A Finger Lickin’ Chicken Mitten Bucket Hugger by KFC
11-11-2021
To celebrate the upcoming holiday season, Kentucky Fried Chicken® is unveiling winter’s hottest dining accessory – a limited-edition and original Finger Lickin’ Chicken Mitten Bucket Hugger, to turn your bucket of KFC’s world-famous fried chicken into the ultimate holiday must-have, according to their press release.
A combination of a new Holiday Bucket and a sweater for this bucket to keep the bucket and the hands of their fans warm! No longer available in the US but we loved the idea, a combination of a ‘ugly Christmas sweater’ with a big plus for fans of your brand. It’s great inspiration for upgrading the ugly Christmas sweaters from the past, a ‘sweater + mitten’ for warm drinks or buckets of food.
Reading time: 1 minute
NL Delivery Game | Meal deliverers safer and more aware on the road
9-11-2021
Since the corona pandemic, the number of meal deliveries in the Netherlands has increased excessively. According to the Food Service Institute Netherlands (FSIN), this market grew by 37% compared to 2019. This development is leading to an increasing number of meal delivery in the industry, especially the 16 to 24 year old age group. According to Veilig Verkeer Nederland (the Safe Traffic Association Netherlands (VVN), this age group takes more risks in traffic, which means that they are more likely to be involved in accidents. To prevent this, the Dutch Association of Meal Delivery Services (NLVVM) has created the NL Delivery Game. The initiators – consisting of ten large delivery chains – join forces and launched this training game for the more than 20,000 meal deliverers they employ. In the game, the traffic and behavioral rules of the Safe Traffic Association Netherlands are tested. Resulting in more meal deliverers safer on the road and more aware in traffic.
Reading time: 2 minutes
Kitchen robot Flippy 2 | Increase efficiency in the QSR sector
4-11-2021
Miso Robotics, a start-up company that is transforming the foodservice industry with robotics, revealed their newest model of their Flippy: kitchen robot Flippy 2. With the help of all the learnings at one of the restaurants of the QSR brand White Castle of Flippy 1, the newer model takes over the work for an entire frying station and is able to perform twice as much food preparation tasks compared to the previous model.
An ideal employee for in your QSR kitchen! Do you want to read more on robots in the hospitality world, check out our articles on robots here.
Reading time: 2 minutes
Trends we spotted | Week 44
1-11-2021
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 the pop-up ‘Vurger King’ in Madrid, this Burger King location will serve only meat-free items. And Ruby Hotels outlines their Asia expansion plans.
The Accor group will also be entering the house rental market, the accor-residences.com website shows the group’s selected collection of homes.
Last weekend was Halloween, which is also becoming more popular in Europe. Some Halloween inspiration for 2022: ‘Haunted House of Fryght’ by Wendy’s, ‘Haunted Restaurant with Fright Castle Takeover’ by White Castle and in Paris you could go to a Halloween party at ‘Le Manoir de Paris’.
You can enjoy the afternoon tea, ‘Prêt-à-Portea‘ autumn/winter 2021 collection, again in The Berkeley hotel! And recently the Chiaro restaurant opened in the Rocco Forte Hotel de Rome in Berlin. Here chef Tim Mälzer developed an Italian cuisine with Japanese elements.
Trends we spotted | Week 43
26-10-2021
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… ‘The Great Feast’ in The Old Selfridges Hotel in London and Dole suggest carving a pineapple instead of a pumpkin for Halloween. 😉 With a downloadable pineapple Jack-O’-Lantern carving template!
REEF has a great view on redesigning urban spaces in communities hubs and REEF Kitchens uses a unique real estate strategy to its advantage. They opened the first two ghosts kitchens of Wendy’s in the UK. Furthermore, they will open 700 ghost kitchens in the USA, Canada and the UK.
And some sustainable inspiration for sustainable building: the De Halo building in San Francisco made of Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) and the HAUT building in Amsterdam. And a link to an sustainable fabric for carpets and flooring: Econyl. Just as strong as nylon and made of recycled waste.
A design graduate from the Eindhoven Design Academy in the Netherlands, has created a project to highlight how renewable energy derived from tomato vines could be used to run a cloud server. And a link to an article about artfully Cannabis-infused confections.
In the Netherlands, women’s average gross hourly earnings are 14% lower than men’s, which seemed entirely outdated to De Koffiejongens. So they ask men to voluntarily pay more… And the Franz Fisher ‘Alpenhütte’ in Austria is the first mountain restaurant to serve vegan-vegetarian dishes only.
