Zoku Copenhagen | Welcoming it’s guests as the world slowly opens up

26-5-2021

concrete is proud to announce Zoku Copenhagen is opening its doors, the second hotel to open following Amsterdam. The workmeetsplay hotel concept has been created for the global nomad. Zoku is a homeoffice hybrid, also suitable for long stays, with the facilities of a hotel and the social buzz of a thriving neighbourhood. A relaxed place to live, work and socialise with likeminded people while getting wired into the city.

Zoku Amsterdam opened back in 2016 and it was one of the first workmeetsplay hotel concepts we spotted. Last week we spotted an interesting article about the future of the technology in the hospitality world with examples like the more apartment proptech startups Mint House, Kasa Living and WhyHotel. It reminded us of  Zoku Amsterdam, a more compact concept, with now a second hotel in Copenhagen, Zoku Vienna almost ready to open and Zoku Paris under construction.

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Concrete shares the design for restaurant Oh.lala… | A touch of France in hotel W Osaka!

16-4-2021

Inspiration from the Amsterdam based multidisciplinary design studio concrete who signed for the design of restaurant Oh.lala… in the hotel W Osaka! We here at horecatrends like some of the design elements like the lamps, the dots, the wall with the copper pots and pans! And we love the name for the restaurant, it reminded us of restaurant ‘Le Coucou’ in New York, another adorable French language joke!  

Located on the third floor of W Osaka, restaurant Oh.lala… offers an all-day international dining experience for its W guests, in collaboration with the chef of Michelin-star restaurant La Cime. Concrete’s local insight of the Japanese Love for French lifestyle & culture formed the inspiration for this bistro-diner. A French atmosphere combined with Osaka boldness: Oh.lala… 

Reading time: 2 minutes 

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The Cheese Barge will finally dock in Paddington Central this May

13-4-2021

This May, Mathew Carver, founder of Pick & Cheese and The Cheese Bar, will finally launch his new restaurant, The Cheese Barge, a double-decker vessel permanently moored on the Grand Union Canal at Paddington Central. Originally scheduled to open in Spring 2020, the barge has spent the last year self-isolating in Somerset, and is now ready to lead the charge in The Cheese Bar’s mission to champion British cheese. 

We think we need a ‘Cheese Barge’ as well in Amsterdam but then one with the mission to champion Dutch cheeses! We have the cheese and we have the canals, who’s going to do it? 

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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! 

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10 Ice cream inspiration ideas | Inspiration for a long, hot summer of hospitality

29-3-2021

What’s going to be a trend in ice cream this summer? Throughout the past year we have seen that comfort food was very popular in the take-away and delivery market, Jonnie and Thérèse Boer of the Dutch 3 Michelin stars restaurant De Librije reopened last week with in–room dining (March 19) with a menu of 6 classic dishes from 30 years De Librije. Does that mean that we’re mainly craving the classic ice cream flavours this summer? At Horecatrends, we think that the flavours vanilla, hazelnut, chocolate and strawberry will of course remain favourite. But there is a lot more to choose from… Ice cream maker Rob Kok (IJspaleis Driehuis) came up with a solution for doubting guests in 2016, the ‘ehh ice cream’!

But there are more types of ice cream that are gaining attention, such as the Japanese Mochi ice cream, ice cream made from pickles and so on. We listed a top 10 ice cream inspiration ideas!  

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Well-known trends on TikTok and how they can inspire your company

26-3-2021

TikTok has gained enormous popularity in the year 2020/2021. Due to the fact that we have been stuck at home the app has been able to grown immensely. The app started off with videos containing mostly dancing and singing, and it has now transformed into a marketing tool. We have written about how you can use TikTok for your company a while back. Now Sammy van der Weijden has looked at fun and inspiring recipes and trends that she has spotted in the last few weeks. Some of them were not intended to be used for marketing purposes, but they have led to an increase in sales either way. Maybe these trends will inspire you  to create something similar for your restaurant! Which might cause an increase of visitor of generation Z.  

Reading time: 3 minutes and lots of fun links to TikToks 

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Dark Kitchens | What’s next?

23-3-2021

Our colleague Leonie van Spronsen blogs about the phenomenon of ‘Dark Kitchens’. Currently these companies mainly focus on fast food and fast casual meals, but why not deliver high-quality meals from highly commended chefs from a virtual restaurant?

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Dark Kitchens in 2021

12-3-2021

Our colleague Marguerita Vogelsang of Van Spronsen & Partners hospitality consultants blogs about Dark Kitchens, she thinks the question is not whether the trend will become big in the Netherlands, but it is more about when this will happen. It is however a different type of entrepreneur who seems to be suitable for this type of concept. 

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Limited edition Hemelwater jenever | Worldwide scoop for Hooghoudt: genever created with rainwater

8-3-2021

A first for Hooghoudt: the distillery with its roots in Groningen (The Netherlands) succeeded in producing gin from rainwater. Hooghoudt aims to reduce the use of scarce drinking water, the Hemelwater gin is based on Hooghoudt’s Premium Jonge Graanjenever recipe. By adding a variety of natural flavors such as juniper, iris root, fennels seeds, cardamom, star anise, elderflower and pear, the ultimate soft and pure gin is created. This 700 runs limited edition Dutch gin is very unique as gin has never been made from rainwater before.  

In 2016 we spotted the beer made from rainwater at brewery the Prael. The bitter blond beer, comparable to an IPA, was brewed in collaboration with the beer brewery Hemelswater (to be translated as water from heaven). A huge success, Code Blond even got attention outside the Netherlands. 

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Mountain Tap Brewery is offering COVID-19 proof dining in gondola’s this winter

26-2-2021

During the first lockdown we had the first restaurant in the Netherland to serve food corona proof in small greenhouses for 2 persons. Which was a great choice as we have a lot of big greenhouses all over the Netherlands. It has been used in several sizes and at different locations in the Netherlands. As are the dining pods which are used as hotel rooms or as small private dining booths during winter time and which are also corona proof. Now we spotted Mountain Tap Brewery, located in the mountain ski resort town of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, where winter low temperatures often reach below freezing and snow piles up by the feet. Faced with the likelihood of extremely limited capacity for indoor seating due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mountain Tap Brewery brainstormed a creative use of its spacious patio to accommodate winter guests. In the autumn of 2020, the brewpub transformed several out-of-use gondola cars into private seating booths and installed them on the patio. It might be an idea for all the restaurants located in ski resorts in Europe as well. We have been spotting gondel sauna’s and in 2009 we wrote an article about world’s smallest restaurant the Genussgondel in Fiss, Austria where you could enjoy dinner in a gondola lift. With a maximum four people, you enjoyed a three course dinner with a spectacular view over the Tyrolean mountains. When I started skiing in the seventy’s, the first lifts we used were open ‘bins’ in Italy, those could be used outside by après ski bars to keep social distance! 😉  ^Marjolein 

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