Call it a champagne bar, call it a hotdog store
27-1-2014
Dutch chef-kok Ron Blaauw opened the ‘Ron Gastropub‘ in April with affordable dishes of high gastronomic level. Ron Blaauw will open his new concept ‘The Fat Dog’ in Amsterdam in April. The restaurant will serve handcrafted hotdogs with diverse toppings in combination with a glass of bubbles, wine or gin tonic. The new concept is inspired by Bubbledogs in London, a champagne bar that serves bubbles with hotdogs instead of caviar.
Shepherd Ham
24-1-2014
Shepherd Ham is made from sheep that are taken to graze on moorlands, dikes and other natural grazing and they are accompanied by a shepherd. Shepherd Ham is a local product of Limburg and is soft and full of flavor, available with or without bone. The meat is massaged with fine sea salt and then dry-cured for a length of time. Each Shepherd Ham has its own story: every shepherd has a UBN number that can be traced through the website. So you can see the information about the shepherd and the grazing locations.
Vending machine with salads
24-1-2014
We already have seen a number of vending machines, but mostly with unhealthy products. The vending machine of Farmers’s Fridge sells healthy, fresh packaged salads, fruits and breakfast. The company prepares the salads made of organic, local en fresh produce early in the morning and delivers the packed salads to the vending machines by 10AM. The unsold salads from the previous day will be donated to the local food bank. The vending machine has a touchscreen and is made of wood and recycled materials. Farmer’s Fridge currently has vending machines in the Chicago area.
Design contest for bed Sofitel Luxury Hotels
24-1-2014
Sofitel Luxury Hotels organizes a design contest in collaboration with the Wallpaper magazine. Designers, artists and students worldwide can submit their bed design inspired by MyBed (the Sofitel bed concept). The winning design will be displayed in the lobby of Sofitel München Bayerpost and the winner gets a free night at a Sofitel Hotel.
Cheers to Sochi
23-1-2014
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.
Volkshotel Amsterdam
23-1-2014
The ‘Volkshotel’ will open its doors in Amsterdam in May 2014. The old building of the newspaper ‘de Volkskrant’ undergoes a renovation to a multidisciplinary building with a hotel of 172 rooms. Existing elements with a creative character remain and a part will be converted into a creative space. The ‘Volkshotel’ will also have a restaurant, a cocktail bar with a ’20s New York look, a club, a theatre bar and a lobby with co-working space. On the roof there are hot tubs and a sauna with a view of the city of Amsterdam. The result is a combination of hospitality, work, art, music and culture.
Brand beer brewing challenge
22-1-2014
Brand beer challenges hobby brewers to create the best Inda Pale Ale beer. Contestants have to prepare twelve bottles for tasting and testing and ten candidates can make it to the finals. Subscibtions must be made before 1 April, the bottles must be ready on 26 April. The winner will produce the beer together with the Brand brewers and will get his or her name and picture on the packaging of the first brew.
Flanders promotes cooking talent abroad
22-1-2014
Flanders promotes it’s talented kitchen abroad. During the Madrid Fusion 27-29 January Flanders is guest region and chef Thomas Locus promotes the talented Flemish chefs in Spain as one of the ‘Jong Keukengeweld‘ chefs. He designed a special menu for The Westin Palace in Madrid, the best way to experience this region is through ‘The good taste of Flanders’ the coming two weeks.
The tourist marketing plan for promotion and development of the Flemish eating and drinking culture will be presented on 24 February.
Meet Oaky
21-1-2014
It’s all about creating the best hotel experience! Article by Julia Soldic.
Any Hospitality Organization wants to be the best – the winner, if you will. This goal has led the Hospitality Industry searching for the ultimate solution to fight competition. The question remains: “What is the most significant measurement tool in fighting competition?” The answer is often: customer satisfaction.
