Donut ice cream cones
Spotted on social media: donut ice cream cones. It’s one of the hypes if it comes down to ice cream! read more
Spotted on social media: donut ice cream cones. It’s one of the hypes if it comes down to ice cream! read more
At restaurant ‘Rebelz aan de Rotte’ in Rotterdam (the Netherlands), you eat in a piece of art and support a social purpose.
The 27th of February restaurant ‘Rebelz aan de Rotte’ opened. An extraordinary restaurant in many ways: the interior, the kitchen and the staff. The restaurant seats about 70 guests that can go there to have lunch, high tea or dinner. They also cater meetings and parties. In the summer there will be a terrace on a pontoon where people can dock their boats.
Friday, March 4th a truck with a summer beach inside will be visiting Amsterdam to let you taste 7UP Mojito Free. Which might be another great non-alcoholic alternative this summer!
Adding chocolate-dishes to your menu is always a good idea. Whether eating it as a dessert after a delicious dinner or as chocolate cake on the lunch menu. We selected the chocolate recipes for you that you have to try! read more
Have you ever heard of the beer brand Bonaire Blond? Not yet? You probably will if you are in Bonaire next week! The week of Bonaire Blond (from march 5 till march 12) is full of activities that makes you want to drink a Bonaire Blond in the sun. There are lots of different events during the week; free tastings, workshops of beer-food combinations, art markets, jeu de boule games, lunch and dinner specials with live music, tours to the local aloe vera plantation, demonstrations and a treasure-hunt. It’s a shame that it’s so far away!
Do you want to know more about Bonaire Blond? We wrote about it before: Bonaire Blond.
Do you like chicken and ice cream? Then you might like Chicken Gelati! Ice cream with chicken flavour, as snack on a cocktail party, daytime snack or dessert. read more
What began as a joke on Facebook has now turned into the first Nutella Festival of the Netherlands, wich will take place on the 16th of July in Amsterdam. read more
It is not easy nowadays to be the owner of a disco/nightclub with the ongoing decrease of visitors the last couple of years. Club Red in Leeuwarden has an extended calendar including ‘Barbers, Booze & Tattoos’. A men’s night out. read more
For decades long Ghee is popular in the Indian kitchen, the biological oil is also becoming more popular in the Netherlands now. Ghee Easy is prepared according to the traditional Indian method while using high quality Dutch butter. Large packaging is available now for the hospitality industry. read more
In 2016 the TonTon Club XL is coming back to the ‘Westergasfabriek’ in Amsterdam. For up to two weekends in March you can enjoy pinball games, shooting games, air hockey and many more. read more
Good news for popcorn lovers in the Netherlands. On March 5th the first popcornstore in the Netherlands will we opened in Amsterdam. read more
Some people may be disgusted by it, but the edible insects are becoming more popular. Currently you only see them as an exciting snack on exclusive parties, but they already are in the supermarket as well. This superfood pasta Bugsolutely consists of 20% cricket flour and also has loads of protein, calcium, iron and vitamins. Besides, cricket flour makes the pasta even tastier. read more
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!
Lobster and chicken as main ingredient, slightly different as the old fashioned Surf & Turf. Restaurant Yoepz Kip & Kreeft (Chicken & Lobster) from Utrecht (The Netherlands) will soon open a store in Amsterdam. read more
Sunday the 21st of February ‘’t Soldaatje VOC’ (The Soldier) in Voorhout (the Netherlands) will be opened, located in the middle of the ‘Bollenstreek’. This restaurant serves dishes that are inspired on countries that the Dutch visited as soldiers in the colonial times, from Suriname to Indonesia. read more
Heineken is celebrating its 140th birthday by asking the fans to create a new bottle, by using the archive of previous bottles and labels. The challenge is open to people around the world until March 1st. The winning design will become a limited edition bottle.
Chef Alain Ducasse combined his knowledge in a new iPad-app called My Culinary Encyclopedia. The app is a collection from lot’s of tips and tricks, knowledge and techniques. The dishes are divided in 5 categories: Gastronomy, Around the world, Mediterranean, Bistros and Dessert. The app is available in the App store en will cost you €33,99.
