Limited-edition PAC-MAN pizza box featuring augmented reality game by Pizza Hut
8-4-2021
Pizza Hut served up a ‘Newstalgia’ campaign celebrating what fans know and love about the pizza restaurant, but with a contemporary twist. To bring the campaign to life, the brand unveiled a limited-edition PAC-MAN pizza box featuring an augmented reality game and a chance to win a custom PAC-MAN game cabinet back in March. The campaign did put a contemporary twist on celebrating all the things people love and associate with the brand – from Book It!® pins, classic arcade games, red cups and Tiffany-style lamps and of course, iconic Pizza Hut pizzas.
Although the campaign has already ended we think it might be an inspiration for other restaurants to add some nostalgia to their brand in one way or another. Lots of us loved to play PAC-MAN back in the day but also games like Tetris, Mario Kart and remember SimCity? We have all learned not to play with our food but this might be fun!
Reading time: 2 minutes
Trends we spotted | Week 13
6-4-2021
At horecatrends.com or hospitalitytrends.eu 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 an investment by restaurant chain Chipotle in autonomous delivery by startup NURO. And to help out in tough times, supermarkets rent storefront windows from restaurants. Launched last week in Amsterdam, Reclame voor Horeca (‘Ads for Hospitality’).
Both NESCAFÉ and the startup, UP TO GOOD, introduced drinks made from upcycled coffee fruit. NESCAFE NATIV and UP TO GOOD cascara. And in London opened Urban Mutts, the first luxury dog hotel! With spa treatments, handcrafted dog beds, reiki etc.
Ultimate Paleo Protein infuses your cup of coffee with quality protein, healthy fat, and heat-stable probiotics. It reminded us a bit of Bulletproof coffee? And the first Cannabis-infused wine from France has been created in the region of Bordeaux.
KRISPY KREME® Giving FREE doughnuts to everyone who shows his or her COVID-19 Vaccination Card and has more ideas to encourage people to get the vaccine! And we spotted a startup with the aim to reduce our sodium intake which is increasing our high blood pressure: Green Salt made of Salicornia!
Click on the title if you like to read the full article. Enjoy reading!
The future of pizza | The robotic pizza shop Piestro
1-4-2021
An interesting idea: the robotic pizza shop Piestro, an automated artisan pizza vending machine. Piestro launched in the summer of 2020 and drove investor interest for its ability to automate the pizza cooking process to 3 minutes! A standalone pizzeria model that would make artisan quality pies available in public spaces closer to where consumers live –like apartment complex lobbies or offices, universities and malls. With just a press of a button, consumers are able to watch a pizza created in front of their eyes, with fresh ingredients cooked to consistent perfection. Piestro even started a cooperation with Kiwibots to create delivery from a vending machine!
Inspiration for pizzeria’s? It might be an idea to place an automated artisan pizza vending machine outside your pizzeria, an extra source of sales and so convenient during the pandemic!
Reading time: 3 minutes, checking all the links takes longer 😉
Trends we spotted | Week 12
30-3-2021
At horecatrends.com or hospitalitytrends.eu 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 a cultured meat manufacturing at the first plant-to-fork facility The Chicken by SuperMeat in Israel. And a bit older article about the plant-based meat market estimated to be worth billions of dollars. We wonder what the influence of cultured meat will be on those sales numbers!
Japan’s airline ANA sold $1.8 million worth of Economy Class inflight meals to Japanese consumers for at-home dining and Shake Shack begins using AirCarbon cutlery and straws from Restore Foodware at select locations.
Smarties is the first sweets-brand to switch to recyclable paper packaging and Starbucks recently committed to their future by setting ambitious goals in order to reduce their carbon footprint, water and waste by at least 50% in 2030.
A link to a great article about the thriving scene of Korean restaurants in New York, with a couple of them with one or two Michelin stars and inspiration for pizzerias: the garlic buttery crust By the Pizza Inn.
Click on the title if you would like to read the full article. Enjoy reading!
Trends we spotted | Week 11
23-3-2021
At horecatrends.com or hospitalitytrends.eu 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 a 3D-printed neighborhood in California which made us wonder when the first 3D-printed holiday park will open! And a vegan egg substitute by EVO Foods in India.
The ‘Zero Human Interaction’ restaurant ‘Brooklyn Dumpling Shop just opened in NYC and recently signed their first franchise agreement, with a video that explains the idea behind their shop. And Takeaway.com and UEFA announced global UEFA EURO 2020 partnership.
Gordon Ramsey will be selling his own Californian wines in his restaurants and an Argentinian winery has conducted a successful experiment with maturing wine under water.
A biodegradable face mask by the Dutch designer Marianne de Groot, once you have worn the mask, you can bury it and watch it sprout into flowers. And the Halal Guys recently launched plant-based Gyro.