Oedipus Brewpub
21-1-2014
{youtube}gTSl3-CGWBw{/youtube}Alex, Paul, Rick and Sander started brewing beer 2,5 years ago in a kitchen with two pans on a stove. Nowadays the brewery produces at about 3000 liters of beer to a growing number of restaurants, bars and liquor stores in the Netherlands. For the next step, the creation of their own brew-pub, the brewers ask their fans for help. To set up the location where brewery, bar and local foodsnacks are combined at the Westerdok in Amsterdam, they need an investment of € 200.000,-. A total of €100.000,- will be collected via CrowdAboutNow, where everyone can invest from € 100,- upwards for a return on investment of 5% per year for three years. There are extra rewards for various amounts of invested money.
Pop up store with 22 creative entrepreneurs
21-1-2014
In the Jan Evertsenstraat in Amsterdam citizens joined forces to make the shopping street more vivid with pop-up stores. The latest achievement is the ‘Geef om de Jan Eef’ pop-up store where 22 entrepreneurs and artists host a 400m2 shop together. Doing this, they can be part-time entrepreneur and can run the shop in shifts. The product range includes goat-wool t-shirts, art, vegan wines, fashion, bikes (of course, it’s Amsterdam) and there is also a coffee corner by ‘Cup of Jo’. The combination of the various concepts enhances the reach of the shop and makes it a vivid meeting place for creatives from the area. The pop-up shops make the neighbourhood more interesting for other entrepreneurs. The street becomes a place where startups can develop in a steady pace and perhaps open a permanent shop in the future.
Coffee servings with tiramisu and mint flavor
21-1-2014
The Coffee and Tea bar research by Van Spronsen & Partners mentioned the change in coffee consumption by the youth. Next to that, consumers expect more luxurious coffee and different flavors when they order. Nestlé Professional and MONIN joined forces to actively advise barista’s in seasonal coffee flavors. For the coming months the Espresso Tiramisu Con Panna (with MONIN tiramisu syrup and whipped cream) and chilled Café Freddo Chocolate Mint (with MONIN chocolate mint) are advised.
Reallifeinstagram in Utrecht
20-1-2014
There are seven real life Instagram signs placed around the new building of music stage ‘TivoliVredenburg’ in Utrecht, to give it more attention. Passers-by can make photos through one of the colored filters and share it via Social Media with the hastag #TivoliVredenburg and #reallifeinstagram. #reallifeinstagram was created by the Brazilian artist Bruno Ribeiro. He placed thirty cardboard Instagram signs with color filters nearby London’s attractions. He wanted to imitate the filters used by Instagram.
Eat to Meet
20-1-2014
‘Eat to Meet’ is an online platform for offline dinners at a restaurant of your choice. Participants can fill in their interests and preferences and can choose in which restaurant they want to dine. This provides social contact and a pleasant evening. Participation is free of charge, but the costs for dinner must be paid. Eat to Meet organizes the dinners, but the goal is that the participants are going to organize their own dinners. The platform collaborates with a number of restaurants in the Netherlands, dinners mainly take place on less busy days.
Donate money to the food bank via an app
20-1-2014
The Mogl app helps raising money for the food bank. Users can register their credit card and when they dine at a participating restaurant, they will receive 10% discount. The user can choose how much of the cashback they donate to the local food bank. The app also shows how many meals there are donated per city and how many meals are still needed. Currently Mogl is only available in a number of American cities, but the goal is to expand.
Dutch Cuisine
17-1-2014
On Monday, January 13th the ‘Dutch Cuisine’ was officially presented. This movement represents the Dutch cooking with a kitchen of 80% vegetables and 20% animal. The ‘Dutch Cuisine’ is a kitchen that continuously renews, the platform provides the ‘Dutch Cuisine’ with a stage and face. The movement makes the chefs and consumers aware of the edible world around us where unexpected combinations originate from regional ingredients. ‘Dutch Cuisine’ stands for creativity, free thinking, obstinacy, pragmatism and simplicity: less is more. Chef cooks like Niven Kunz, Hans Everse, Luc Kusters and Albert Kooy are already connected with the movement.
Ad that can only be seen by night
17-1-2014
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.