We spotted a new chain in the USA: The Sweet Paris Creperie & Café with cafes in Houston and one in Mexico opens new locations in Miami.
Next Gen Foods introduces plant-based chicken ‘TiNDLE’ to the European market in Amsterdam
25-10-2021
The fast-growing Singaporean food-tech startup Next Gen Foods – founded in 2020 – will make its European debut this year, starting in Amsterdam. The company has a state-of-the-art production facility in the Netherlands, where its main product – plant-based chicken ‘TiNDLE’ – is made. TiNDLE has been successfully launched in Asia and the Middle East and people recently had a sneak preview at The New York City Wine & Food Festival, where the product received critical acclaim. TiNDLE is now available in about 150 restaurants.
Reading time: 2 minutes
Thai’s Streetfood restaurant Pitaya opens in Antwerp
21-10-2021
Thai’s Streetfood restaurant Pitaya, the restaurant chain specialized in Thai cuisine, opened its first restaurant in Antwerp, next to Operaplein in the newly renovated Antwerp Tower. After three successful openings in Brussels and Wallonia, it is now Flanders’ turn. And they will open in the Netherlands as well in the coming years.
Inspired by the Thai capital, the first Pitaya restaurant opened in 2010 in Bordeaux, France. The Antwerp restaurant is number 122 on their list! Most of the restaurants are located in France. Alpha Seed, the investment company that manages Pitaya’s license for the Benelux, is planning further openings in Liège and Charleroi this year. Pitaya now manages 5 restaurants in Belgium. The goal is to reach 70 in the Benelux in 7 years: 30 restaurants in Belgium, 35 in the Netherlands and 5 in Luxembourg.
Reading time: 2 minutes
How spooky do you want it to be? | 13 bits of Halloween inspiration
19-10-2021
On American inspiration websites you can’t miss Halloween. Halloween is major in the US and slowly but surely more and more people in the Netherlands are celebrating it too! In our Dutch village it will be celebrated as well. The organization normally responsible for our King’s Day celebration will this year also organize a Halloween spooky tour along ‘haunted houses’ where the children get hot chocolate and can pick up ‘creepy’ candy. Such a fun night! How can you celebrate Halloween as a hospitality provider? Would you profit from a celebration and would your Dutch or European guests enjoy it? The last point is of course clear; it is fun and it always makes sense to positively surprise your guests, even if it is with a freshly baked ‘ghost’ cookie or a mini pumpkin of marzipan. To get in this spooky atmosphere before the actual holiday (31st of October), we have listed 13 bits of Halloween inspiration for you! ^Marjolein
Reading time: 3 minutes
Trends we spotted | Week 42
18-10-2021
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 NANKA that makes patties from Jack Fruit in combination with mushrooms, chicken and beef to help meat-eaters to reduces their meat intake in Malaysia. And in Germany Essity and McDonald’s are recycling the paper cups into toilet paper.
The Brooklyn Dumpling Shop from New York is growing fast through franchising, they’re opening 5 new locations in Florida. And the Singapore-born, Instagram-famous Paradise Group debuted in California last September with their Rainbow Soup Dumplings!
The Dutch cider producers and importers of CiderCider will open ‘the Ciderbar’ in Rotterdam Hofbogen by the end of December. And in Groningen the first RavioliBar in the Netherlands opened. They make fresh ravioli daily!
The Cheesecake Factory has been sharing a slew of their incredible recipes for readers to make in their own kitchens since the COVID-19 crisis. Inspirational! And the Dutch Vegan Junk Food Bar will open in Germany this fall.
New innovation by Domino’s Pizza Belgium | Domino’s Cal’z sandwich
18-10-2021
In addition to a wide range of pizzas, Domino’s Pizza offers more and more dishes suitable for lunch or as a snack. With this, the chain focuses on the popularity of the lunch moment and the growing demand for lunch delivery. After the introduction of the warmly welcomed Crunchy Chicken, the Domino’s Cal’z sandwich is now also available at all Domino’s Pizza locations in Belgium.
In this article we have written about another calzone variation from the US: ”The Crazy Calzone” from Little Caesars.
Reading time: 2 minutes
KFC - Finger Lickin’ Chicken Mitten Bucket Hugger
KFC - Finger Lickin’ Chicken Mitten Bucket Hugger
KFC - Holiday Season packaging
