Get inspired by.. Spoon & Stable
1-2-2016
Leonie van Spronsen, lives and works in Paris and is infected with the foodiebug, in this blog she writes about Spoon & Stable by chef Gavin Kaysen. In particular about his ‘after hours specials’.
Fall 2014 Gavin Kaysen, former pupil of Chef Daniel Boulud in New York (restaurant Daniel**), took the jump back to Minneapolis, Minnesota where he originally came from and opened his first, own restaurant: Spoon & Stable. Since then the casual fine dining restaurants have been a grand success, being noticed from coast to coast in the USA.
Other than super fresh food, beautiful presentations and a great atmosphere there is something else that sets this restaurant apart; their ‘after hours special’.
This genius gimmick is what we would love every fine dining restaurant to do. Every day the restaurant features a ‘fancy fast food’-like dish that is only available at the bar and not before 22h30. This can be a creative bowl of ramen (Japanese noodle soup), duck-confit tacos, freshly made corn tortillas and basically any crazy/yum/exciting dish they can come up with.
Why is this special at Spoon & Stable so great?
There are so many reasons, first it makes your food accessible for many more people than it is now, without having to lower your dining room prices. Secondly the bar of your restaurant will be much more exciting, shooting up beverage sales. Third it gives your team a little bit of freedom to experiment a bit outside of the box. Gives them the opportunity to create and test all their crazy ideas. And last but certainly not least, it could help greatly in eliminating food waste.
Personally, I’m 25, live in Paris and infected with the foodiebug. I would love if some of the great Parisian chefs would open their minds to this idea. Imagine yourself, at a random Tuesday night, 22h30, having a cocktail and grabbing a grilled cheese reimagined by Alain Ducasse.. could it get any better?
Check out this video to get to know chef Gavin Kaysen. He spoke at the Terroir Talks in October 2015. It gives a clear insight in 17 minutes….
Colourful Pantone cocktails
27-1-2016
Tealeaves and Pantone are developing a new concept together: #PaletteForYourPalate. Ten different kinds of tea cocktails in Pantone colours!
Colourful Pantone cocktails
Tealeaves collaborates with Pantone to develop the new project #PaletteForYourPalate. With ten different flavours of tea cocktails as the result. They have names such as ‘The Bold and the Blue’, ‘The Pink Monsoon’, and ‘Dreams of Sunset’. Merging expertise which results in a unique product, tea and Pantone colours. Their goal is to show how big the impact of colour on products can be. These tea cocktails aren’t just tasteful and aromatic but also a ‘feast for the eyes’.
Tealeaves x Pantone approached over 30 different mixologists and world-class chefs from across North America to come up with cocktails that followed the aforementioned themes. For over 20 years Tealeaves has been recognized as the leading luxury tea blender of choice for luxurious hotels and restaurants worldwide. Tealeaves understands that ‘the first taste is with the eyes’.
Tealeaves x Pantone reached out to Nike and nail polish manufacturer OPI, to get inspired by their way of using colour. Both manufacturers understand what colour can do with a product.
The project Tealeaves x Pantone: #PaletteForYourPalate has an online exhibition where you can check out the cocktails.
Pantone hotel & café
In previous articles we wrote about experiments of Pantone. For example the Pantone Café in Monaco and Pantone Hotel in Brussels.
Smart safe
25-1-2016
G4S introduced a new cash deposit service for entrepreneurs, CAS. A smart safe in which the sales from the cash register can be deposited. The deposit service counts automatically every banknote, checks its authenticity and puts the money into your bank account. When CAS is almost full, an automatic signal will be send to G4S who will pick up the content.
“It was about time for a modern alternative for depositing money into your bank account.” says Bas Rodenberg, commercial director G4S Cash Solutions. “If it’s up to us, CAS becomes the cash version of the pin device. An inseparable duo in every shop.” Entrepreneurs are able to manage the sales safely and efficiently with CAS, apart from the level of sales. “Cash payments stay” says Rodenberg. “Recent research shows that Dutch people still pay half of their payments in cash. The big amount of cash that is received daily by entrepreneurs in the hospitality and retail industry demands a system to have your sales relocated to the bank in a safe and secure manner.”
Smart safe fits in a future-oriented business
Rodenberg explains why CAS is launched at the Horecava: “G4S sees collaboration with their costumers and chain partners as the key to a safer world. That’s why industry associations helped visualizing the needs of entrepreneurs with cash money in their enterprise, because they know exactly what they’re dealing with.” So, no more walks to a bank at different times of the day with shopping bags filled with money!
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.
Cold Brew Parlor in lobby Wyndham Grand
21-1-2016
The Wyndham Grand brings a new buzz to the traditional coffeehouse experience with the launch of Brew Parlor. A fresh take during afternoon happy hour where people can meet, recharge, or simply take a breather over cold-brewed coffee-based drinks and cocktails.
As from the beginning of 14 January, coffee lovers will be able to experience cold-brewed pick-me-ups and hand-crafted caffeinated cocktails from 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. every Monday through Friday at Wyndham Grand’s Brew Parlor pilot hotels in Chicago (U.S.), Doha (Qatar), Shenzhen (China) and Istanbul (Turkey). According to a study by Euromonitor International bottles filled with cold brew coffee are growing in sales worldwide, faster than any other bottled non-alcoholic beverage.
Cold Brew Parlor
Although it takes a while to brew cold coffee, the installation is a beautiful artisanal installation in your lobby! In the Netherlands we do have the company Batavia Dutch Coffee of Jits Krol and Robert Nijhof. They are penetrating the hospitality industry with the cold brewing method from the Dutch East India Company era. They bottle their cold brew…
Wouldn’t it be a great idea to have an installation at the hotel lobbies of the big hotel chains in Amsterdam and Rotterdam? As part of their coffee corners, like the hotels of the Wyndham Grand chain are doing.
