The Dangers of Selfie Sticks – by Pizza Hut
26-5-2015
Pizza Hut has published a humorous and sarcastic video on 20 May about the use of the selfie and the selfie stick hype. Pizza Hut combines the actuality and humor in this great video, with the effect that now 7 days later, nearly 2.5 million people saw the video and probably smiled about it.
Using selfies and selfie stick in your marketing
We wrote about using the ‘selfie’ in your marketing earlier and we see more and more great examples. Like the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Paris, which offers a ‘selfie in Paris’ tour. A select number of Marriot Hotels offers their guests the possibility to test a free GoPro camera during their stay. With the camera guests can share their vacation experiences with family and friends.
Selfie sticks aren’t unlimited popular
The hype of the ‘selfie’ stick has exploded to major proportions in the USA. We have heard that at several events the selfie stick is even prohibited. Recently friends of us experienced this at a baseball match of the Yankees.
Pizza Hut increases the ‘danger’ of the stick in this video and offers potential guests a smile. The only question is whether the relatively small connection with the Pizza Hut brand in the video works out and if the video will generate more guests for their restaurants.
Give your guests the choice of the cordial syrups by Agroposta
22-5-2015
Great to serve this summer, a lemonade box with the sachets of Agroposta, like a tea box. 1 sachet + 200 ml of ice water = 1 glass of refreshing lemonade, add some mint leaves … and done!
The cordial syrups
Agroposta cordials are offered in small secure sachets and filled with 32 ml of concentrated syrup with the following flavors:
Refreshing Lemon – created from the lemons grown and handpicked in the Croatian Islands of the Mediterranean.
Sage – a mild, subtle and distinct flavour. It’s made from handpicked sage flowers from the Adriatic coast.
Elderflower – The elderflower lemonade tastes just sweet enough. The aromatic elderberry blossoms is also picked by hand.
Raspberry – this lemonade tastes sweet with a subtle sour undertone. The raspberries are also handpicked in the many forests and mountains in the Balkan region.
Lavender (natural tranquilizer) – The lavender syrup is not too sweet and slightly different. The syrup is made from the ecologically cultivated Lavandula angustifolia plant that is also handpicked.
About Agroposta
Agroposta is a Croatian company founded in 2004 and with a lot of experience in organic farming. The company started in 2011 with the production of the cordials. Agroposta has its own factory in Zagreb, completely designed according to EU standards in terms of food and provisions. The requirements of HACCP are also strictly maintained. Agroposta stands for sustainability, love for the environment and fair trade in all processes and in all products.
Environmental friendly food carts – lessons from the food truck scene in NYC
20-5-2015
The green MRV100 food cart from the company Move Systems, is coming to the streets of New York City this summer. The new food cart is cleaner, more quiet and the unit runs on compressed natural gas with a solar panel providing supplementary power. The food cart has the ability to charge from the electrical grid. It’s equipped with a point of sales system including the ability to pay by credit card and has electronic inventory control. The cart is equipped with a restaurant-quality kitchen with better refrigeration facilities than typical at most food trucks.
If you have ever been to New York City in the past, you will remember the great ‘dirty water’ hotdog carts with the pretzels and in more recent years the famous food trucks. There are as many as 8.000 mobile food vendors, serving all kinds of street foods. Most of these food trucks are relatively old-school. The vendors are cooking with propane gas and their trucks are diesel-powered dirty and noisy verhicles.
Lessons from the food truck scene in NYC
Amsterdam is just allowing the first food trucks in the city and food truck festivals like TREK are getting more and more popular. This might be the best time to start working with new, sustainable, food trucks. We recently spotted another new generation food truck by Peugeot, which will be present at the French Pavilion during the World Expo Milano 2015. Before we spoil Amsterdam with the charming but polluting food trucks, let’s look at more sustainable alternatives.
The chefs of restaurant IDRW will be cooking from a vintage outdoor kitchen on location
13-5-2015
A culinary twist to the trend of outdoor cooking. Marcel Zomeren and Justin van den Berg, chef-owner and chef from the restaurant In Den Rustwat (IDRW) in Rotterdam will be cooking on various location this summer with only the basic essentials. They will use a wood-burning vintage field kitchen from 1944, complete with army tent.
