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.
Bram’s, Gourmet Frites
2-2-2016
On 11 February Bram Ladage is opening ‘Bram’s, Gourmet Frites.’ At this new, international formula fries are prepared on a high culinary level and will be sold from a remarkable, black shipping container. The pilot store is going to be at the ‘Kop van Zuid’ in Rotterdam.
Bram’s, Gourmet Frites is going international
This new, international formula is going to be a worldwide standard for quality fries, says Bram Ladage partner Rocco Ladage. They are starting in Rotterdam but there is more and more demand from abroad. At the new concept ‘Bram’s, Gourmet Frites’ it’s about traditional preparation. The real Dutch potatoes from the Hoeksche Waard are cut into thick fries and prepared right in front of the costumers. Because these fries are so thick they absorb less fat and they also use oil with ‘good’ fats.
Collaborating with Herman den Blijker
Together with Herman den Blijker, Bram Ladage developed five new stews: Pulled pork BBQ, Captain’s beef, Asian chicken stew, the vegetarian Truffle mushroom and Pumpkin veal stew. With these stews, fries will no longer be a ‘side dish’ but a full meal component.
About Bram Ladage
Bram Ladage is a family company that’s originally from Rotterdam. But apart from Rotterdam they are getting more well known in Europe as well. Besides the formula Bram Ladage itself they also exploit BroodExpress, Ezprezzo, Ladage Events, Ladagerie and The Wold. With Bram’s they are taking the first step to go abroad.
The container is ideal for a franchise business; it will be delivered on location, it’s fully furnished and as franchisee you can start working immediately.
Quake pop-up breakfast vending machine
28-1-2016
At the beginning of December Quaker Oats placed a pop-up vending machine at the train station of Antwerp, where travellers could order a free breakfast. This breakfast was prepared by two ‘robots’. We consider this a great example on how to pop-up and present your company in a positive way. Why don’t restaurants or deli’s use a pop-up location to present their food to the public?
About the Quaker pop-up breakfast vending machine
Most people are very busy nowadays and skip breakfast regularly. Quaker Oats wants to do something about this and chose the train station of Antwerp to place the Quaker pop-up breakfast vending machine, Just as a metaphor of our busy lifestyle. The goal of this campaign? Have people acknowledge how important it is to start your day with a breakfast. And with Quaker this can be done very easy, quick and healthy!
Different recipes
By-passers were able to choose from two different recipes. These recipes changed every day and were created by well-known Belgium breakfast eaters. If the choice was made, you pushed the button and the two people dressed as robots prepared your breakfast, for free!
Inspiration
As we mentioned before, this is a nice way to present your product. Offering it for free always works of course, but for most hospitality companies this won’t always be easy to finance. But such a great pop-up location on a prominent spot might be worth considering, it will bring positive attention to your restaurant or lunchroom somewhere else in the city.
Flourish makes a difference!
22-1-2016
The people of Flourish try to bring positive publicity to properties in order to interest guests and potential investors. So far they have mainly used the concept of pop-up restaurants to bring attention to the empty properties.
About Flourish
A potential client sees the property in an innovative way due to the events. So far Flourish has done this by creating pop-up restaurants for several days in the empty properties. By up-cycling, building the restaurant with recycled products and materials which have lost their value, the property has been placed in a whole new perspective. The collected materials, to create an attractive atmosphere, have a price tag and will soon be sold online.
Omroep Brabant, a local broadcasting legacy, has filmed during the pop-up events in the Sacramentskerk in Breda, in the video above Danielle van Houtum explains what she wants to achieve with Flourish.
The possibilities at Flourish
Together with concept entrepreneurs they discuss how to present the best in every property, to eventually sell it, rent or stimulate further developments of the property. Therefor the property can be changed into a lunchroom, café, pop stage or for example a conference room in a short amount of time. For the owner of the property there are no direct costs. New footage will be made which can be used by the owner for marketing purposes.
Who joins the international Bar Fight by De Kuyper distillery?
