About soup – Urban Soup by Marc Veyrat
3-3-2015
Soup and broth are popular especially in those cities and regions where it is very cold. Urban Soup by Marc Veyrat in Montpellier (France) is one of those new soup places.
Earlier we wrote an article about Urban Fruit, a concept of Marc Veyrat. In the summer months you can go to the centre of Montpellier to compose your own smoothie, milkshake or frozen yoghurt with fruit at Urban Fruit. Very yummy frozen yoghurt and Montpellier is great as well and worth a detour if you’re in the vicinity! Now you can also go there in the winter months for a warm soup-to-go. Urban Soup is also a concept by Marc Veyrat.
Urban Soup – create your own soup
The concept is the same as in Urban Fruit, you grab a bag and start to fill it with vegetables that you like. You can choose between 20 different vegetables. Within minutes they make a healthy and delicious soup-to-go, to warm you during the cold winter days.
Speaking of soup
Broth is very popular, especially in the eastern part of America where they are currently (2014/2015) experiencing a very cold winter. Several Dutch journalists wrote articles about the trend broth-to-go instead of coffee-to-go. Unfortunately only available in Dutch. Although we also hear enthusiastic stories about soup-to-go instead of coffee-to-go especially from the Boston and New York City areas, we think that the key factor for success is a cold winter. And unfortunately we didn’t have one in the Netherlands.
Tosti van Josti
26-2-2015
Tosti van Josti, a new breakfast & lunch restaurant, will open her doors at the centre of The Hague at the end of February. A concept that is different from all the other lunchrooms. The ‘Tosti’s’ (sandwiches) will be served and made by people with a mental or psychological work limitation.
Tosti van Josti
‘Tosti van Josti’ works with organic and healthy products as much as possible. The assortment will exist out of sandwiches, yoghurts, soups, salads, juices, homemade lemonades and organic soft drinks.
In the Netherlands we have a band with boys and girls who suffer from down’s syndrome they are called: ‘The Josti band’. To give the word ‘Josti’ a positive vibe and to show that people with a work limitation can function well in a lunchroom, the founders came up with the name ‘Tosti van Josti’. Check out their website, there is a countdown until the big opening at 28 February. We wish all the staff a lot of fun with working at Tosti van Josti.
About the ‘Bakkerswinkel’
24-2-2015
This is an interview with a Dutch entrepreneur and is only published in Dutch. You can read more articles about his lunchroom/bakery store on our website. The first article is about the second store of the ‘Bakkerswinkel’ in Rotterdam and the second article about the ‘Bakkerswinkel’ in Amsterdam who started serving dinner as well.
The AntiCafé – more comfortable & cheaper than holding office in the Starbucks
20-2-2015
Leonie van Spronsen, lives and works in Paris and visited the AntiCafé. At this place you pay for the time you spend there!
In big cities most people have small homes and big dreams. To make these dreams come true you need to make long hours of studying/working/meeting and with those small living situations and high rents, finding a place to work can be challenging.
This fact has made it completely acceptable to work in your local Starbucks/McDonald’s/Coffee shop but obviously this is not ideal, the manager does not appreciate you being there all day, the F&B is expensive and the furniture was not set up for comfort on the long haul.
This is where the AntiCafé comes in, a concept where you are at a hospitality outlet and pay for time instead of per item. For a couple of euro’s you receive;
• coffee and tea
• snacks and fruits
• fast Wi-Fi
• access to a projector, printer, scanner and board games
• in addition, you are welcome to bring in your own food/soft drinks
You come in, receive a keycard that you need to hold onto until you leave, then when you are ready to leave you ‘check-out’ and pay per hour (€4 for the first hour, €3 per hour for the following hours and a maximum of €16 per day), that’s how easy it is.
Weekend days all Parisian locations fill up completely, you really have to be early to get a good spot!
The idea is to create a shared space where people can work, inspire each other or just have an extension of their living rooms. Maybe the mission statement is somewhat idealistic, dare I say hippie, but the practicality of the concept is very convenient. You are working between people from all over the world, hearing a plethora of languages, have access to unlimited drinks & snacks and you are comfortable in a beautiful, light space. I hope the AntiCafé will take the world by storm!
Editor’s Note: In the Netherlands we have a meeting concept, Seat2meet. You can work here and get free Wi-Fi, coffee, tea and lunch. Their business model is renting meeting rooms: premium spots for flexible workers who want a little more quiet, and meeting rooms for groups. The only conditions if you want to work here; you need to show your ‘social capital’ meaning, everyone present is aware of your expertise and if possible you help each other. Meanwhile Seats2meet has quite a few branches. Perhaps an idea for Paris?
And while we’re at it: look at DrawAttention. You can buy whiteboard stickers here to stick on your laptop cover, on which you can advertise your expertise or say you don’t want to be disturbed!