Beach club restaurant Ajuma is set up temporarily in the Lichtfabriek at Haarlem. The next weeks they have invited other beach restaurants to cook a dinner preview for 2013. On Monday 14 January Vooges will kick-off the series, followed by Rapa Nui on 21 January, Tijn on 28 January, Club Nautique on 4 February and the ‘Haven van Zandvoort’ closes on 11 February. For everyone who can’t wait for the summer to start reservations can be made through zuidstrand@ajuma.nl
Restaurant owners and managers can receive realtime feedback from customers on their mobile without giving away their private number. Guests can text to a number on a table card to inform the staff about a dirty toilet for instance. Goal of the tool is to solve problems before they will result in negative online reviews. This is an American initiative, we’ve spotted the comparable MeView (Dutch) before.
This luxurious platter, handcrafted from chestnut, is the perfect item to serve tequila on. The creators even thought of a small cutting board for the limes, salt bowls, paring knife and notches for the glasses and a bottle. This adds an extra experience to serving a tequila in a restaurant or club.
Beer brand Bavaria is launching in association with home delivery food website Thuisbezorgd.nl, the first pop-up restaurant without a kitchen. Between the 13th and 16th of February it is possible to compose your favorite home delivery meal of the best valued restaurants of this website. The restaurant will be equipped with a scooter lane to deliver the meals to the guests. The restaurant will be situated on the ‘Kop van Java’ in Amsterdam.
During the ‘Vakbeurs Facilitair’ (Facilitating Trade Fair) in ‘s-Hertogenbosch from 16 to 18 January, visitors can use one of the forty work spaces and two boarding rooms for free. This is the result of a collaboration between Nago Next (cleaning services), Ahrend (furniture), Desso (floor covering systems). Next to the extra service the visitors can experience the products and services of the companies in a real working environment.
Many people will fail their New Year’s resolutions in the next weeks. Therefore the Youth Food Movement organizes the ‘Sjiek de Friemel’ dinner in Restaurant Merkelbach, Amsterdam. During this event of ‘fallen New Year’s resolutions’ chefs from various restaurants cook a four-course dinner and there is an auction to collect money for the movement that focuses on making our food system more healthy and honest. All personnel works for free this evening.
Due to the 140th birthday of the Heineken brewery, they built this enormous video wall made of 5.000 beer bottles. Through a Facebook application you can leave a message to the world. Nice idea to wish everybody a happy new year. Until the 2nd of January 2013 you can admire the video wall as element of the Amsterdam Light Festival.
Packages are an environmentally problem. The Brazilian fast food chain Bob’s based an marketing campaign on the problem. The packages of the burgers are edible as well. The burgers are wrapped in a kind of rice paper which can be eaten along with the burger. The idea behind this campaign is to create awareness for the environment and the waste and litter problem.
Nice idea to serve the kids these gummy bears ice cubes. By using several colours of lemonade, you can vary in flavour and colour. Also a nice idea to serve in (non-alcoholic) cocktails.
To prevent waste in the kitchen Eva van Dijk has introduced FoodSharing.nl. The website gives consumers the opportunity to share and exchange unused food and/or food that passed the expiration date. Saturday the 29th of December is the official launch of the website at the Food Center Amsterdam. Home cooks of ‘Thuisafgehaald’ and ‘Der Lauf des Essens’ will cook a (free) dinner for at least 50 people with products from the Food Center that are to close to the expiration date. Participants are requested to bring their own plate, bowl, cutlery and leftovers.
Check out these initiatives in Sweden (Dating with leftovers) and the UK (Feeding the 5000) as well.
Energy firm Vestforbrænding and advertising agency Anew created a pop-up pizzeria in Ballerup, Denmark. The amount of free baked pizzas was dependable on the energy usage of the neighbourhood. The more the people saved, the more pizzas were available. Through Facebook likes on the company page and visits to a website with energy saving tips the pizzeria could get even more ‘stamina’.