19-1-2016
World’s largest cocktail liqueurs producer, De Kuyper distillery, invites the best bar teams to the Netherlands for an international Bar Fight …
Bar Fight 2016 by De Kuyper Distillery
Registration for the international “Bar Fight 2016” has opened. By submitting a creative short film, domestic and foreign teams can register for the competition. Team spirit and entertainment are the main focus. Registration closes on 29 February 2016. The finalist are announced on 28 March 2016. On 24 May 2016 De Kuyper invites the six best entries for the grand finale at Schiedam. The winners will go home with the prestigious title of ‘Best Bar Team’ and a cash prize of € 10 000,=.
The basis for cocktails worldwide
In the distillery in Schiedam, De Kuyper produces a wide variety of cocktail liqueurs which are sold and used as basics for cocktails in more than 100 countries. De Kuyper’s Bar Fight is a cocktail competition where national and international bartenders get the chance to show their teamwork and techniques. They should be creative and original because only skills aren’t enough in this Bar Fight. Especially making fun while preparing cocktails in a bar should be seen. A professional jury will select the top 20 entries then the audience can vote. The six teams that get the most votes for the short film and the best cocktail recipe are eventually invited to the grand final on 24 May in Schiedam.
De Kuyper Royal Distillers BV is one of the oldest family businesses in the Netherlands (since 1695). The brand products are sold worldwide in over 100 different countries.
Small gestures in hospitality for Valentine’s Day
5-1-2016
Valentine’s Day is originally an American holiday. But hey let’s celebrate it in the Netherlands as well because it’s a very convenient date for a small party!
The hospitality industry is very good at coming up with nice big and small gestures for Valentine’s Day. We have searched the internet and collected a lot of examples. About some we have already written before but it’s all collected in this edition of ‘Small gestures in hospitality for Valentine’s Day’. If you’re looking for inspiration, check out our Pinterest board for Valentine’s Day!
KFC’s Kickass Christmas Dinner
31-12-2015
KFC organized a Christmas dinner in three restaurants in the Netherlands on Boxing Day, KFC’s Kickass Christmas Dinner. Together with chef Bert van Buschbach, known as ‘Chef Bertus’, owner of restaurant ‘De Compagnon’ in Amsterdam, they created a special Christmas dinner of four courses.
Chef Bertus about KFC’s Kickass Christmas Dinner
Guests got the KFC’s Kickass Christmas Dinner served at their table, in three locations of KFC in the Netherlands, in Rotterdam (Marconi Square), Nijmegen and Amsterdam (Foodstrip). Bert van Buschbach: “It was a kick to tackle this project with KFC. We had a look in each other’s kitchens and grabbed the best of both worlds. We made our guests happy with KFC icons combined with aspects from the haute cuisine. For example, we started with an amuse served on the finger of our guests, made of Pepper Mayonnaise and panna cota with truffle, crumb of the Original Breading and chicken with some grated truffle. We also served a crispy egg yolk in the famous Orginal Breading of KFC. When KFC approached me for this project I was immediately enthusiastic. It has been very instructive to work with KFC executives. We have learned a lot from each other.”
Thousands of entries
Marinho Bouwland, brand manager KFC Netherlands told that they received more than 2.000 entries, eventually 260 people were invited. “We wanted to do something back for our regular guests. Last year we organized our first Christmas dinner in Rotterdam. That was a great success. People even came from Hengelo to attend the dinner in Rotterdam. To give as many people as possible the opportunity to join us on Boxing Day we organized Christmas dinner 2015 at three locations.”
Valentine’s Day at ‘De Nieuwe Poort’
28-12-2015
On the 13th of February ‘De Nieuwe Poort’ in Amsterdam will host a Valentine’s Day meeting for young and old people. The moto for this event is; before you know it, you have got a date!
