Wine from a Tube
29-12-2014
Dijkwijn is a label by Nouvino, a new player in the wine arena in the Netherlands that makes “enjoying quality wine durable and affordable by out-of-the-box thinking.”
In France we have the ‘vin en vrac’, containers of 5 or 10 liters in which you can buy wine in bulk directly at a winery. In the supermarkets you can also buy the BiB (Bag in Box). The Wine Tube by Dijkwijn is a new sustainable and stylish alternative in this category.
The Wine Tube
The wine tube is filled with sustainably produced wine from traditional wineries. The tube is made from recycled FSC carton and contains the contents of almost three bottles of wine. A smart vacuum system preserves the wine two months after opening. Efficient transport and storage result in lower cost and less CO2 emissions than with a traditional bottle. In addition, the tube stays cool longer and is easier to recycle than glass bottle.
Dijkwijn Bianco and Rosso
Trebbiano and Grechetto grapes from the family Sabbata form the basis for the Dijkwijn Bianco. Wine farmer Primo de Sabbata delivers Sangiovese and Merlot grapes from the Tuscan hills of Arezzo for the Rosso variant.
Who is behind Dijkwijn?
The team consists of Hans van Minnen (quality, logistics, marketing, buying and selling), Sandra Kars (general organization, design, marketing, social media and supporting buying and selling), Michiel Zijlstra (design, websites and online promotion) and Nikaj Pennings (quality, marketing and sales).
Designer chocolate Christmas tree
24-12-2014
Spectacular showpieces of chocolate has been a ‘Christmas’ tradition by chocolatiers in Paris, New York, Hong Kong, London and other cities all over the world. The Patissier (with flagship stores in Oegstgeest and the Market Hall in Rotterdam, The Netherlands) started this tradition 4 years ago in Oegstgeest and created their designer chocolate Christmas tree, ‘Drops to Christmas’ this year.
Designer chocolate Christmas tree
The designer chocolate Christmas tree consists of 500 hand-poured chocolate balls, made from Valhrona chocolate. The total width is 50 centimeters and the tree is 1.25 meters high. The tree is made by 2 patissiers who worked for 14 days to finish it. 15 kilos of chocolate was processed for the artwork. The ‘Christmas baubles’ tree is a gift by The Patissier to Rotterdam and it’s beautiful new Market Hall. The tree can be admired until 31 December at The Patissier, freshunit 83 in the Market Hall.
Sustainable wine cooler made of sheepskin
24-12-2014
KYWIE (K-eep Y-our W-ool-IE), sheepskin keeps your bottle trendy cool. The isolating fleece on the inside keeps the temperature fixed from the moment you place the bottle in a KYWIE wine cooler. A sustainable wine cooler that cools effectively and does not feel cold.
Sustainable wine cooler
Made of sheepskin this cooler also keeps a red wine at the right temperature when it’s cold outside. A thermos and a cooler in one because wool keeps warm and cool. Natural material and therefore durable, no condensation, it does not break, weighs almost nothing and is traditionally produced in the Netherlands. In short, an authentic and sustainable cooler. The wine cooler is available in different colours (camel, blue and white) and as a champagne cooler and cup holder as well.
Restaurant ‘T Amsterdammertje uses KYWIE
Chef – owner André Gerrits of restaurant ‘t Amsterdammertje in Loenen aan de Vecht (The Netherlands): “We have the KYWIE wine coolers in operation for the last 6 months now, recently, with ‘t Amsterdammertje logo. Guests respond very positively to it and it’s nice as branding for us. The wool suggests otherwise, but the coolers are also very suitable for our summer terrace. We are very happy with them”.
Dishes of amateur cooks on your menu
23-12-2014
Hotel-Restaurant Oostergoo (Grau, Friesland, The Netherlands) inspired us with their search for the tastiest meatball and ‘snert’ (a famous Dutch pea soup) to place on their lunch menu. If campaigns like is are done right, you can reach a lot of potential guests. Especially if you involve local food bloggers.
