Sand Hotel Friesland in Sneek
17-9-2014
We’ve spotted ice hotels and a hotel made of salt before, but this summer the first sand hotel opened. The sand hotel opened temporarily in the Dutch city Sneek in response to the annual Sand Sculpture Festival Friesland. The hotel is inspired by ice hotels located in Sweden and Finland but because of the limitations of sand the organization has chosen for a combination of high quality facilities hidden in a sand sculpture. The sand sculpture of nearly 8 meters represents the town of ‘Bedrock’ from the Flinstones. This design is chosen because of the Hollywood theme of this year. The initiative of a sand hotel is already a great success for the organization: several countries are interested in building a sand hotel as well. A night in the sand hotel in Sneek is bookable until 28 September.
Biggest BYOB edition of the Netherlands
15-9-2014
BYOB, better known as ‘Bring Your Own Beamer’ is an event where artists and film makers bring their own beamer to project their art work. The event is an internationally recognized recipe, but SETUP organizes the largest BYOB editions worldwide in the Netherlands. In cooperation with the Dutch Film Festival the recently opened Tivoli Vredenbrug in Utrecht will transform into a large canvas where about 75 artists exhibit their work. The artists and film makers will beam their artwork on walls, windows and escalators on 26 September from sunset to midnight.
Pop-up coffee bar Black Box in Ghent
12-9-2014
Pop-up coffee bar
A work-out followed by an artisanal cup of coffee. This is possible in the pop-up coffee shop Black Box in the Belgian city of Ghent. The specialty coffee bar is located in a garage box of CrossFit Gent, a gym focused on the new form of fitness, CrossFit. As from 4 September Barista Yf Feller serves freshly made coffees, for a month.
Bullet proof coffee
A special coffee on the menu is the ‘bullet proof coffee’. This is a creamy coffee made from butter from grass-fed cows, coconut oil and French coffee, what gives a boost, both physically and mentally.
For people who don’t like coffee, various activities are organized on location as well. For examples, a second-hand clothing market and an indoor picnic.
Pay-as-you-wish
A special aspect of Black Box is that there’s no pricelist available. Guests give a contribution and are allowed to choose what they think is fair to pay. Black Box is an example of a ‘pay as you wish’ concept which we may years ago in Vienna, Der Wiener Deewan. The system from ‘Pay as you wish’ is used for charity as well, like we spotted in 2007 at restaurant Trien in Herpen. Trust is a more recent example that opened in Amsterdam last year.
The Netherlands, Land of Whisky
9-9-2014
The documentary ‘The Netherlands, land of Whisky’ will premiere at the film festival ‘Film By The Sea’ in Vlissingen on 20 September. The initiative of film maker Gwen Jansen shows the remarkable whisky culture in the Netherlands: Over 2,5 million people drink whisky, world’s largest whisky fair is in the Netherlands and a lot of whisky media and whisky writers are Dutch. The first whisky camping is even founded in the Netherlands. The documentary is produced by JansenJager, Beeldmakers and is mostly established by crowdfunding and without use of subsidies. It will appear on DVD and Blu-Ray at the end of this year in Dutch and English and can be ordered via the website ‘NederlandWhiskyland’.
Cooking at the beat of dance music
2-9-2014
Dance festival Tomorrowland was held on the 19th, 20th, 26nd and 27th of July. The festival isn’t just well known for its music, but for the culinary experience as well. For the third time in history a small amount of people could experience the cooking skills of Sergio Herman in the secret restaurant, hidden in the main stage. For the amount of € 15.000,- Sergio Herman, Quique Dacosta (three Michelin stars) from restaurant Quique Dacosta and Kobe Desramaults (one Michelin star) from restaurant In De Wulf prepared several dishes while the music was playing loud.
The rest of the publication is only available in Dutch
How do you apply trends as entrepreneur in the hospitality industry?
1-9-2014
First of all, when talking about trends you need to realize that many different concepts are being named trends these days. However, there is a big difference between trends, hypes and inspiration. For example, we call our website hospitalitytrends.eu but mostly offer inspiration based on red threads in international trends. Real trends take their time in the adoption curve. If you look at the adoption curve of for example sustainability, you’ll see that it has been coming up for 15 to 20 years already and now it is mainstream, thus this is a trend. Hypes however usually stick around with the innovators and early adopters.
The usual development of a trend is that it begins with a very small portion of the population. Logically entrepreneurs are drawn to new trends since they are always looking for new success. They are constantly scared to miss out and fail in their business endeavours, yet specifically as an entrepreneur it is important that you keep on living your own dream and take care that you do not jump on every trend or hype that comes along.
Food, drinks, music & theater at Food Truck Festival TREK
26-8-2014
Food Truck Festival TREK stand for food, drinks, music and theatre! After a successful first edition in Utrecht, the second edition of the Festival TREK moves to The Hague. From Friday 12 September until Sunday 14 September the ‘Westbroekpark’ will be transformed into a large outdoor festival with dozens of food trucks and several artists. A big variety of food can be tasted this day: from oysters to organic fries and from sausages to vegetarian food. Besides eating and drinking, the visitors can enjoy theatre, live music and cabaret as well. The TREK Food Truck Festival is free of charge.
Grand Hotel de Draak opens new wellness
22-8-2014
After a fire in the oldest hotel of the Netherlands, Grand Hotel de Draak, the crew worked hard to renovate the monumental building. Following the grand-opening in June this year, the wellness opened recently in the former area of restaurant La Pidola. Hotel guests can go to the wellness for a Finnish sauna, a Turkish steam bath, infrared cabin, a cooling-shed with a splash- and rain shower and a relaxation room. The wellness is opened every day from 4 until 11 PM, but on request can it be opened during the day as well.
Restival is looking for crowdfunding
21-8-2014
Restival is a festival build out of the remnants of other festivals. Restival tries to collect as many of the usable product of other festivals such as food and drinks, but also building materials and decorations. After two successful editions in 2012 and 2013 the organizers of Restival are busy with collecting products and material for de third edition at the ‘Flevoparkbad’ in Amsterdam. Despite the enthusiasm of the visitors, volunteers, partners and the press, it did not resolve in enough financial guaranties. For this reason organizer Maarten Aland tries to collect € 20.000 before 1 September through crowd funding. The only thing people have to do is to buy their ticket (€ 15,-) and consumption card before the end of the month via crowdaboutnow.nl. Of course are donations welcome as well.
Float-in movie: watching movies from the water
21-8-2014
A float-in movie; instead of watching a movie in a theatre or at home, watch it from a floatable platform or boat. Events like this were organized by different organizations before, but this summer restaurant ‘Het Theehuis’ introduced the initiative in the hospitality industry. ‘Het Theehuis’ is located next to a lake in the touristic Grou, what makes it a unique location to organize a float-in movie. The guests can watch the movie from their own boat, the VIP lounge (a floating platform) and the spacious patio. Snacks and drinks are served during the movie as well.