Orbisk waste system | Food waste monitor provides insight into your waste
16-3-2021
Orbisk has developed a fully automated food waste monitor. The waste collection point of F&B-companies will be equipped with scales and a smart camera, which will record exactly what is thrown away and what amount. Based on the collected data, bundled in clear online reports, you can optimize the supply, purchasing process and your menu and thus save up to tens of thousands of euros per year!
Our colleagues from Van Spronsen & Partners Hospitality Consultancy and –Hospitality Administration have been telling their customers for years: data is knowledge! (in Dutch: meten is weten). By keeping track of your turnover on a daily basis, you get “grip” based on data so that you can estimate how much you will approximately turnover on a certain day in a specific period. As this food waste monitor shows this knowledge is also highly effective for reducing food waste! In the past, we have written about a similar product, named Winnow. These systems are very suitable for the larger professional kitchens.
Reading time: 2 minutes
Impact Shakers | First European awards for sustainable and inclusive startups
16-3-2021
Inspired by the doughnut economics model, applications for the very first Impact Shakers Awards, opened on March 1st. All European startups and scaleups with a positive impact on society and the environment may apply. It is the first time that more than 40 impact ecosystem players from all over Europe, including incubators, accelerators, investors and networking organizations are rallying behind the same cause.
The Impact Shakers Awards are inspired by the doughnut economics model, which maps human prosperity according to a social foundation and an ecological ceiling. An international jury will pick winners in twelve categories: Energy, Water, Food, Health, Education, Income & Work, Peace & Justice, Political Voice, Social Equity, Gender Equality, Housing & Networks. Those start-ups and scale-ups who want to enroll: you can till subscribe till the first of May!
Reading time: 3 minutes
Trends we spotted | Week 10
15-3-2021
At horecatrends.com or hospitalitytrends.eu 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 automated voices to take orders at a drive-thru and AmazonFresh opens their first checkout-free grocery store outside the USA in London.
The riverside igloos at the terrace of the Coppa Club will return this spring! As the restaurants are opening again at April 12 in the UK, they might be a safe and Instagrammable place to meet in London. And we spotted the ‘Global travel trends report’ by American Express. With trends we can totally relate to!
Stalk & Spade, an entirely meat-free fast casual concept will open just outside of Minneapolis this spring. Let’s see if we will spot this kind of fast casual concepts in Europe in the future. And the Easter mainstay Cadbury teamed up with the Goose Island Beer Company to release a Creme Egg-flavored stout for Easter.
An interesting development: edible holograms created by the Khalifa University, could be used to show that a food item hasn’t been tampered with, or to prove that it isn’t a counterfeit product. And Starbucks is set to release its latest limited-edition coffee blend, to celebrate its 50th-anniversary. Fifty years already!
Click on the title if you like to read the full article. Enjoy reading!
Trends we spotted | Week 9
8-3-2021
At horecatrends.com or hospitalitytrends.eu 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 about a Japanese-Style Basque Cheesecake from Basuku, it sounds delicious! And Orbital Assembly plans to start building private Voyager space station with artificial gravity in 2025, the first hotel in space.
A link to an article about the Dutch initiative Share That Kitchen, they want to become a kind of Airbnb for professional kitchens. And ‘Quatreau’ CBD drinks launched in the US, it sounds like a Hard Seltzer drink with CBD and we wonder whether these kind of drinks will come to the Netherlands as well.
PepsiCo is shaking up the cocktail mixer category with the launch of Neon Zebra, a new line of non-alcoholic cocktail mixers in 7.5oz mini-cans. Create 2 cocktails with one can in an instant! And an exceptional payment in the spirits industry, a transaction in Bitcoin between a supplier and distributor.
Onmateria created a Green Box. The Green Box, an amenity kit designed to tackle plastic waste in the hotel industry. And in 2025 the first Nobu Hotel in Germany will open in Hamburg, The Elbtower Hamburg.
Open for 1 month in April 2021: Candytropolis Sugar Rush, a safe, open-air, walk-through family adventure in California. And we loved this ice cream: ‘Not Fried Chicken’ Ice cream! We think it might inspire Dutch ice cream creators to make kroket, bitterbal or frikandel ice cream. Very #Instagrammable!
Virginia Gold Peanut Coffee | The world’s first caffeinated coffee alternative made of peanuts
2-3-2021
Virginia Gold Peanut coffee is the world’s first caffeinated coffee alternative made of peanuts. For what we have read it’s the latest coffee craze in the US and we understand it isn’t coffee, but it looks like it and is delicious. Check out the reviews in the press, for example the FoodNetwork Magazine writes: “It tastes like a less acidic version of coffee, with just a hint of nutty flavor”. We here in Europe have to wait though, we only spotted it in the social media and articles in the US. We also understood that they aren’t shipping to Europe yet. We love to try it though, don’t you?
Reading time: 2 minutes
PAC-MAN augmented reality game by Pizza Hut