Instock Toko & Truck on the barricades against food waste
19-2-2015
Instock comes up with a new take away shop (Instock Toko) and a mobile food truck (Instock Truck) to reduce food waste. The first initiative of Instock, a pop-up restaurant in Amsterdam, opened in June 2014. Like in this pop-up restaurant, the food served at the Instock Toko & Truck are made from products that otherwise would be wasted.
Instock Toko & Tuck
At the new take away shop, Instock Toko, they will offer warm meals, salads, soups and juices every day. They don’t work with a standard menu as the meals are made from the harvest of the day. Customers help to reduce food waste by buying a meal at the Instock Toko. The take away shop will open the doors tomorrow (20 February 2015) in Amsterdam.
The Instock Truck is an old Mercedes Benz fire truck that has been turned into a green food truck. With this truck, the Instock team is able to make people aware of the food that is being wasted throughout the Netherlands. The food truck will be participating in several festivals this summer.
Food waste
Research shows that about 30 till 50 percent of our food is wasted. Throw away food does not only costs money, but also the energy consumed in the production, packaging, transportation and food preparation gets lost. Selma Seddik, Bart Roetert, Merel Laarman and Freke van Nimwegen, four employees of the Dutch supermarket chain ‘Albert Heijn’, came up with a plan to reduce food waste. While under employment at ‘Albert Heijn’ they got the opportunity to realise their plan. Now cars are driving along a number of AH supermarkets every morning. At those supermarkets they collect all the products that cannot be sold anymore, for example bread that’s one day old or fruit, vegetables and potatoes in a packages with damages. We wrote earlier about the pop-up restaurant, so if you want to know more about their pop-up restaurant, read this.
The Burger Club – Brings burgers to life through thoughtful ingredients.
17-2-2015
At the Burger Club at the Nieuwe Binnenweg in Rotterdam you can choose between three types of meat for all the burger they serve; MRIJ (Dutch) beef, USA Wagyu beef and Iberico pork. Difficult to choose.
Burger brought to life through thoughtful ingredients
Burgers like a Classic, BBQ, Greek, De Luxe or a juicy burger (the latter with gorgonzola in the meat) can be served with all the above types of meat. The MRIJ (Dutch) beef comes from butcher Piet van den Berg and is made from cattle grazing on the banks of the Meuse, Rhine and Ijssel rivers. For those who can’t choose, you can taste all three varieties if you order the sliders.
Owner Luis originates from Spain and you can trace back some Spanish influences in the menu. He serves a burger with chorizo and jalapeno peppers or one with Iberico ham and aioli. The fries are fried in olive oil, which clearly reflects on the taste. But they also serve a ‘Dutch Weed’-Burger, a vegetarian burger with seaweed as main ingredient. And a burger from grilled farm chicken combined with mango chutney.
Gin + Tonic at the Burger Club
Besides wine and beer the Burger Club also serves gin & tonics. Guests can choose from four types of tonics and eight varieties of gin, including Bobby’s, Hendricks and the German gin, Monkey 47.
Burger bars/restaurants are popular in the Netherlands
Hamburgers from fine quality beef remain trendy. The last couple of years we saw a rise in the number of burger bars or restaurants. If you as a restaurant owner would like to offer your guests more choice in the type of meat, check out the choice from The Frozen Butcher .
Matcha latte – a healthy Japanese coffee alternative
16-2-2015
Leonie van Spronsen had a Matcha latte in Paris at Maison Kitsuné and writes about it. Matcha is known to be full of antioxidants, fiber & chlorophyll. When you drink it as a Matcha latte, the combination with the milk gives a sweet like flavor without any sugar.
A few years ago ordering a cup of coffee was simple, there was the American, the espresso and the cappuccino or if you were feeling crazy a latte would be the beverage of choice. Boy, things have changed in that department.
Nowadays everybody has their own special preference, white chocolate mocha with non-fat milk, a ristretto or an almond milk caramel macchiato, the options are infinite. But to say this made the coffee game healthier? Certainly not.
Matcha – a tradition in Japan
Meanwhile the Japanese were steadily persisting in their traditional practice of drinking Matcha everything. Matcha is a tea plant only grown in Japan, near the Yahagi River, and is a tea type used so often in Japan that sources say only 1% is used for export.
The health benefits are comparable to other green teas but with a much larger impact because the tea (and all other hot beverages made with it) is made from a powder that contains the entire leaf. This means you are ingesting the full scale of nutrients the leaf has to offer in comparison too just the brewed water you usually get with green tea.
Matcha latte
Matcha is known to be full of antioxidants, fiber & chlorophyll, next to this when you drink it as a Matcha latte, the combination with the milk gives a sweet like flavor without any sugar. In these times of increasing obesity, diabetics and highly processed foods – this might be the new flagship of the pro-health movement.