In Paris we see more often museums with a hip and trendy restaurant or café, which are opened outside the regular opening hours. The Costes brothers started this trend in 1994 by opening Café Marly in the Grand Louvre. In 2000, café-restaurant George opened its doors in Centre Pompidou, and soon, Café de l’Homme will re-open its doors, with a great view on the Eiffel tower. The hotspot of Paris seems to be Tokyo Eat at the Palais de Tokyo. In Amsterdam we also see more restaurants in museums. Amsterdam Village Company is developing and operating several restaurant concepts in museums, with a social and cultural identity.
During the Spring holidays in 2013, between the 15th and 24th of February, Pop-up B&B Huys ter Schellinck opens its doors on the Dutch island Terschelling. The B&B offers several sleeping places, a campfire, hot tub, a winter barbecue or a five course dinner. Initiators Jasper and Babette offer all the good aspects of the island.
Try something different as Christmas decoration. Try these cutlery items in your Christmas tree. Perfect for restaurants of cafés, or just for the foodies at home.
Very easy to spice up your Christmas drink. Turn your beer into a reindeer by adding pipe cleaner, google eyes and a pom-pom.
On the occasion of the release of the movie ‘Life of Pi’ of award-winning director Ang Lee, the movie was shown in the swimming pool Pailleron in Paris. Visitors didn’t have to bring any swimwear, the pool was filled with small boats which serve as seats to enjoy and experience the movie.
On Friday 5th and Saturday 6th of April 2013, the 13th edition of Motel Mozaïque will take place on several locations in the city center of Rotterdam. This art festival offers music and theater shows. Since this year, visitors are able to spend the night and to enjoy a breakfast in the morning.
After 12 years Club Disco in São Paulo (Brasil) is completely renovated. The renovation was based on a few key factors. The theme ‘Brazility’ for example is visible in the choice of materials, colors and shapes. The ambiance of an underground location springs from the reuse of items of the original club, exposition of pipes and extensive use of wood. The interaction and experience of the digital technologies can be described as “Daft Punk spends holiday in the countryside.” Check the video and the photos for a stunning impression.
Nespresso opens a boutique in Amstelveen, the new shop will be equipped with RFID technology. At the Self Selection Service all Nespresso packages have a RFID chip that is automatically scanned at the cash counter. Apart from this technological improvement the coffee makers offer workshops about the origin of the selected flavors.
Ferran Adria, known from the famous Restaurant El Bulli, launched an app based on his cookery book, written for the home chef. This app contains over 30 three-course meals, including step-by-step instructions, shopping lists, cooking tips and the ability to share photos of the meals on Facebook and Twitter. Recipes are inspired by the staff meals served at his former restaurant.
Jonnie and Thérèse Boer of ***restaurant De Librije in Zwolle (The Netherlands), launched in association with doctors Ellen Kuiper-Kramer and Otto Visser, the Dutch website Beleefjesmaak.nl (Experience your taste). This is a platform which contains recipes and tips about the experience of the taste of (ex) cancer patients. The taste of these patients often change due to the chemo and radio therapy.
Put a cup of coffee on hold for someone if you are financially able to do so, it’s an old Napolitan tradition by the term of ‘Caffè Sospeso’. The Coffee Company and the ‘Regenboog Groep’, an organization that helps people with social problems, homeless people and people with psychiatric problems, have revived the tradition and collect coffee for 10 walk-in-houses. Every 50 cents gets doubled by the Coffee Company, in 2011 more than 22.000 cups were given away. It’s the fourth year of this shared campaign that ends on the 15th of January 2013.
Straight from New York introduces Million Dollar Disco Dinner. An 8-course dancing dinner by Martin Fris, supported by disco classics that bring back memories. The party will take place on February 24th 2013 at De Odessa in Amsterdam on the Veemkade 259. Look at the website for more information and tickets. Update: The Million Dollar Disco Dinner has been postponed. Follow Facebook for the latest news.