Honey Spoon
29-12-2015
The Honey Spoon is a small cup within a spoon, filled with 100% flower honey. An unique way to serve honey without any mess. Convenient, hygienic and unique.
Honey Spoon
Within the out-of-home shops and thus also in the hospitality, alternatives for sugar are increasing in popularity. Honey in the tea is getting more popular. In order to keep it simple and clean and don’t mess with a cup of honey they created a new invention, the Honey Spoon. A small plastic spoon, filled with flower honey. The only thing you have to do is, just like with a normal cup of honey, remove the plastic top. Then you just put your spoon in the tea, stir well and you have got a nice cup of tea with honey, without the mess.
Availability
The Honey Spoon is available in a luxurious dispenser with 125 spoons or in a silo with 20 spoons. It is possible to order a sample via this link. The Honey Spoon is available in The Netherlands at several wholesalers like, Sligro, Deli XL and VHC.
Wrong Christmas Sweater party
23-12-2015
On the Korte Heuvel in the Dutch town Tilburg, they celebrated the last Friday Afternoon Party before Christmas with a ‘Wrong Christmas Sweater’ theme.
Wrong Christmas Sweater party
Last year, the largest Friday afternoon party from Tilburg has been a huge success as well and they had the same theme; Foute Kersttrui (Wrong Christmas Sweater). Hundreds of people gathered at the party area of the Korte Heuvel to kick of the holiday season with colleagues and friends. Santa and his Christmas wives were present and there were torches everywhere. One could eat our famous Dutch pea soup (snert) and there was plenty of glühwein (mulled wine) and beer. This year the ‘Wrong Christmas Sweater’ party was held on Friday 18th December as from 17:00 everyone was welcome. With a wrong Christmas sweater you received free mulled wine at Polly Maggoo. Initiators are the owners of Polly Maggoo and it is now adopted by a number of cafes in the area.
Inspiration
Come up with a nice theme and prolong the festivities surrounding Christmas. Since 18 December, the Christmas Season started and there is no one available for work-related Christmas parties so this initiative in Tilburg is a lovely way to throw a party and to generate additional revenue. Win / win for participants and entrepreneurs. Just as the ‘Kerstmiddag’ (Christmas Afternoon) on 24 December in Hengelo.
SnowPage symbolises the festive spirit at the Peninsula Hotels
21-12-2015
The Peninsula Hotels are ready for the Christmas season. The SnowPage, their mascot and limited edition cuddly toy is for sale for the Make-A-Wish Foundation®.
SnowPage, the ultimate holiday ambassador
SnowPage is dressed to impress for the holiday fundraising campaign by the Peninsula Hotels. The SnowPage is fashionably restyled by the luxury toy art collective Papinee. They created a limited edition of just 300 toys for each hotel, and all profits will be donated to the Make- A-Wish Foundation®. If guests buy one of the SnowPages they will have a chance on winning an ultimate Peninsula experience with the “Golden Tickets”, offering prizes for all the family. The Golden Tickets are hidden inside some SnowPage boxes.
Papinee created the SnowPages
Papinee has hand-crafted 10 limited edition SnowPage toys, with the lovable snowman dressed in exquisitely embroidered costumes inspired by the arts, culture and architecture of each Peninsula destination. Hallmarked by Papinee’s detailed craftsmanship and vibrant design style, the exclusive SnowPage toys are designed with care using the finest luxury fabrics.
The Peninsula Hong Kong SnowPage will be dressed in a dark navy jacket, embroidered with vintage neon motifs, The Peninsula Beijing SnowPage will wear a signature Page cap with his red patterned coat with a traditional Chinese dragon design. A New York SnowPage is stylish in red, white and blue with hints of New York’s Art Deco movement, while the Tokyo SnowPage will be dressed in a classic cherry blossoms-embellished kimono.
#RFWinterTale storytelling around the Christmas Season
18-12-2015
The winter tales about Rudy the elk’s journey celebrating Europe’s Festive experiences. His journey is made even more special by the Rocco Forte hotels. Creating storytelling with the #RFWinterTale.
At the website of the Rocco Forte Hotel chain, you can find different stories about Rudy the elk, who is experiencing different elements of all the cities where the Rocco Forte chain has a residential hotel. In short all the stories are about Rudolph, the elk’s adventures while he travels through Europe. Every winter, he suffered the humiliation of being mistaken for a reindeer. So Rudy packed his bags for a grand tour through Europe, in order to educate the world about the mighty elk, which is definitely not the same as the reindeer. Even though his parents called him Rudolph….
