Christmas cocktails by Cocktailicious
15-12-2014
We read more and more about winter cocktails, innovative cocktails with tea, coffee or other strange combination and newly opened cocktail bars. On the website Cocktailicious cocktail lover Caroline writes about cocktails, including 250 different recipes and various cocktail bars. For the Holidays we want to suggest the recipes for the Christmas Spoom and the luxury Christmas punch to surprise your guests.
The first cocktail shaker that composes a unique ‘Hospitality Trends cocktail’ for us will be awarded with a spot in our hall of fame!
Check the recipes for the Christmas Spoom and the Christmas punch (Dutch).
Winter garden in Amsterdam
15-12-2014
How do you use your outdoor area during the cold days? Do you transform it into a cozy winter garden or do you prefer a skating rink on the roof terrace? For three months Restaurant & Bar Herengracht changes its outdoor area into a winter wonderland. With heaters, fire places and a semi-roofed terrace it is a nice place to be during these dark days.
The Winter Garden Amsterdam
The Winter Garden is open from late November till late February 2015. There will be three matching winter events, each with a cool theme.
Typical wintry
At the terrace the temperature will be a few degrees higher than on the streets. Not only the ‘heaters’ cause these higher temperatures, but also by the nose warming winter cocktails, mulled wine and hot chocolate served from the special outdoor bar. Typical wintry snacks and dishes like homemade pea soup, cheese fondue and game completes this winter concept.
Three special winter events
The winter garden will set the stage for three events at Restaurant & Bar ‘Herengracht’, which is located near the ‘Koningsplein’ in Amsterdam. The first event will be hosted in Christmas spheres on 20 December, the second event highlights the theme ‘let’s go wild’ on 24 January with wild boar on the spit, the final special is a huge cheese fondue party.
Robots manage restaurant
12-12-2014
A restaurant owner in China completely replaced his staff by robots.
Robots manage restaurant
Recently we wrote an article about flying robotic waiters in Singapore. The flying robotic waiters are created to help the waiters with difficult tasks. Lu Dike from China has a different mindset and lets robots serve his whole restaurant. The restaurant is located in Zheijang, a province in China. Lu Dike is convinced that it will save him a lot of money in the future. The robots are able to formulate 40 sentences which allows them to take orders from customers and transmit the orders to the kitchen. The robots have sensors that prevent them from bumping into something.
Inspiration from Retail
10-12-2014
What could the hospitality industry learn from the ‘Future of Retail 2015’ report of PSFK? Rehab Studio Ltd. has made a video with a number of recommendations from the report. The recommendations include:
- Retailers will be challenged to create custom tailored experience for every shopper.
- They need to create the technical ability to embrace this personal experience.
- The stores will increasingly need to focus on the fact that they need to be a hub for community involvement. That’s one of their benefits over online shops.
- Checkout must be faster and more easy; paying mobile could just bring that!
Inspiration from retail to the hospitality industry
Especially for larger catering and fastfood companies there are a number of recommendations in the movie of the rehabstudio Ltd. that can be inspiring for the future. Could it work for you if you would receive personalized lunch suggestions by ‘La Place’ if you regularly eat there?
For restaurants in smaller villages, it is important to be the community hub. More and more services disappear from the smaller villages, so you could start operating as collect point for the mail, the dry cleaners and so on. As long as a large part of your potential guests does visit your restaurant on a regular base!
The catering is of course faced with new payment methods, such as paying by mobile. However, many bar, restaurants and café still only accept cash payments! The video ends with a hospitable gesture: home delivery of the groceries! Why doesn’t the hospitality industry turn this around… Why don’t they deliver a custom-made meal at the home of their guest?
Self-skimming beer glass
8-12-2014
The innovative self-skimming beer glass from FndF is marketed by Triple S International. The self-skimming beer glass has a slightly bevelled edge, resulting in skimming being unnecessary and the lager always gets a firm head of foam. The design can be delivered in glass as well as in plastic.
The benefits of the self-skimming beer glass
The company explains the benefits of their innovative glass on their website. They created a list of benefits for the consumer, catering and the breweries. The main reason to start using this glass for your guests is the fewer hygiene risks due to a skimmer in stagnant water. For the hospitality industry the biggest advantage is that anyone can tap well in this glass, especially during peak hours. You also have less loss caused by bad tapping.
Nominated for the Horecava Innovation Award 2015
Like the Breathometer Breeze, these glasses are also nominated for the Horecava Innovation Award 2015 (The Netherlands). The glasses are just like the Breathometer nominated in the category ‘Equipment and Services’. Voting is possible here.
The Frozen Butcher
4-12-2014
Last weekend we’ve tasted two new hamburgers from The Frozen Butcher, the Iberico Burger and the Angus certified Burger. We really loved their taste! On their website we learned that The Frozen Butcher has a whole range of burgers aside from the Iberico and Angus burgers; a Wagyu burger, a US beef burger, a lamb burger and an organic burger.
