The first popcorn store in the Netherlands
23-2-2016
Good news for popcorn lovers in the Netherlands. On March 5th the first popcornstore in the Netherlands will we opened in Amsterdam.
Bugsolutely – pasta made of crickets
22-2-2016
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.
Food festivals: prevent queues or make sure your guests enjoy the queue…
19-2-2016
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
Restaurant Yoepz Kip & Kreeft
18-2-2016
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.
Dishes from the former Dutch overseas territories at ‘t Soldaatje VOC
18-2-2016
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.
The digital menu is getting more popular
17-2-2016
It’s getting more popular nowadays to use a digital menu. This was also noted by Vision Multimedia, the company behind Vision Menu. Through crowdfunding they managed to raise enough money to grow both domestically and abroad. But why would you switch to a digital menu?
The KarTent: the disposable festival tent made of cardboard
17-2-2016
Every year one out of four festival visitors leaves their tent behind on several festival campsites all over the Netherlands. The amount of waste that this creates is bad for the environment. The solution is simple: from now on you can camp in a cardboard.
Do you create the ‘Ultimate Bite’ for Hellmann’s?
16-2-2016
Hospitality entrepreneurs in Belgium and the Netherlands are challenged by Hellmann’s to make ‘The Ultimate Bite’. The winner gets a commercial campaign for his/her own business, to the value of €5.000,=, at The Ultimate Bite live finale on the 23rd of May in the ‘Kookfabriek’ in Amsterdam. You can sign up till the 20th of March 2016 on UltimateBite.com.
Read more about the conditions in the rest of the article.
Fries with…
16-2-2016
One of the unique characteristics of fries is that you can endlessly combine them with different ingredients. Fries with caviar, Parmesan cheese, truffle mayonnaise, chocolate, Nutella and stews. In the Netherlands, fries are very popular. We eat them with mayonnaise or ketchup but also with ‘mayonnaise, curry sauce and chopped onions’, with hot peanut sauce or sometimes even with truffle mayonnaise but the fries noted below aren’t often on the menu! In response to an article in the Dutch AD newspaper about Tante Nel (aunt Nel), the haute friture shop in Rotterdam, we made a list of unique and weird combinations with fries. ^Bram Kosterink
Foodhall 88 – First pop-up food hall in Holland.
15-2-2016
Foodhall 88, the first pop-up food hall in the Netherlands will open the 18th of February in Tilburg. At this moment the lobby of building 88 at the Spoorzone (Railway zone) is still under construction but as from next Thursday you’re supposed to smell fish, meat and vegetables here. Foodhall 88 is open until late April.
Impression – Dorset’s culinary food plaza
12-2-2016
In November 2015 we wrote about Dorset’s culinary food plaza. A unique collaboration between AVIA and Willem Dankers. The food plaza has opened recently and we received beautiful pictures of it, special thanks to Marieke Dijkhof. The article about the food plaza is stated below.
Brew your own beer at Brouwerij Troost
12-2-2016
Great news, still some spots left for you! ‘Brouwerij Troost’ in Amsterdam is giving you the opportunity to brew your own beer. The registration for the second quarter in 2016 is now open.
Flavours & Grooves by DJ Martin Damen & François Geurds
11-2-2016
The restaurants of François Geurds always create a lot of rumour around their brand. Now this star chef has launched a CD with tasty music, the CD Flavours & Grooves. As the CD is hidden in the dessert at FG Restaurant and FG Food Labs, you have one more reason to eat there.
Taking your dog on a date this Valentine’s Day
11-2-2016
Taking your dog on a date this Valentine’s Day, this is possible at MicroChippy, a pop-up restaurant for 2 days in London. Canine charity Dogs Trust is bringing a 1950s style doggy diner to Clerkenwell on 13 and 14 February.
Bubblehouses, mobile homes and treehouses by Insolite by Logis
11-2-2016
The Fédération Internationale des Logis, the quality label of small European hotel–restaurants with 17 affiliated hotels in the Netherlands, reinforces the current hotel supply with two new brands: Maison by Logis and Isolite by Logis.
The Vivino Wine Scanner
10-2-2016
Almost 14 million wine lovers around the world are using the Vivino Wine Scanner app on their mobile phone. The app is getting more popular in Holland as well, considering the 500.000 user who installed the app lately. Recently we spotted an article on Springwise about the app and although the app already has a huge amount of users, we thought it would be interesting to take a deeper look into how to use this as a consumer as well as a hospitality employee.