Vintage outdoor kitchen
The chefs from restaurant In Den Rustwat (with a Bib Gourmand rating by Michelin) are available to cook underneath the starry sky at all kinds of parties and events. The outdoor kitchen is part of a new joint initiative called ‘Your Personal Chefs’. At www.yourpersonalchefs.nl you can hire the chefs for a culinary feast on location. The culinary duo is for hire with or without the tough field kitchen. The vintage outdoor kitchen will be pulled by a DAF army vehicle from 1955. Anyone that wants to extend their style can rent the army tent as well.
The chefs can also be used without the vintage kitchen, at any location. The dishes are prepared in camping style, but on a very culinary touch. Think of a perfectly prepared cote de boeuf, grilled tuna, stew or duck. Or flammkuchen, the Alsatian version of a pizza.
The ‘Scoff-ee Cup’ by KFC
7-5-2015
KFC in the UK has unveiled the first edible coffee cup. It’s called the ‘Scoff-ee Cup’. The cups are currently under development but most probably available from this summer onwards.
The ‘Scoff-ee Cup’ is made from biscuit, wrapped in sugar paper and lined with a layer of white chocolate. The chocolate keeps the coffee hot and the cup crispy. The biscuit slowly softens as the chocolate melts which it does in the mouth and not in the hand. The ‘Scoff-ee Cups’ will mark the launch of KFC’s Seattle’s Best Coffee (made from fairtrade Arabica beans) across England. We did spot edible coffee cups before, like the milk & cookie shots by Dominique Ansel.
Food scientist created the ‘Scoff-ee Cup’
Food scientists The Robin Collective created the edible cup in partnership with KFC. The cups are also infused with different scents (Coconut sun cream, freshly cut grass and wild flowers), that are known to improve your mood. And that together with a great coffee, there’s no better way to start your day!
Dominique Ansel’s answer to what’s next
6-5-2015
Dominique Ansel opened his second bakery and concept, the Dominique Ansel KITCHEN on 29 April. As we already wrote in February, Dominique Ansel KITCHEN will not be serving the Cronut™ pastry nor many of the items that are most popular at the original Soho flagship Bakery. So if you’re visiting NYC and want to taste some of the other delicacies by Dominique Ansel, you don’t have to wait in line at his bakery, although we think it might be a problem to get a reservation at his KITCHEN as well.
At Dominique Ansel KITCHEN time is an ingredient
More than 70% of the menu will be made, finished, or assembled to order. Chef Dominique and his team have changed the operations of a traditional bakery, fusing it with a restaurant service kitchen, to bring “à la minute” capabilities to some of your best loved baked goods.
In the fully opened kitchens, guests will see the cooks cut fresh vanilla beans and scrape the seeds directly onto your ice cream rather than have it mixed in and slowly lose the intensity of its flavor in the fridge. They fold the chocolate mousse to order so it doesn’t have to harden for hours in the fridge, and guests can even choose the intensity of the chocolate. The ham and cheese croissant is wrapped in premium freshly sliced ham when the order is placed. And they aim to have everything done in the same amount of time it takes to get a latte. If people will wait for a fresh pulled espresso, why not also for a pastry?
Pre-order and self-checkout at Dell canteen
23-4-2015
Dell employees in Amsterdam don’t have to wait in line anymore at the cashier in the company canteen. Since a short while they order and pay their own lunch with a special “Dell Cafe” app, the package can be picked up a little later.
Order Mobile
eMove.me was commissioned by caterer ‘Van Laar Catering’ to develop the Dell Café concept. The app is designed and developed by YES.TAP.
eWallet
The app has an integrated payment service so that the employee can recharge by phone. This “e-Wallet” saves the employee time, leaving more time to enjoy his lunch. The app works ‘cashless’: customers pay a prepaid credit. The transaction capabilities are an interesting alternative to the recently disappeared chipknip. Additionally, less cahiers are needed and transaction costs are lower.
No more waiting in line
According to Martijn Lukaart CEO eMove.me there is no need to stand in a row anymore in the retail and catering industry. eMove.me is an independent and exclusive distributor of several m-commerce solutions. Earlier, we wrote about the order application at foodcourt The World in Rotterdam where recently Open Tabs is implemented.
New urban hotspot in The Hague: MaMa Kelly
22-4-2015
The Oude Ketelhuis (the Old Boiler House) in The Hague has been transformed into an industrial all day hospitality concept.
MaMa Kelly is located alongside the creative Caballero factory. Ijsbrant Wilbrenninck (kitchen), David Trampe (bar), Stefan Coster (barista) and Rein Rambaldo (concept creator and owner of The Hospitality Factory) are the members of the creative team behind MaMa Kelly. They serve coffee, pies from their own bakery, lunch, dinner and you can go there for a few drinks as well.