Create your own story aroundRudolph, #RFWinterTale
As we write Rudy has already visited the Rocco Forte Astoria hotel in St. Petersburg, the hotel Savoy in Florence, the Villa Kenedy in Frankfurt and hotel Amigo in Brussels. Nice short bedtime stories to tell your kids, especially if they love to travel! At the website of the Rocco Forte chain you can create your own Winter’s Tale about Rudy. After sharing your tale at your social media channels, you can enter to win a 6-night stay at three of their luxurious properties, for two nights each.
About the Rocco Forte Hotel Chain
Established by Sir Rocco Forte and sister, Olga Polizzi in 1996, Rocco Forte Hotels is a family of 10 individual hotels and resorts in Europe. Located in Edinburgh, London, Brussels, Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, Florence, Rome, Sicily and St. Peterburg. Each hotel is a landmark and they’re all individual hotels with exclusive design and distinctive dining and service. The hotels are member of The Leading Hotels of the World.
CityHub, a capsule hotel in Amsterdam
15-12-2015
Last month CityHub opened its doors on Bellamystraat in Amsterdam’s Oud West district. Fifty state-of-the-art sleeping units, a ‘digital first’ lobby and an app that familiarises travellers with the city.
We spotted CityHub in 2012 when they got the idea and were exploring the possibilities. CityHub is an initiative of college friends Sem Schuurkes (32) and Pieter van Tilburg (29). The young entrepreneurs set themselves the goal of improving the traditional hotel experience in line with the current zeitgeist and technological capabilities. After a successful crowdfunding campaign, they opened a small pilot branch, ‘CityHub Beta’ in Amsterdam’s Oud West neighbourhood in July 2012. With an average occupancy rate of 95% and enthusiastic reviews on Booking.com, Airbnb and TripAdvisor, the pilot was hailed as a great success. Their popularity and success also resulted in a private investor (angel investor) and ABN AMRO coming on board to help Schuurkes and Van Tilburg set up the location with 50 Hubs on Bellamystraat.
So last month the CityHub opened its doors enabling their guests, mostly the travel-savvy Generation Y, to explore Amsterdam, socialise with friends and share experiences online. According to the owners a new kind of traveller has emerged: 20- to 35-year-old digital natives. For them, ‘discovery’ is the key: five-star hotels and stereotypical tourists spots don’t make them tick; they want to hear about the city’s hotspots from people in the know and enjoy a personalised travel experience instead. They are connected 24/7 and expect information on the go: a principle that is not optimally utilised by many traditional hotels. CityHub builds the entire travel experience around these new developments in the travel industry, through a city app, an online chat platform with a personal host, and unique Hubs in which to sleep.
A small hospitable gesture: Children’s buffet
14-12-2015
The 5-star Brown’s Hotel in London, is not only entertaining for parents but for the children as well. Brown’s Hotel offers, besides the normal buffet, a full equipped children’s station on the buffet during breakfast.
Children’s buffet
The children’s buffet at the Brown’s hotel can only be used by children, ‘no parents allowed’! Equipped with a selection of cereal favourites, fresh fruit, pastries and even reading material for when they are waiting for mum and dad to finish their breakfast and newspaper.
The Italian Baglioni Hotel Regina offers a small buffet especially designed for children as well. One of our followers sent us the pictures, as can be seen above, of the hotel situated in Rome. The Brown’s Hotel and the Baglioni Hotel Regina are both member of The Leading Hotels of the World.
If you spot nice hospitable gestures, please let us now and send an email to tip@spronsen.com.
A guide for child-friendly hospitality industry
The children’s buffet could have been mentioned in the guide for a child-friendly hospitality industry named ‘Kinderen aan tafel’, published in Belgium. The booklet provides a self-test for restaurant owners, practical checklists, tips & tricks for child-friendly service, menu suggestions, tips for plate decoration and additional services. Unfortunately it’s only available in Dutch.
Prêt-à-Portea delicacies with a fashionista twist
11-12-2015
The Berkeley London has been serving a designer afternoon tea, Prêt-à-Portea, for almost 10 years. It’s inspired by the themes and colours of the fashion world. The menu follows the seasons in fashion, changing every six months. Hence, a tea with a perfectly worked out theme.
Although we already spotted the Prêt-à-Portea in 2007 and wrote about it back then, we never got to experience it first-hand. This tea is an inspiration for other hoteliers, merely because of the perfection of the theme which is amazing. Every detail is right: a shoe at the table as a ‘reserved’ sign, colourful and specially designed chinaware, a colourful menu with fashionable quotes, champagne of course, miniature savoury canapés, skewers and tea sandwiches followed by the specially designed sweets. Oh, and don’t forget the fashionable doggy bags!
A fashionista twist
The Autumn/Winter 2015-2016 Prêt-à-Portea collection takes inspiration from a lot of distinguished fashion designers. Taking centre stage is Dolce & Gabbana’s popular pink rose dress from their ground breaking ‘Viva La Mama’ collection, as seen on recent covers of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar. This dress is translated in a yummy lychee and almond mousse, set upon pink pâte sablée topped with light pink chocolate and delicate rose detailing. The striped shoulder bag by Valentino tasted delicious as well, sponge cake with cranberry compote amidst multi-colour striped chocolate, finished with a golden handle.