Meatballs and ‘Snert’ on the lunch menu
Restaurant Oostergoo started a competition to find the best home-made meatballs and snert. On 13 December, the meatballs and the soup were tasted by the famous Dutch chefs Joop Braakhekke and Albert Kooy to assess whether the dishes would fit in a restaurant as well. This because the winning meatball and snert will be on the lunch menu at the Hotel-Restaurant Oostergoo. The winners are Mr. Scholten de Weerd (meatballs) and Ms. Gerda Uiterwaal (pea soup).
Dishes of amateur cooks on the menu
The amount of variations of food competitions you can think of are of course numerous. But especially with the huge amount of amateur cooks and the popularity of cooking it’s not difficult to create your own theme. Enthuse the local press to pay attention to your search for a great dish, have a (local) celebrity judge the dishes and leave a spot (or a few) free at your menu. And of course, make a party from your food competition!
Restaurant SILO: as ‘green’ as possible entrepreneurship
22-12-2014
SILO, a new restaurant in Brighton, has got an ‘zero waste’ perspective on sustainable behavior.
According to Douglas McMaster, joint owner of restaurant SILO, there is too much waste and processed food nowadays. That’s why he created SILO, a green restaurant, bakery and a coffee house in one building.
Restaurant SILO reduces waste
Restaurant SILO takes different types of actions to reduce waste. SILO emails the menu to their guests to avoid paper waste. The leftovers are going to a composting machine where it is processed into usable compost. But it doesn’t stop there. The interior is made from repurposed materials, such as used school furniture and scaffolding shelves. SILO created a trendy, green environment to have dinner or to drink coffee.
Sustainable products
McMaster works together with sustainable suppliers. He is in direct contact with local farmers and makes sure that the products aren’t processed. Besides that he works together with a coffee supplier who has his coffee beans shipped by a sailing boat. Interested investors can buy themselves in via Crowd2Fund.
NH Hotels show their hearts!
22-12-2014
The NH Hotel Group recently launched this year’s edition of the annual globally Christmas Campaign “Hotels with a Heart”. The campaign is in partnership with the Ronald McDonald Children Fund, Iris Hospital in Belgium and the Lenval Children’s Hospital in France.
Hotels with a Heart
The NH Hotel Group offers free nights, afternoon teas, Christmas dinners and cooking workshops in its hotels for families who have had a hard time because of the illness of their child. This year marks the tenth anniversary of the “Hotels with a Heart” initiative, which has gained a prominent place in the Corporate Responsibility Program of the hotel group.
Corporate Responsibility ambassador
In the Benelux, UK and France 43 hotels will invite special guests in the period from 22 December, 2014 until 11 January 2015. In total, about 300 hotel nights are offered worldwide. To make sure the families will lack nothing during their stay, every hotel has an ambassador to watch over every need of the families.
Campaign video
The campaign video about this initiative is published in several languages. It could have been an even stronger campaign if every country would tell another story instead of ‘just’ another variation in subtitle and voice-over. This would have strengthened this great gesture!
Eye tracking app tested by Pizza Hut
19-12-2014
A digital app that makes choices for you. Pizza Hut and the Swedish eye tracking innovators of Tobii are testing the possibilities in an app. They hope to launch with their subconscious ordering feature by the end of 2015. It could change our dining experience, especially for those who have difficulties choosing between pizzas.
Check out their video to see how it should work!
About eye tracking innovator Tobii
Tobii is the world leader in eye tracking. They transform industries and lives with humanized technology using eye tracking as core. Tobii delivers comprehensive, market-leading eye-tracking for applications such as computers, gaming and vehicles.
Valuas croquette at the Limburg Museum
18-12-2014
The standard & gluten free Valuas croquettes by chef Eric Swaghoven of restaurant Valuas (1 Michelin star) in Venlo is going to be served in the café the Limburgs Museum. They start serving the Dutch specialty (croquette) from the official start of the exhibition “War & Freedom”, along with other culinary snack creations by Eric.