Matcha latte popular in NYC – is Europe to follow?
After already taking NYC by storm, the concept is now also slowly but steadily making its way to Europe. And why not? If you are into milky coffee drinks and have cravings for Starbucks drinks on a daily basis, you might as well switch to Matcha latte. It certainly contains less fats & sugars, it actually has additional health benefits and (not unimportant) it looks really cool. The question is.. how long before we consider a Matcha latte to be as normal as a cappuccino?
Secret Brunch launches in Paris – fun concept but might need some work!
5-2-2015
This Saturday marked the launch of Secret Brunch in Paris, a concept coming from London for their first international event.
The concept is very simple, you sign up, buy a ticket and on the day of the event you get an email with the ‘secret’ location you are expected two hours later for a brunch party from 12.00 to 18.00 o’clock.
Whilst already being a mainstay for a few years in the London scene this was their very first appearance in Paris. They got a great start by being sold out more than a month in advance and the beau monde Parisian seemed ready for it!
Unfortunately it did not quite live up to the hype just yet, quite a few Parisians were rather disappointed by the location, Matignon, it being just in a well-known restaurant/nightclub near the Champs-Elysees. People were expecting something more grand and unexpected.
Organization wise there were also still some hinges, for example you could only reserve a table for groups from 6 pax on which meant that everyone who just bought a ticket had no place to eat! Managing expectations in what to expect from the ticket might also be something to consider for next time.
The party was quite alive and hopping but there is still a lot of room for improvement!^Leonie van Spronsen
The Apothic Crush letter generator: you’re my crush for Valentine!
4-2-2015
Writing somebody a love letter for Valentine is difficult! But what if a pro did it for you, would you dare send it to your crush? As owner of a restaurant or hotel you could use the tactic this winery did! They made a limited-edition red wine called Apothic Crush and help with writing a love letter.
The Apothic Crush letter generator
The Apothic Crush Letter Generator is now online. So think about somebody you want to write a love letter and go to the Apothic Crush letter generator and answer a few simple questions. A computer operated by a handful of poets will take your longings, your emotions and deepest desires and translate them into an electronically delivered, handwritten letter you can give with a bottle of Apothic.
About the limited edition wine Apothic Crush
The people behind this initiative make wine. Red wine, more specifically, smooth-drinking limited-edition red wine called ‘Apothic Crush’. Tasting notes include: chocolate, caramel, luscious red fruit and endless possibilities to combine with food.
Inspiration
Why not create a possibility to have poets writing poems or love letters to go with an original invitation for a Valentine’s dinner at your restaurant or a night out in your hotel? Ask a couple of insights and create one of the greatest gifts you can give to your loved one, a poem or love letter.
Hart & Ziel competition
2-2-2015
The Mariënhof in Amersfoort (The Netherlands) challenges start-ups, entrepreneurs, everyone to come up with the ultimate hospitality concept for the conservatory and adjoining terrace. The Hart & Ziel (translated as Heart & Soul) competition is the chance to start your own company at the Mariënhof. A wine tasting concept, a tapas bar, a combination of a book store and coffee company, anything is possible. In the first two year you don’t have to pay the rent and with a starters budget it’s the chance to chase your dreams.
Competition
The competition exists out of three phases. In the first phase of the challenge the participants make a creative concept. The concept has to be a proper description of the idea and must include a moodboard to give the jury a first impression.
At the second phase the best 8 till 10 participants will be chosen. These participants will develop their concept into a complete business plan. The participants are offered two training sessions to support writing a good business plan.
A top three will be chosen from the submitted business plans. These are the three finalists who have the chance to win. At the final day on 15 May 2015, the finalists will pitch their plans for the judges and the audience. The winner will be announced on the same day. The winner will be selected by three parties: the jury, the audience and the opinions of the people of Amersfoort.
Review
For the review of the concept there will be looked at the creativity, the promotional benefits for the Mariënhof, the connection with the core value of the Mariënhof, the addition for the City Amersfoort and the feasibility of the concept.
Location
The conservatory and the terrace of The Mariënhof are at the side entrance near ‘Kleine Haag’. The conservatory is offering approximately 35 seats and the terrace offers around 45 seats, both depending on the concept. The winner can use the wine cellar as well if it fits the concept. The wine cellar could have another 30 seats.
Participation
Anyone can participate from the age of 18. A starter who just came out of school, someone with years (hospitality) experience and a dream, The Mariënhof is open to anyone with a good concept.
By participating in the contest it is important to bring the necessary permits/documents into which are needed to start a business. The winner is expected to provide this by his / herself.
The concept can be submitted until 17:00 on February 6, 2015.