Check out the website of The Berkeley for more details and if you’re in London, I would recommend to indulge yourself with a cozy, delicious tea here. ^Marjolein
Christmas decorations: the exterior of your building illuminated with a laser show
26-11-2015
Easy to use laser show for the Christmas season at the exterior of your restaurant or hotel.
Laser Show: Easy Christmas lights
Although the video at the article on toxel.com looks like an advertisement of a sales channel on TV (which it probably is), we still want to mention this awesome Christmas decoration.
Because it is a distinctive way to put your property in thousands of stars and the reseller tells you it’s more sustainable than the old fashioned Christmas lights we use today. Beside that we all know how long we are busy arranging those lights! The Star Shower laser projector covers the entire building with thousands of stars. See the photos in the video above and in the article on toxel.com. Online you will find different models and reviews. It’s a real eye-catcher for the exterior of your restaurant or hotel.
Our/Amsterdam Vodka, made locally and sold locally
12-11-2015
Since early October Amsterdam has its own Our/Amsterdam Vodka. Our/Amsterdam is one of the nine small production facilities owned by France’s Pernod Ricard.
Our/Amsterdam Vodka
Our/Amsterdam has started producing their Vodka in the distillery at the Helikoperstraat 32, in Amsterdam. The distillery has a production facility and a tasting room which is ideal for small events and tours. The tasting room is very trendy, with industrial lamps combined with green plants and copper accents. The vodka in Amsterdam has a soft taste with a subtle aroma. Although the recipe for all the Our/Vodka’s has been developed by Vincent Hoarau of The Pernod Ricard Research Centre, most ingredients are sourced locally and every location has its own brew master. In addition they say that in every city the taste is infused with the personality and expression of the city.
Although part of a global parent company with locations all over the world, every Our/Vodka produces a local vodka, sold for local markets. Like Our Vodka Berlin, Stockholm, Detroit, Seattle and Our London will open this month and next year New York, Los Angeles and Miami will follow.
About the team behind Our/Amsterdam
Amsterdam entrepreneurs Marcel Wortel and Ivo Hulscher teamed up with Pernod Ricard to be the Our/Amsterdam partners of the Our/Vodka family. The team is completed with Joris Doesburg, sales manager, Martijn Schavemaker, distillery manager and Anton Bal, social media guy. Their message: Our/Amsterdam is smooth, fresh and composed to blend well with any mixer. But keep it simple, it’s vodka.
Traditional French table service at Restaurant Hemingway
11-11-2015
‘Back to the Classics’, restaurant Hemingway from Grand Hotel ‘De Draak’ (the Dragon) is going to implement traditional tableside food preparation for two days this month.
Restaurant Hemingway is part of the oldest hotel and company in the Netherlands, Grand Hotel De Draak in Bergen op Zoom. The team of the restaurant is going to implement traditional French tableside food preparations. Examples of this are flambéing, filleting etcetera at every course of their menu on Thursday the 26th and Friday, the 27th of November.
‘Back to the Classics’ with the traditional French table service style
A French serving style is not very common, but is seen at some exclusive upscale clubs and restaurants. The waiter typically has a fancy cart that carries different types of food for the guests to look over before they decide what they would like. Sometimes this is only done for appetizers or deserts, and sometimes it is done throughout the entire meal.
At restaurant Hemingway one can chose a four course meal with a classic dish at each course. During the evening they will cut smoked salmon, fillet sole at the table, serve chopped sirloin steak with flambéed lardons and they finish with ‘cerises flambées’. There’s a lot of craftsmanship to witness on these evenings in restaurant Hemingway.
The craftsmanship of preparing classic dishes at the table is disappearing
In recent years, more and more restaurants stopped preparing the classic dishes at the table. This is mainly due to the labour intensity but it also isn’t taught anymore at the institutions. The classic tableside preparations are no longer regularly practiced and they seem to disappear due to these causes. Fortunately they are still used with some regularity at high-end restaurants. Often in a fancy way, such as preparing ice cream at the table through nitrogen, or preparing a cocktail at the table or the bar this way.
One will find variations of the classic dishes such as Crêpe Suzette regularly in the top restaurants. Like at Maison Lameloise (***) of chef Éric Pras where they still prepare a delicious Crêpe Suzette at your table.
In the end the traditional French table serving styles guarantee a show and your guest will experience a night out instead of just having dinner! We love to experience it in restaurants and we do wish the guests of restaurant Hemingway lot of fun and the team the best of luck on 26 and 27 November!