But even museums, like our ‘Scheepvaartmuseum’ with topics regarding the Dutch East India Company should serve cold brewed coffee. ^Marjolein van Spronsen
Sushi-wrap, sushi-sandwich or better the sushiwich
20-1-2016
The sushiwich is actually a simple Sushi Maki roll (4,5 cm diameter and 20 cm long) which is cut in two parts, to be eaten as a sandwich or wrap. The sushiwich is introduced at the Horecava by Bocon Sushi Concepts.
Sushiwich and the sushi robot; Rolling Mate TSM900RSR
Because of doubting whether to call it a sandwich or a wrap, they came up with the name ‘sushiwich’. The innovation comes from Australia, according to the sushi machinemakers, Bocon Sushi Concepts. Over there the snack was such a big success (more than 3000 outlets) that the idea has been re-imported to Japan. Every chef can make sushiwiches, especially if you use sushi robots, like the Rolling Mate TSM900RSR. You need the Rolling Mate to make the sushiwich if you’re not a trained Sushi chef. Bocon Sushi Concepts also sells readymade sushi rice. This is a scoop in the Netherlands and causes that the seller doesn’t have to worry about the ‘basics’ and the making of the sushiwich becomes even less time-consuming.
Creative with sushi
A sushiwich sounds a bit like the Temakeria in London to us. By being ‘creative with sushi’ a large number of concepts have been created. It does strike us that the concepts that stick to the original sushi, are the most successful.
The Frushi, a sushi made of rice and fruit that we spotted in 2011, are no longer sold. Neither the Goshi and Wichy really made it, they’re German variants on sushi with European tastes. But hey, it remains nice to make your own sushi variant as a chef, maybe a sushi variant with local products as Catering Hanenburg at kookstudio Lokaal 55 does. They combine Frisian ingredients like smoked eel from the Sneekermeer with sushirolls made of beetroot and a crème of potato to an Frisian Sushi.
A WineStation in your hotel lobby
18-1-2016
Bram Kosterink has immersed himself in the capabilities of the WineStation. Which is already used in some hotel lobbies where you can take a glass of wine via your room key (card) and the bill will be debited to your account ….
Bram Kosterink about the WineStation
This is one of those blogs that has been inspired by another blog. In response to my blog “Inspired by Tuscany’ I was approached for a drink at the systems of WineStation. The same system that I encountered in Tuscany, but now I was informed about the details for the owners of the system in the hospitality industry. I thought it would be interesting to share this information…..
For those who have not read my blog about Tuscany. With the system that I encountered at that time it’s possible to pour your own glass of wine as guests. By means of a pass which you have to upload with an amount, you can choose three different glasses; a tasting glass, half glass or a full glass. After the glass is filled, the amount is directly taken from the pass. Besides this option, the system keeps the wine in the same condition for at least 60 days.
Hilton and Marriott do use the WineStation in the lobby
Hilton and Marriott are already using this system in their luxurious suites and in the lobby of some of their hotels. The hotel room key, (card), can be used to access the WineStation. When the guest takes a glass of wine from the system, the amount is debited to the guests hotel bill.
Besides that the system can be used as described above, the company Napa Technology created the possibility to monitor the ‘wine’ behaviour of guests in a number of wineries. The passes for the WineStation are personalized to be able to send invoice every period. The wine drinking preferences of all guests are known, what they like to drink and how much they drink…. Allowing the wineries to meet every guest’s needs. The technology allows to actively target the sales. Cool if you can prepare a wine profile for all your regular guests. Moreover you can serve and inform your guest at their interest. I wonder how my wine profile would be, probably quite diverse. ^ Bram Kosterink
Ice cream macarons
12-1-2016
A new twist of a French specialty: the ice cream macaron! Otelli introduces these ice cream macarons in two flavours, mango-passion and raspberry during the Horecava in Amsterdam.
The ice cream macarons are made locally
The ice cream macarons by Otelli, producer of ice cream and patisserie specialties, are prepared in the Netherlands. At Otelli in Haarlem, the French almond macarons are baked. The macarons are filled with ice cream made from organic milk, pasteurized at a farm in the Haarlemmerliede. A swirl of mango-passion sorbet or raspberry sorbet is added to the ice cream. The macarons are 8 cm in diameter and served in a nice packaging with Parisian drawings.
Available at Otelli
These trendy ice cream macarons can be used as dessert or be served as a to go snack. Otelli offers a wide range of homemade ice creams, mono desserts, petit fours, tarts and dessert buffets. All products are made with real cream and butter, pure nut pastes, couverture and fresh fruit.
Sichuan bitterballen (small croquettes)
6-1-2016
On Aziatische-ingredienten.nl you can find a delicious recipe for Sichuan bitterballen. Bitterballen are small and round croquettes, which are a real Dutch treat.
Of course there is an Asian example of our Dutch pride: the Sichuan bitterballen
We received multiple reactions on the article about croquettes in the leading role, in which we also included the Italian bitterballen (Arancini). Amongst others Robin Kok send us her recipe for Asian bitterballen. The recipe, unfortunately only available in Dutch, sounds delicious!
For her Sichuan bitterballen Robin used ‘Sichuan style red boiled beef’ that includes ingredients like ginger, chilli bean sauce, rice wine and Chinese dark soy sauce. She makes a dummy proof roux with gelatin. Because of the gelatin the small croquettes are much easier to mold once the roux is cold and therefore need less flour. For the crust she uses panko! On Aziatische-ingredienten.nl Robin shares more recipes. I read some blog posts which are mouth-watering like dried tangerine peel, Youtiao (fried bread sticks) and Salak (snake fruit). ^Marjolein
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!
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