Valentine’s Day 2016
According to the organizers, young hard working adults do need some quality time to break the workflow. The young adults often don’t know how to do this. Experiences and memories from elderly people can help to have a relaxed afternoon. Elderly people on the other hand are sometimes fighting loneliness; regularly these men and women live without any family or friends. As the organizers already mentioned, elderly people do have a lot to talk about, especially the ones from Amsterdam take no mince matters. These different types of ‘problems’ can be combined perfectly in order to satisfy both parties. This is exactly what the organizers of the Valentine’s celebration do. Previous years both ‘seniors’ and ‘young professionals’ celebrated Valentine’s day, and experienced it as inspiring and fun to do!
Costs
The ‘seniors’ have free entrance, the organisation assumes ‘young professionals’ will pay for them.
About ‘De Nieuwe Poort’
De Nieuwe Poort is a house to meet and be inspired. They want to counterbalance the forces of the economy and politics, because they often prevail in society. De Nieuwe Poort helps the mild forces, in order to make us more human and richer. Whoever eats the dishes of Chef Marcel Johannes, or is just there to drink, they will always be surrounded by poetry and music. In short, De Nieuwe Poort wants to fulfil the role of a community centre and gather different types of people for different types of activities.
Wrong Christmas Sweater party
23-12-2015
On the Korte Heuvel in the Dutch town Tilburg, they celebrated the last Friday Afternoon Party before Christmas with a ‘Wrong Christmas Sweater’ theme.
Wrong Christmas Sweater party
Last year, the largest Friday afternoon party from Tilburg has been a huge success as well and they had the same theme; Foute Kersttrui (Wrong Christmas Sweater). Hundreds of people gathered at the party area of the Korte Heuvel to kick of the holiday season with colleagues and friends. Santa and his Christmas wives were present and there were torches everywhere. One could eat our famous Dutch pea soup (snert) and there was plenty of glühwein (mulled wine) and beer. This year the ‘Wrong Christmas Sweater’ party was held on Friday 18th December as from 17:00 everyone was welcome. With a wrong Christmas sweater you received free mulled wine at Polly Maggoo. Initiators are the owners of Polly Maggoo and it is now adopted by a number of cafes in the area.
Inspiration
Come up with a nice theme and prolong the festivities surrounding Christmas. Since 18 December, the Christmas Season started and there is no one available for work-related Christmas parties so this initiative in Tilburg is a lovely way to throw a party and to generate additional revenue. Win / win for participants and entrepreneurs. Just as the ‘Kerstmiddag’ (Christmas Afternoon) on 24 December in Hengelo.
SnowPage symbolises the festive spirit at the Peninsula Hotels
21-12-2015
The Peninsula Hotels are ready for the Christmas season. The SnowPage, their mascot and limited edition cuddly toy is for sale for the Make-A-Wish Foundation®.
SnowPage, the ultimate holiday ambassador
SnowPage is dressed to impress for the holiday fundraising campaign by the Peninsula Hotels. The SnowPage is fashionably restyled by the luxury toy art collective Papinee. They created a limited edition of just 300 toys for each hotel, and all profits will be donated to the Make- A-Wish Foundation®. If guests buy one of the SnowPages they will have a chance on winning an ultimate Peninsula experience with the “Golden Tickets”, offering prizes for all the family. The Golden Tickets are hidden inside some SnowPage boxes.
Papinee created the SnowPages
Papinee has hand-crafted 10 limited edition SnowPage toys, with the lovable snowman dressed in exquisitely embroidered costumes inspired by the arts, culture and architecture of each Peninsula destination. Hallmarked by Papinee’s detailed craftsmanship and vibrant design style, the exclusive SnowPage toys are designed with care using the finest luxury fabrics.
The Peninsula Hong Kong SnowPage will be dressed in a dark navy jacket, embroidered with vintage neon motifs, The Peninsula Beijing SnowPage will wear a signature Page cap with his red patterned coat with a traditional Chinese dragon design. A New York SnowPage is stylish in red, white and blue with hints of New York’s Art Deco movement, while the Tokyo SnowPage will be dressed in a classic cherry blossoms-embellished kimono.
