The potato store in Amsterdam
10-9-2014
A temporary potato store will open in Amsterdam on 26 September. The pop-up store ‘Pieperboetiek’ (pieper is a Dutch nickname for a potato) will be opened for two weeks and is dedicated to potatoes. Besides giving information, 30 kinds of potatoes are sold as well. All types of potatoes are organic and grown locally in the Netherlands. The goal of the store is to reduce the gap between the city and countryside. Visitors can ask questions to potato farmers, a fries-debate is held and a potato dinner is organized. The ‘Pieperboetiek’ is an initiative of Krispijn van den Dries, a biodynamic farmer and slightly a potato activist. Earlier Krispijn protested against the low prizes of potatoes by dumping 6.000 kilos of potatoes on the Dam in Amsterdam. Krispijn is, together with city farmer and journalist Felicia Alberding and the Youth Food Movement, committed to an honest food system and better relationships between the city and the countryside.
The Netherlands, Land of Whisky
9-9-2014
The documentary ‘The Netherlands, land of Whisky’ will premiere at the film festival ‘Film By The Sea’ in Vlissingen on 20 September. The initiative of film maker Gwen Jansen shows the remarkable whisky culture in the Netherlands: Over 2,5 million people drink whisky, world’s largest whisky fair is in the Netherlands and a lot of whisky media and whisky writers are Dutch. The first whisky camping is even founded in the Netherlands. The documentary is produced by JansenJager, Beeldmakers and is mostly established by crowdfunding and without use of subsidies. It will appear on DVD and Blu-Ray at the end of this year in Dutch and English and can be ordered via the website ‘NederlandWhiskyland’.
Baidu smart chopsticks
8-9-2014
It all started as a April fools’ prank last spring: chopsticks that are able to analyze the quality of food. This summer Chinese web giant Baidu launched a prototype of smart chopsticks that focuses on health and hygiene. The smart chopsticks will tell you whether the oil that has been used is fresh: sensors of the chopsticks discover the oil’s temperature and judges its fitness for consumption. Poor food safety is a big problem in China, one of the concerns is ‘gutter oil’. ‘Gutter oil’ is illegal cooking oil what is made by reprocessing waste oil or by dredging up leftovers from restaurants.
Veuve Clicquot ages champagne in Baltic Sea
5-9-2014
Champagne house Veuve Clicquot dropped hundreds of bottles of champagne in the Baltic sea on 18 June. The Baltic sea offers unique aging conditions for the bottles of champagne with its low level of salinity and a constant temperature of 4 degrees. This was discovered four years ago when divers found a cache of more than 165 bottles of champagne near the Äland island near Finland. The bottles were dating back to 1839, but were preserved perfectly. The bottles champagne of Veuve Clicquot currently lie 40 meters below the surface where they will be monitored by a ‘cellar master’. The bottles will be brought back to the surface in 2054.
The Bacon Bullets
3-9-2014
NEXTDELI is a new player in the field of food concepts and introduced new products: The Bacon Bullets and The Bacon Balls. The products are inspired on the Dutch well-known ‘Kroket’ and ‘Bitterbal’ and have a bacon flavour. The Bacon Balls and Bullets distinguish themselves from the ‘Kroket’ and ‘Bitterbal’ in three ways: ‘The Crunch’, ‘The Bacon’ and ‘The Taste’. The products have a special crunch because of the use of American breadcrumb. The Bacon can be tasted in the creamy filling and the Taste refers to the spicy aftertaste. The products are made of organic bacon and no additives and preservatives are added. A special sauce is developed to replace the mustard that is usually used with ‘kroketten’ and ‘bitterballen’. The Gunshot sauce looks a lot like a mustard-sauce, but has a sweet touch from honey and a touch of BBQ.
How do you apply trends as entrepreneur in the hospitality industry?
1-9-2014
First of all, when talking about trends you need to realize that many different concepts are being named trends these days. However, there is a big difference between trends, hypes and inspiration. For example, we call our website hospitalitytrends.eu but mostly offer inspiration based on red threads in international trends. Real trends take their time in the adoption curve. If you look at the adoption curve of for example sustainability, you’ll see that it has been coming up for 15 to 20 years already and now it is mainstream, thus this is a trend. Hypes however usually stick around with the innovators and early adopters.
The usual development of a trend is that it begins with a very small portion of the population. Logically entrepreneurs are drawn to new trends since they are always looking for new success. They are constantly scared to miss out and fail in their business endeavours, yet specifically as an entrepreneur it is important that you keep on living your own dream and take care that you do not jump on every trend or hype that comes along.
FG Shop sells lunchboxes
26-8-2014
Last week we’ve visited the rewarded Michelin star chef François Geurds** because of the launch of the FG Out of the Box Experience and the recently opened FG Shop. The store is part of the former Hofplein station at the end of the new ‘Luchtsingel’, a pedestrian bridge that connects several creative parts of Rotterdam.
Samsung Smart Signage TV
25-8-2014
Samsung launches a new smart TV screen by the name ‘Smart Signage TV’. The screen can be divided into different boxes, what makes it possible to show different images at the same time. This makes the display ideal for hospitality businesses, because guests can be informed about promotions, menu’s and other content at the same time. Samsung offers the Smart Signage TV in a complete package with a professional screen, TV tuner, Wi-Fi, software, a standard and wall brackets for € 749,-.
Crispy snacks without the deep fryer
20-8-2014
Until recently it wasn’t possible to make a snack from the oven as crispy and delicious as if it is from the deep fryer. Snack manufacturer Royaan introduced a complete new assortment crispy oven snacks under the Kwekkeboom brand. The assortment will consist of ‘kroketten’, ‘bitterballen’ and chicken- and cheese-snacks, all provided with a unique patented crispy-crust technology.
Besides that the snacks are more healthy out of the oven, there is also an advantage for companies as airlines, gas stations and movie theaters. For these parties, it isn’t always possible to offer crispy snacks because they are not allowed to fry, or because they don’t have frying facilities. Several Dutch companies as Corendon already sell the new snacks, but consumers have to be a bit patient; the Kwekkeboom Oven Snacks will be launched in retail stores later this year.
The Fish and Season festival 2014
18-8-2014
The Fish and Season festival is a 3-day culinary festival dedicated to sustainable and delicious fish. The festival takes place in the market hall of the Food Centre in Amsterdam that will be transformed into a Valhalla for fish-lovers, with a large kitchen for demonstrations and a foodcourt. Guests of the festival can see demonstrations of several top-chefs, enjoy great dishes and be inspired by the newest innovations in fish-preparing methods.