Brewery Oedipus is going to age beer in whiskey barrels of Jameson
10-2-2016
This week Brewery Oedipus starts with brewing a craft beer that will be aged in Jameson whiskey barrels. Hoppy and tangy Saison with smooth influences of Irish whiskey. The beer will be available in a limited edition as from April 2016.
For centuries beer and whiskey can be found on the bar alongside, but never before have the flavours been so intertwined as with the collaboration between the brewery Oedipus from Amsterdam and world famous Irish whiskey brand Jameson. The Netherlands is one of the first countries worldwide to start a collaboration with Jameson.
A virtual reality arcade, Escape Room plus!
9-2-2016
This weekend I read an article about ‘Project StarCade’ which will bring a virtual reality arcade to Los Angeles. It will be opening this spring at a yet undisclosed location. This location will be a pilot center before expanding to other locations in the US or in Europe. As we just wrote a whitepaper on Escape Rooms in the Netherlands, it’s intriguing to think about the developments….
We Design Food, eating at food designers during ART Rotterdam
9-2-2016
During ART Rotterdam (11 t / m 14 February) at the Van Nelle factory in Rotterdam a collective of leading Dutch food designers open a temporary dining-and-drinking atelier called We Design Food.
The chefs or food designers provide seasonal dishes. The other members provide a nice glass of wine or a super exciting cocktail. There are oysters and small snacks. There is bread and there is chocolate. You can also just grab a cup of coffee of the highest quality at We Design Food. The atelier is to be found in building 6, opposite the entrance of ART Rotterdam. The atelier is open every day from 10 o’clock.
Valentine’s day: Je t’aime wine
8-2-2016
Now available in Dutch stores, the La Tulipe ‘Je t’aime’ Merlot wine. Ilja Gort, a famous Dutch winemaker in the Bordeaux, developed a new etiquette for his Merlot wine, especially for Valentine’s day. On the etiquette a big heart with the words ‘Je t’aime’ on it. At the backside of the bottle it is possible to write the name of your loved one.
Ilja’s idea
The idea for this wine was to produce a limited edition of a soft red wine, especially for Valentine’s day. Own research by Ilja showed that woman within his own circle of girlfriends who love red wine, are not that fond of wines with rough tannins. Heavy, oaked wines didn’t suit the ladies taste as well. This is the reason why Ilja picked accessible , juicy red wines made from 100% Merlot grapes. The wine originates from the vineyards situated in the Languedoc, the same location as where the Slurp wines are produced.
The description of the ‘Je t’aime’ wine, by the maker
“The Tulipe winery loves to make wine from Merlot grapes. From the start Ilja Gort, founder and winemaker at Tulipe winery, fell in love with the Merlot grapes because of the juiciness, elegancy and seductive tasty flavour. No difficulties, just enjoyment. That is how wine is meant to be. This Merlot fits the profile. Drink it slightly chilled or warmer. Enjoy a glass of ‘Je t’aime’ but it also great to combine with a dinner. ‘Je t’aime’ handles it all. According to the etiquette the wine can be drunk at its best if you listen to Serge Gainsbourg while you’re having the wine in your mouth.”
About the Escape Rooms in the Netherlands
8-2-2016
Unfortunately this publication is only in Dutch….
STACH the new shop in shop formula situated in the Mercure hotel Amsterdam City
5-2-2016
The from origin in Amsterdam situated foodshop STACH, well known for their sustainable products and specialties from local suppliers, has opened a shop in shop formula in the Mercure Hotel Amsterdam City.
Foodshop STACH
STACH, the Amsterdam foodshop, with sustainable to-go products and specialties from local suppliers has opened a shop in shop formula in the Mercure Hotel Amsterdam City. STACH is already owner of nine different shops, situated in Amsterdam, Utrecht & Overveen, the Netherlands. The new shop in the Mercure Hotel will be added to their portfolio.
Guests can choose in the new foodshop for local brewed beers, healthy bars, freshly baked biscuits, salades and take away meals. “Due to the changing needs of the customers it is important to develop concepts who meet these needs. STACH offers an unique and qualitative eat experience on an approachable level. STACH is thereby, just like Mercure, locally inspired, this makes the concept suitable for our promise; a unique experience inspired by the local environment”, says Ad Hoondert, the General Manager of the hotel.
Curious (hotel) guests
Within a short amount of time the foodshop had already a lot of guests who were curious about the concept. The fresh salads and especially Dutch products like ‘stroopwafels’ are very popular. “The appearance of STACH does give the hotel lobby a complete new impulse. It creates an cosy environment, a reason for guests to stay longer in our bar and lobby. Also guests who are not staying in our hotel and people living nearby are welcome to make use of the STACH products. It creates a link between us and the local environment of the hotel”, says Ad.
