HOP Academy for the staff from restaurant The Old Police Station

21-4-2016

Because it is increasingly difficult to get skilled staff, Restaurant The Old Police Station organized a one day HOP Academy for the staff. At this mostly educational day the employees gained knowledge in several areas. A great way to teach your staff the basic knowledge in a way that they communicate the right information to your guests. lees verder

Trends we spotted this week – week 15

15-4-2016

  • Trends in het kort

At the redaction of Horecatrends we spot a lot of national and international trends on a daily basis. We pick the most interesting ones to write articles about, the smaller trends we use in our column ‘Trends we spotted this week’. This week among others, bungalowspecials starts with a WhatsApp concierges, Sergio Herman’s Frites atelier and this summer you can pay with your fingerprint in Japan.

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Restaurant Day: open your own restaurant for one day

12-4-2016

Schedule the date in your agenda and be a chef for one day during Restaurant Day. This food festival takes place at the 21st of May and is being organised by thousands of people worldwide who either open their restaurant for one day or visit one.

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NH Collection Launch

8-4-2016

  • NH Collection Grand Hotel KrasnapolskyNH Collection Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky
  • NH Collection De DoelenNH Collection De Doelen
  • The White RoomThe White Room
  • Wintertuin NH Collection Grand Hotel KrasnapolskyWintertuin NH Collection Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky
  • Hotel room NH Collection Grand hotel KrasnapolskyHotel room NH Collection Grand hotel Krasnapolsky
  • Bar The TailorBar The Tailor
  • Cocktails at The TailorCocktails at The Tailor
  • Cocktails at The Tailor & Pata NegraCocktails at The Tailor & Pata Negra
  • Tess PosthumusTess Posthumus
  • NH Collection De DoelenNH Collection De Doelen

NH Collection has added some very cool hotels to their portfolio! And Amsterdam had got another culinary hotspot with The White Room and with The Tailor bar, a hotspot for cocktails. Bram Kosterink attended the launch of the NH Collection in Amsterdam, the NH Collection Doelen and NH Collection Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky. Bram visited the new hotel rooms, tasted the cocktails made by Tess Posthumus and was getting a first insight in the new challenge of chef Jacob Jan Boerma.

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Connie – Hilton’s new robot

6-4-2016

A new robot in the hospitality industry. Hilton Worldwide and IBM announced a collaboration to pilot ‘Connie’ – the first Watson-enabled robot concierge in the hospitality industry. Hilton’s new robot draws on domain knowledge from Watson and WayBlazer to inform guests on local tourist attractions, dining recommendations and hotel features and amenities.

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Waking up between sharks with Airbnb’s ‘A Night At’

30-3-2016

A once in a lifetime experience: spending the night at a very unique accommodation. In the context of ‘A Night At’ campaign it is possible to spend the night in an underwater bedroom in the shark tank of Aquarium de Paris. This means you will wake up between sharks! Who dares? lees verder

McDonald’s in 2016: A restaurant?

29-3-2016

Guest blog of Leonie van Spronsen, living and working in Paris, where she experienced the table service at the McDonald’s at the Champs-Élysées. lees verder

Do’s and don’ts for your terrace 2016

25-3-2016

  • By Freepik

#1 ‘Sorry, I don’t take orders, you will have to ask my colleague’ – don’t

Large groups of guests are often annoyed by this. The owner choses to take the orders through automated devices, which is fine for the efficiency, but should never bother the guests, like the answer: no one brought a ‘device’ with them. Solution: when the staff is busy serving, they are allowed to ask for a moment. Afterwards they should immediately signal a colleague with a device or pass on the order. lees verder

Trends for your terrace 2016

4-3-2016

  • IJsjes
  • Stoere limonades
  • Kraanwater
  • Koude koffie & koffiecocktails
  • Vermouth of gin-tonic

The meteorological spring has started this week. Here in Amsterdam the weather doesn’t show a sign of it yet, but with a little bit of luck we can enjoy the sunshine on the terraces by the end of the month. What should you serve on your terrace this season? Below you can find a list of products we expect to see on the Dutch terraces. In our first trend presentation this year, about terrace trends, the products below were mentioned. lees verder

Food festivals: prevent queues or make sure your guests enjoy the queue…

19-2-2016

  • Credits: @dominiqueansel’s Instagram.

Guest blog of Leonie van Spronsen, living and working in Paris, heard her colleagues complain about the long queues during the ‘Taste of Paris’ last week. Due to the start of the festival season last weekend with the ‘Taste of Holland’, Leonie blogs about the annoyance of queues. It is not too late to do something about them yet..

Over the past few years they have been popping up all over the world, these “foodie-festivals”we mean, they are either indoor or outdoor, focus on astonishing gastronomy or on variations of our favourite snacks. I personally feel that this is a great development, as the average foodie enjoys these more than a dance festival. But much to our dismay, queueing up  has become a regular activity at all these “foodie-festivals”.

Every small but delicious bite you want to try is ruined by a spectacular waiting line. At ‘Taste of Paris’ the average waiting time was 30 to 45 minutes for basically every stand. But also last summer, while visiting ‘Rollende Keukens’we had to conclude that the festival has had its best days, the terrain gets way too busy these days and this takes the fun out of it for us and many others. Obviously these huge crowds are great for the organizers and illustrates the large demand for these types of events, but the negative effect of over-crowdedness will clearly affect your event and the future of your event quickly.

So how come this situation arises on these festivals? The fact that there are long lines at amateur festivals is to be expected, their organizers usually aren’t specialized in the logistics of F&B. Besides, true hospitality is usually not their main goal. But these “foodie-festivals” consists mostly of hospitality entrepreneurs am I right? How is then still possible that these festivals create such un-hospitable situations? Hospitality is their core business!

For the future of the “foodie-festival”it seems to be very important that we solve this ‘queueing up-situation’ because if not.. Will they still be as popular as they are or will people get sick of it soon?

You can either solve this or accept the lines and entertain your guests!

In regards to entertaing your queueing customers, festival entrepreneurs could take some inspiration from baker Dominique Ansel. With two lines a day in front of his bakery (early morning for the cronuts and at 4 PM for the milk cookie-shots) this is the man that can tell you a thing or two about lines and people in lines. He excels in entertaining his waiting customers, like last weekend when he personally handed out roses to ‘his line’ for Valentine’s Day at his bakery in New York City. But on any given day, him and his team hand out warm madeleines, hot chocolate milk, appel cider or lemonade if it’s hot out.

At the opening of his bakery in Japan they even went as far as doing social media challenges between the lines in New York and Tokyo. They arranged for breakdancers to entertain the crowd and when it got really sunny and hot, they sprayed their customers with water sprays to keep them cool.

You can check out our article about the opening of the Tokyo bakery on our website hospitalitytrends.eu.

So consider entertaining your guests while they wait and thus make sure your “foodie-festival” visitor keeps coming back for more. We would love to visit festivals without lines but if that’s too much to ask.. at least keep them entertained!

Leonie van Spronsen

 

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