoming a flexitarian is made easier by chains like this! In our opinion, there is enough space in Europe for this kind of vegan fast food chains that are a 1:1 copy of the well-known fast food chains. The Dutch Vegan Junk Food Bar also proves this by growing considerably with 7 branches already.
3 minutes read
Trends we spotted | Week 12
29-3-2022
At horecatrends.com 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 amongst others the Bjarke Ingels Group, they unveiled a treetop hotel room in Sweden covered with 350 bird houses. And the 25hours Hotels introduce a 4-day working week in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Some openings: The Big Mamma Group will open Giorgia Trattoria in Munich this summer and today (March 28) the fourth Gucci Osteria will open in Seoul. In Berlin the new Café Camaleon opened, it’s an all-day casual dining concept at the Casa Camper Berlin. Camper is a famous shoe concept from Spain.
Come 2025, the way Parisians commute will change with the launch of Câble 1, Paris‘ first urban cable car. The new 4.5-kilometer line will connect suburbs in the city’s southeast to the Metro system. And a link to great images of the high-end breakfast all day concept in Berlin: Frühstück 3000.
Starbucks and Volvo will build an EV charging network from the Colorado Rockies to their Support Center in Seattle. And Portland in Oregon will get the first sports bar dedicated to women’s games: The Sports Bra.
The Spring Summer ’22 Collection by Frites Atelier | ‘Arabic Baba & Feta’ Fries
14-3-2022
Inspired by spring and summer, co-founder and culinary creator of Frites Atelier Sergio Herman has created fresh, summery taste sensations. The flavors will give you the feeling of a summer in Italy or deep into the Arabian fairy tale of a thousand and one nights. The influences of the various cultures and cuisines come to the fore in the new specials. The specials ‘Arabic Baba & Feta’ as well as the return of our seasonal specials: ‘Sea Nori’, ‘Parmasan & Basil’ and a whole new tasty snack, the ‘Fish Burger’. Starting this week, Frites Atelier will serve the very latest Spring Summer Collection.
Fries are the main snacks in the Netherlands, we have ‘snackbars’ where you can order a simple portion of fries with or without mayonnaise, or other sauces and of course other snacks like our famous ‘kroketten’. Since a couple of years we have the culinary expert, chef Sergio Herman (has and had several Michelin star restaurants), who creates culinary specials, for the fancy snackbar/restaurant chain Frites Atelier. His Spring/Summer ’22 collection even has a fries ‘Arabic Baba & Feta’! If you want to enjoy a culinary portion of fries, visit one of their locations in The Hague, Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent and Designer Outlet Roosendaal. Worth a detour!
reading time: 2 minutes
Trends we spotted | Week 10
11-3-2022
At horecatrends.com 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’.
Featuring links this week to articles including the launch of North America’s 50 Best Bars, by Perrier and the presidential suites at some Ritz-Carlton hotels will be turned into First Lady suites, named after the series with the same name on SHOWTIME.
China is getting 350 new Accor hotels, divided among the various brands of Acccor. And if you are in Paris, drop by the Broadway Caffe where you can dine in an iconic yellow taxi and be seated a swings!
Fast Casual Restaurant Shake Shack is going to test whether letting people pay with cryptocurrency attracts more young visitors. And the Michelin Guide Germany this year has more stars than ever, a whopping 327 with a new 3 Michelin star restaurant, restaurant Schanz in Piesport!
DAD in London delivers vegan dishes for less than £5. All meals come in compostable packaging and are delivered by bicycle. And also in London, in Soho opened The Thin White Duke Bar, inspired by David Bowie.
Freshly Chopped Leiden | First location from this chain in the Netherlands
10-3-2022
On Monday 14 March, the very first Freshly Chopped location in the Netherlands will open at the Stationsweg 11 in Leiden. This successful Irish franchise concept already has more than 60 restaurants in Ireland, the UK and on Cyprus, and now the Dutch can enjoy their fresh, healthy and tasty salads and meals as well. Core of the fresh formula: all ingredients are freshly ‘chopped’ under the watchful eye of the guest. As an opening promotion they have a Leiden Garden Salad (with cheese from Leiden) with a bottle of Vitamin Well.
Reading time: 2 minutes
