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, a great idea for your terrace this summer ‘Dorilocos or crazy doritos’. , ‘Urban pillow fight at square in Toronto’ and ‘Pizzacle, a pizza on a stick’.
The first European location of Baba Rafi opened in Alkmaar. In Asia, the chain has more than 1,300 locations. Kebab 2.0 adapted to the European market.
In June 2015 we wrote about plans for the initial European establishment of Baba Rafi in Alkmaar. We then wrote about how 176 private investors invested € 250.000,= in the company via Collin Crowdfund. On September 24, the entrepreneurs Sinan Gul, Hans Gradient, Baris Kürkcü and Herman de Haas opened the doors of their Baba Rafi at an AA location in the center of Alkmaar. We saw in Paris that Kebab, if adapted to local customs, can become hugely popular. There Grillé serves ‘un Kebab quasi Gastronomique‘!
Baba Rafi is the largest franchise chain in the world in the field of kebab products. With more than 1300 locations in Asia the concept is very popular. The Asian concept is fully adapted for the European market where respect for food, the customers and the environment play an important role. Baris Kürkcü: “Every niche in the food industry, from French fries-, hamburger- and chicken formulas to sandwiches, has seen a trend towards more sustainable and responsible food in the recent years. With Baba Rafi we introduce a kebab concept that is tailored entirely to the needs and desires of the modern, conscious consumer. The dishes are freshly prepared with a minimum of E-numbers and maximum sustainable and organic ingredients. In addition, we have worked closely in the development of the food with a culinary consultant and nutritionist. Thus, the dishes are suitable to eat for lunch. For everyone, even for women and children.”
Along with financial expert Hans Verloop and former McDonald’s CEO, Herman de Haas the Baba Rafi team want to realize the largest kebab chain in Europe. There is no comparable franchise concept in Europe and in total more than 10 billion euros is spend on kebab. Hans Verloop: “We can apply our experience in Alkmaar to future franchisees in many other comparable cities. From the North of Holland we want to expand Baba Rafi all over the Netherlands and after the start-up phase also start in other countries in Europe.”
This takeout container should actually have been invented in the Netherlands! But McDonald’s has worked with the ad agency Tribal Buenos Aires in Argentina to create this McBike packaging.
This cyclist-friendly packaging is a recyclable, compact container for a burger, fries and a drink. The burger and the fries each have their own compartments. You can attach the package to your bicycle’s handlebars. The design ensures that the drink is kept upright.
The McBike package is launched in Copenhagen, Denmark. Copenhagen is one of the most cyclist-dense cities in the world. But it’s also launched in Medellin, Colombia. We’re lucky, Amsterdam is also on the list of McDonald’s to launch the McBike … ..
The initial establishment of an innovative European kebab franchise will soon start in Alkmaar.
Entrepreneurs Sinan Gul, Hans Verloop and Baris Kürkcü took the very popular Baba Rafi format from Asia to Europe and adjusted them fully to European standards and trends. With a strong focus on healthy and sustainable dishes, Baba Rafi also wants to reach out to women and children and that distinguishes the formula from all existing kebab, döner or shawarma formats.
In order to finance the initial establishment of Baba Rafi Europe, the entrepreneurs made a successful appeal to the public: 176 private investors invested € 250.000,= in the company via Collin CrowdFund.
Baba Rafi is the largest franchise chain in the world in the field of kebab products. With more than 1.300 locations in Asia where the concept is immense popular. The Asian concept is fully adapted to the European market where respect for the food, the customers and the environment play an important role. One of the initiators, Baris Kürkcü: “Every niche in the food industry, from fries-, hamburger and chicken formats to sandwiches, has seen a trend towards more sustainable and responsible food, in the recent years. With Baba Rafi we introduce a kebab concept that is tailored entirely to the needs and desires of the modern conscious consumers. The dishes are freshly prepared with a minimum of E-numbers and maximum sustainable and organic ingredients. We have worked closely with a culinary consultant and nutritionist during the development of the dishes. The dishes are suitable to eat for lunch. For everyone, thus emphatically including women and children.”
Along with financial expert Hans Verloop and former McDonald’s CEO, Herman de Haas, the team of Baba Rafi wants to realize the largest kebab chain in Europe. There is no comparable franchise concept in Europe but there is a 10 billion euros sales in kebab fastfood restaurants. The facility in Alkmaar will be the flagship store and serves as a model for the next Baba Rafi in comparably sized cities in the Netherlands and Europe.
McDonald’s uses the ‘random acts of kindness’ marketing technique from 1 February until Valentine’s Day. All over America their guests may be randomly selected to pay for their meal with selfies, hugs, high fives, and other forms of love.
In 2009 we already wrote about the unexpected friendly gestures the Hyatt hotel group did to their guests. They gave away free massages, offered breakfast and randomly selected guests that didn’t had to pay the bar tab. Also companies like KLM used acts of generosity in the past. With the prominent position of social media in our lives these unexpected gestures are a strong stimulant for positive mouth-to-mouth or ‘mouth-to-media’ advertising.
On the internet more and more videos and pictures with the responses from guests who are offered a free meal are posted. This works out great. The company invests in an advertising campaign and free meals, their guests talk, write and share videos with their friends about it.
At the website of RAK, random acts of kindness, you will find a lot of inspiration for your act of kindness. They even have their own #RAKweek2015 for stories about random kindness from 6 to 15 February.
During the Winter Olympics in Sochi, fans can send their favorite athlete a personal message. Via the site ‘Cheers to Sochi’ or Twitter #cheerstosochi messages can be sent and McDonald’s will deliver them to the athletes in a special way. McDonald’s ensures that the messages are projected on a screen in the Olympic Village and athletes can print their favorite posts on a wrist-ribbon and respond to their fans through Twitter.
This ad from McDonald’s in a bus shelter in Sydney is only fully displayed when it is dark. During the day it seems like it lacks the half of the famous ‘M’ , but as soon as it gets dark the entire ‘M’ appears in the reflection of the glass. This ad is part of the new campaign by McDonald’s to announce that the fast food chain is open all night.
Increasingly we’re noticing more attention to gluten-free products. McDonald’s has recently joined the trend with a gluten-free bun. But we spotted a gluten-free pizza at Domino’s pizza in London in 2012. The gluten-free products provide a good example of transparency. Both companies ensure that the bun and pizza crust are gluten-free, but they also indicate that they are prepared in a kitchen where gluten are processed, which mean that traces of gluten can be found in the meal. The only way to avoid this is to fully dedicate your restaurant to gluten-free meals. Read more…
McDonald’s has taken a fresh approach with their most recent advertising campaign called “Think With Your Mouth”. Created by New York-based ad agency Translation, the outcome is a series of 20-second videos, which all feature a Big Mac as the centerpiece. Each of the videos has a distinct style with the goal of appealing to a different segment of Internet users. With this tactic they aim to increase the number of people who are likely to click on any one of the company’s videos, thus increasing the effectiveness of the ad campaign.
Viral by DDB-Tribal in Vienna, we only post it for those who have problems waking up especially on a Monday morning! An easy breakfast like this at McDonald’s looks really tempting.
Especially for King’s Day 2024, GiG is launching their hard seltzer ‘GiG Orange Anthem’ with a refreshing orange flavour for the ultimate King’s Day experience. read more
We have been sharing inspiration on our website since 2007, inspiration that we find in the hospitality industry or by online spotting of what our read more
We have been sharing inspiration on our website since 2007, inspiration that we find in the hospitality industry or by online spotting of what our read more
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