Core values of his culinary snacks
Chef Eric Swaghoven has created his luxury and artisan snacks by the motto; tasteful and conscious snacking. Core values of its croquettes and ‘bitterballen’ (bal size croquettes) are quality, taste and sustainability. The Valuas croquette is the starting point of his line of snacks.
The Valuas croquette at the Limburg Museum
The Limburgs Museum is a family museum and the daily practice at the Museum shows that the visiting youth still prefers to snack during their visit. With that fact in mind, the choice to put the ‘kroketten & bitterballen’ by Valuas on the menu, is a choice for quality snacks.
The Valuas croquette
The Valuas croquette is made with pure beef and a French roux sauce in proportion 35% meat, 45% roux to obtain a 110 grams of croquette. Tasty, full-bodied and creamy because of the broth used for this receipt. They also have a gluten-free version.
Other culinary snacks
In addition to the iconic Valuas croquette, a veal croquette, shrimp croquette, vegetarian croquette and a mushroom croquette will be served in the Museum. Also on the menu: fried king prawns in shrimp crackers crumbs.
The ‘chicken soup’ croquette by grandma Jo Swaghoven-Eupen
The ‘chicken soup’croquette is a tribute to Grandma Jo Swaghoven-Eupen, who did manage café Modern in Venray with her husband, in the years after the war. The chicken soup grandma Jo made has become legendary. The family recipe inspired her grandson Eric to make his ‘chicken soup’ croquettes.
Pop-up hotelroom ‘Scandic To Go’
17-12-2014
Hotel guests in Sweden can now have their hotel room delivered anywhere in the Nordic region. Prospective guests of ‘Scandic To Go’ can apply to have a room, complete with air-conditioning, shower, Wifi and breakfast, moved to their favourite location.
Pop-up hotelroom
Instead of picking a location and then try to find a hotel nearby, the service lets guests select the exact location of their hotel room. The Nordic hospitality chain has built a special 18m2 mobile hotel room complete with two beds, bathroom and a terrace area for enjoying the sights of the chosen destination. And it even includes a breakfast each morning. The ‘Scandic To Go’ is of course kind of a mobile home. It has already been placed at the beach in the South and in central Stockholm.
Scandic To Go
Scandic To Go is part of the Scandic Hotels, they even offer you the opportunity to win a night at your favorite Nordic spot. The only thing you have to do, is snap a photo of that place, share it on Instagram and tag it #scandictogo and explain why you want to enjoy the #scandictogo experience there.
Experience in theater as storytelling for your product
16-12-2014
Undergo storytelling, experience a 3D animation and taste the product in a theater.
Recently I joined one of the theater tryouts by Glennfidich. Tony van Rooijen, the enthusiastic Dutch brand ambassador of the whisky makers gave a virtual tour of the distillery in Scotland during a tasting where he presented six different whiskys.
Experience in theater
Apart from the enthusiastic narrator and a stylish tasting kit, the virtual tour consisted out of a very detailed 3D animation of the brewery that had a lot of resemblance with the computer game ‘The Sims’. While the presenter went through the various stages of the brewing process he showed the buildings of the brewery from the outside and inside. Everywhere there was a visual explanation from a first person view, so you had the illusion walking through the brewery itself without leaving your lazy (theater) chair.
Virtual tour
A virtual tour like this can be very interesting for products with an authentic character. A rookie (like me) gets to see more about the brewing process of whisky and the expert will for example learn more about the typical taste each barrel emits.
Flexibility is the future
For theaters, but also for cinemas this way of a product presentation is an interesting case. The stage remains a wonderful place to tell your story and to combine this with a tasting your product and (controlled) experience of it. At most hospitality fairs and food festivals the stage plays an important role in the total concept thus the hospitality industry is already familiar with these crossover concepts. My experience fits in well with a recent article in Fast Moving Targets that shows that flexibility of the theater is the future. ^Armand