Buy a cow
16-1-2014
The need for sustainable produced meat increases. At the website koopeenkoe.nl consumers can buy a ‘horizontal’ part of a cow together with other consumers, also called ‘crowd butching’. The cows of koopeenkoe.nl have three times more space than an average cow and don’t eat manipulated food or antibiotics. If the entire cow is sold, the cow is slaughtered and the meat matured. Buyers receive a 7,5 kilo meat packet for two persons, from steak to sausage. The more people buy a cow, the faster you receive the meat package at home. Because the meat of koopeenkoe.nl goes directly from farmer to consumer, the meat is affordable.
Pay per minute at Ziferblat
16-1-2014
At the ‘Ziferblat’ café everything is free, except the time you spend there. In the café consumers can use the wi-fi, bring their own food and drinks, drink unlimited coffee and the ingredients to make a lunch are presented. Guests pay € 0,04 per minute, but many consumers give an extra tip on top of the bill. There are 10 Ziferblat cafés, mainly in Russia. Recently the first pay-as-you-feel café opened in London.
L Orangerie in Antwerp
16-1-2014
Pravda Pressroom opened a pop-up coffee and cocktailbar ‘L’Orangerie’ in the old ‘orangerie’ near the Harmoniegebouw in Antwerp to extend their communication activities. The bar will be open until the buildings are renovated. This will be at the end of 2015 or later. The building got a modern facelift to recover from the esthetic demolition in the eighties and is decorated with chic and shabby elements. The safety net prevents ancient plaster from falling on visitors and the small covered terrace is waiting for Spring to come in. L’Orangerie presents itself a a low energy bar, background music and dimmed lights invite for a proper glass and nice conversation. For this glass mostly cocktails are suggested.
L Orangerie Antwerpen
15-1-2014
Pravda Pressroom opened a pop-up coffee and cocktailbar ‘L’Orangerie’ in the old ‘orangerie’ near the Harmoniegebouw in Antwerp to extend their communication activities. The bar will be open until the buildings are renovated. This will be at the end of 2015 or later. The building got a modern facelift to recover from the esthetic demolition in the eighties and is decorated with chic and shabby elements. The safety net prevents ancient plaster from falling on visitors and the small covered terrace is waiting for Spring to come in. L’Orangerie presents itself a a low energy bar, background music and dimmed lights invite for a proper glass and nice conversation. For this glass mostly cocktails are suggested.
PeekInToo
15-1-2014
Curious about someone else’s life? With PeekInToo you can look through the eyes of other users for 12 seconds. Select the user based on location to catch a glimpse of a sold out concert for instance or see if the party at your local disco has started already. Facebook and Twitter had a direct influence on spreading the ‘places to be’, this app allows you to have a realtime peek in a café of club. See the video.
Bavaria Beer Scepter
14-1-2014
Bavaria has made the ‘Bavaria Beer Scepter’ especially for carnival. The scepter has lights and a cup holder for beer on top. There is a storage area in the bottom to put money in. When you buy two sixpacks Bavaria you will get scepter in all supermarkets in Limburg and Brabant. In the new single ‘Drink as a prince‘ of the Dutch artists Gebroeders Ko and La Bamba you will give a sneak preview of the scepter.
Handy cooking videos without a mess
14-1-2014
For anyone who cooks along with a youtube video, dirty fingers on the screen of the laptop or tablet are very recognizable. The video goes to fast, you need to pause it every now and then. The website ‘Handy’ by Flore avoids this problem. You can upload a youtube video on the site and it is played in full screen mode, while the webcam is activated. When you wave your hand from left to right the video will play, whilst a right-to-left wave will pause it. Additionally you can save the videos in an online cookbook.
Algae flour by Roquette
13-1-2014
Roquette developed flour based on algae. With this flour it’s possible to bake a brioche without eggs, butter or allergen. With the flour the brioche will contain 70% less fat than normal. During the FiE Innovation Award in Frankfurt this November the High Lipid Algal Flour by Roquette won the overall price for most innovate product and was category winner in the Bakery category. The flour is approved as ingredient by the EU and has the American GRAS-label (Generally Recognized As Safe). Roquette joined the ALGOHUB® research program for developers of ingredients based on micro-algae in 2008. Last year we’ve spotted egg-replacement ingredient ‘Beyond Eggs‘.
Gastchef Itzik Barak (l), executive chef Sidney Schutte (r) 