Frozen in time… Fresh on your plate
The burgers are immediately frozen after production by using special freezers to guarantee the true butcher’s quality. This technology enables them to produce without artificial preservatives, colouring agents or other additives.
SIAL Innovation Award 2014
At SIAL Innovation 2014 the Frozen Butcher won the award in the category Meat Products. The jury, made up of independent experts, selected the concept as winner because of the premium meat quality, the clean design of the packaging and the valorization of the country of origin.
Serve your guest a burger to their liking
Great way to use these burgers in a burgerbar; your guests can pick their own meat, each with another taste, another origin and another story! Give your guests a choice in buns and ingredients and let them design their favorite burger at your restaurant. ^Marjolein
Flying robotic waiters
2-12-2014
By end-2015 autonomous flying robotic waiters will be deployed at 5 outlets of the Timbre Group in Singapore. Infinium Robotics Pte Ltd chief executive officer Woon Junyang signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Edward Chia, managing director of Timbre Group, on 31 October this year.
Prototype
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong observed an autonomous flying robotic waiter serving food during a demonstration at Singapore’s National Productivity Month 2014 Launch Event at Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre.
Seeking productivity-related government grants
The costs are high but the flying robotic waiters could be a solution for the labour-crunch in Singapore and the robotic waiters do allow human waiters to focus on higher-value tasks such as explaining the menu, upselling and getting feedback from customers. At this moment both Infinium Robotics and the Timbre Group are seeking productivity-related government grants to help offset deployment costs.
The flying robotic waiters at work
Do you want to know more about these robots? CNBC did an interview with the owner of Infinium-Serve and had a demonstration in the studio.
Dutch Coffee Makers back in The Netherlands
28-11-2014
Coffee has gained a more exclusive status over the past years and there are a lot of connoisseurs nowadays. That said, most of the coffees are brewed hot and the (re)introduction of a cold brew method might bump into some doubts.
Dutch Coffee
The classical Dutch brewing method dates back to the Dutch East India Company period. With this method cold (ice) water drips through the ground bean reservoir. Making a pot of coffee takes four to six hours, the result is a less bitter and less acid coffee. The cold coffee barely oxidates and therefore has a longer shelve time. The Dutch Coffee contains zero calories because the fat in the beans doesn’t dissolve in cold water.
Design
The design of the classical Dutch Coffee machines, or installations, dates back to the trade of the Dutch East India Company. The elegant design is a fusion between Dutch stolidity and Asian craftsmanship.
Taste
The various tastes of the coffee bean are well preserved by the cold brew method. The founders of the ‘Dutch Coffee’ company, Jits Krol and Robert Nijhof, say it’s even strange that we’re brewing coffee hot. This tradition probably started back in the days when it was more hygienic and healthier to brew coffee with boiled water. It does have a negative impact on the taste though.
The website www.dutch-coffee.nl/en shows a variety of serving methods, brew-experiments and the machines of course.
Tribute to Alain Passard
28-11-2014
In our humble opinion a chef can’t get a better tribute! Eight chefs who have ever worked for and are inspired by Alain Passard, have jointly catered a dinner in honor of his cooking style. Initiated by Le Fooding and sponsored by San Pellegrino. ‘Alain Passard et les Arpégiens’; Björn Frantzén, Sven Chartier, Mauro Calagreco, David Toutain, Tatiana Levha, Bertrenad Grébaut, Marc Cordonnier and Ludo Lefebvre.
Reunion: Chefs tell about Alain Passard’s cooking style
Vegetables, respect for the product, watching and listening to the product, the product of this moment has the most flavor, be careful with heat and a fine balance between fat and acid. A great tribute to Alain Passard.
Great tribute
Great idea to organize a similar tribute to a Dutch chef around the presentation of a magazine or book, like the ‘Lekker’, the GaultMillau (from the Netherlands), ‘Grootspraak’ or around a special edition of Delicious.
Storytelling by Hotel Casa 400
26-11-2014
Hotel Casa 400 launches storytelling website ‘Home To 400’ and shares its history by the motto “Mi Casa es su Casa ‘.
In 1957 Gabbe Scheltema, Frits Bolkestein and the late Nol South took the initiative to introduce a successful student hotel concept from Copenhagen in Amsterdam in Copenhagen. They wanted to offer a solution to the lack of student housing and wanted to solve the increased demand for hotel rooms in the peak summer season as well.
“With us behind every room a story”
The hotel pays tribute to the founders and 57 years of history by launching a unique website with stories from students, staff and visitors of Casa 400. The accompanying video for instance tells the story of the housekeeping staff, but there are also extensive written stories about (former) residents.
Expanding the storytelling website
Besides stories that are published already the website will gradually be supplemented with stories of all students, employees and guests. It is one of the best examples of storytelling in the hospitality industry nowadays.