MaMa Kelly: good, pure and delicious
MaMa Kelly is anything but complicated. Everything is pure, from supplier to preparation. The menu can best be described as ‘chicken or lobster’. Of course there are more dishes, like steaks and vegetarian risotto. MaMa Kelly works with a 2 meter long charcoal grill and authentic vendors such as bread from vanmenno and sausages by Brandt & Levie.
Architecture
The industrial property has undergone a huge transformation in the recent months, while retaining the authenticity. For example, the boilers of the former boiler house are still present and they kept the height intact. The interior is best described as industrial, design and urban. The huge open kitchen literally provides a look in the kitchen to every guest. With her comfortable couches, cool barstools, design tables and lamps MaMa Kelly shows that she has the looks.
Laugh your pants of
20-4-2015
At the ‘World Laughter Day’ (the first Sunday in May), Herengracht Restaurant & Bar in Amsterdam serves free ‘bitterballen’ (this is a typical Dutch treat, mini croquettes).
Herengracht Restaurant & Bar in Amsterdam is located right at one of the canals. The ideal place for a quick stopover while cruising through the canals. Herengracht Restaurant and Bar will launch a special boat catering menu this spring. Serving a nice and delicious lunch on the water of the Herengracht (one of the main canals). To start the boat-catering-season the Herengracht serves the free ‘bitterballen’ in collaboration with ‘Oma Bobs’, to the boats coming by and the visitors of the Herengracht Restaurant and Bar.
The boat catering season starts with a playful ‘Laugh your pants off’
The typical Dutch saying: ‘Laugh your balls out of your pants’ is freely translated in English as ‘Laugh your pants off’. That’s why The Herengracht Restaurant and Bar is serving ‘Bitterballen’ (balls) at the ‘World Laugther Day’.
‘World Laughter Day’ was founded in 1998 within the motto: “We do not laugh because we are happy, we are happy because we laugh” and takes place every year. On 3 May to boats on the Herengracht canal and visitors of the restaurant or bar can pick up their free ‘bitterballen’. “We will distribute the mini-croquettes as start of the boat-catering-season and because we need more laughter” Says Wessel Kuipers, co-owner of the Herengracht Restaurant and Bar.
Peugeot designs an urban chic food truck 2.0
13-4-2015
Peugeot has its own food truck, a bistro on wheels, conceived and developed by the Peugeot Design Lab. A super modern food truck, striking because one of the characteristics of the current food trucks is the ‘old fashioned’ image. With ‘Le Bistro du Lion‘ Peugeot will attend the Milan Design Week 2015 from 14 April followed by the French Pavilion of the World Expo Milano 2015.
‘Le Bistrot du Lion’, a Food Truck 2.0
The food truck was invented and developed by the Peugeot Design Lab, the Global Brand Design studio of the car brand. Cathal Loughnane, Head of Peugeot Design Lab, comments, “The end-users are always at the heart of all of our designs. For the Peugeot ‘food truck’, we wanted to create a complete mobile cuisine experience, not only creating a kitchen for the chef but a restaurant and cafe for the customers. A lot of attention was given to opening up the kitchen and allowing the chef and food preparation to be as close to the public as possible. We also wanted to create a real sense of surprise as the compact Peugeot ‘Food Truck’ transforms into an amphitheatre-like dining space ‘Le Bistrot du Lion’.”
The dynamic ‘Le Bistrot du Lion’ is compact, featuring short front and rear overhangs to provide enhanced maneuverability, with a long wheelbase to offer considerable load volume. Once on site, the food truck spreads its wings to double its width. Accommodating 30 persons comfortably, with separate areas for food preparation, eating and refreshments as well as a DJ booth. On board, chefs benefit from two grilling plates and four induction burners as well as a deep fryer. The ventilation system ensures optimum air quality and a 400-litre refrigerated under-foot compartment allows food to stay fresh. A 350-litre refrigerator keeps drinks cold. Attached is a professional espresso machine, by Rocket Espresso. Not only does the Peugeot ‘food truck’ provide a one-of-a-kind dining experience, it does so at an environmental way, having been specially designed to recuperate and recycle all waste.
Peugeot has selected the talented French chef Sven Chartier, of Saturne and Le Clown Bar in Paris, as the first culinary tenant of ‘Le Bistrot du Lion’.