A scratch card for the beer lovers
4-2-2016
Inspiration for craft beer bars, pubs and beer lovers: a scratch card filled with the beers for sale at your bar. Time for your regular guests to taste the craft beers you offer!
The idea of a scratch card was created at Brooklyn’s Pop Chart Lab. This company has recently made a checklist of 99 different types of draft beer with the ultimate goal to have drunk all of the beers on the list ;-).
The scratch card is divided into the two main categories of beer: ales and lagers. These categories are being divided into subcategories such as bock beer, wheat beer and lagers. A real challenge for the die-hard beer lovers to scratch the card as fast as possible.
A scratch card in your bar
We spotted this scratch card at Dutch Cowgirls and although the guys at Brooklyn’s Pop Chart Lab are mainly focused on the guests with this card, we think it could also be used within the hospitality industry. As owner of a bar or pub you could check if you’re able to develop a scratch card consisting of the beers you have on sale. Combine a good price with, for example, a free specialty beer and you create a solid piece of customer loyalty. In fact, try to contact one of your suppliers to arrange this.
Another possibility is to take a look at Brooklyn’s Pop Chart website. Here you will find an extensive range of wall decorations, wood carvings and products. How about a large wooden sign engraved about the interesting world of whisky? Or an information poster for your staff about wine?
Pop Chart Lab
Patrick Mulligan and Ben Gibson work together since 2010 with one single goal in mind: to render all of human experience in chart form. On their website you will find different wall decorations, wood carvings and products that are designed in a visually powerful way.
Live ‘ice cooking’ with the Gelato Machine
4-2-2016
The Gelato Machine is an all in one ice machine. Suitable for preparing, conserving and presenting fresh Gelato (ice cream).
The Gelato Machine saves the ice cream makers a lot of operating and investing. First you needed a separated preparation kitchen, ice cream machine, freezing installation and refrigerator, but now you only need one device. The ice cream machine is fully digitally operated and pre-programmed so it easy to use.
Ice cream made in just 15 minutes
Suitable for preparing, conserving and presenting of ice cream, frozen yogurt and sorbet ice. The Gelato Machine produces in about 15 minutes 2,5 kilos of one of the previously mentioned ice creams. When the ice cream has been prepared the machine automatically turns into the ‘saving mode’. It’s optional to use the Gelato Machine with the Movuz IceMobil, provided with a plate (IceTeppanyaki) of -30 degrees Celsius. This makes it possible to ‘stir fry’ the ice cream within seconds.
Theo Clevers – master ice cream maker, also works with the Gelato Machine
SVH master ice cream maker Theo Clevers uses the Gelato Machine. Horecatrends asked him why the machine is suitable for his ice cream shops: “In the ice cream world, the experience is also becoming more important. Costumers want to see, smell and taste how we prepare ice cream. The Gelato Machine gives us the opportunity to make ice cream at receptions and parties. It is an addition to the traditional ice cream cart. Live cooking, but with ice cream.”
The wish tree of ‘Lot & de Walvis’
3-2-2016
During the December month, restaurant ‘Lot & de Walvis’ (Lot and the Whale) in Leiden had a ‘wish tree’ instead of a Christmas tree. The guests of the restaurant could write down their wish and hang it into the tree. The wish that will be carried out by Lot is chosen through Social Media.
Utrecht
Everyone knows them; a ‘wish tree’. Especially when you visited Utrecht last December you couldn’t have missed it. The ‘wish trees of Utrecht’ were put down on five different squares in the city in which the people could hang their wishes. The trees on the squares were getting decorated with many different wishes and some wishes were granted. This idea came from entrepreneur Sidney Rubens in order to promote the Knuss Winterfest in an original way.
All about the wish tree of ‘Lot & de Walvis’
It is also possible to apply a wish tree on a smaller scale. Guests of ‘Lot & de Walvis’ could write down their wish and hang it in the tree situated in the restaurant. Besides that, they involved their community on Facebook in the final decision for the best wish and managed to achieve a relatively large audience. The message in which the people could vote was shared, liked and received a lot of attention. Also the message with the announcement of the winner was popular with 132 likes. The power of Social Media!
The Hospitality Group Leiden
‘Lot & de Walvis’ is a part of the Hospitality Group Leiden together with Van der Werff, La France, City Hall and The Bishop. The board consists of the brothers Richard and Wouter van Leeuwen and Rob van Wijnen. Wouter van Leeuwen and Rob van Wijnen are responsible for the hospitality companies in Leiden. Richard van Leeuwen focuses on the four Harbour Clubs based in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Scheveningen and on Ibiza.
Trends in het kort
