Trends we spotted | Week 39
27-9-2019
At hospitalitytrends.eu we spot many national and international trends on a daily basis. We pick the most interesting ones to write about, the smaller trends we use in our weekly column ‘Trends we spotted this week’.
This week, among others links to articles about inspiration around ice cream by Spanish parlour Rocambolesc and McDonalds Canada is testing the P.L.T. Burger they created with Beyond Meat.
Pulpac is a patented innovation that can replace single-use plastic at a lower price on a global scale and in a press release TripAdvisor says it blocked more than a million fake reviews in 2018.
Food lifestyle brand Bon Appétit opens a virtual restaurant in Chicago, Bon Appétit Delivered and would you like to try a burrata stuffed with pizza sauce? They serve it with pizza crust at restaurant The Bedford.
Helsinki just became the world’s first ‘City as a Service’ to attract more tech talent for the companies in this city and more about ‘The Fyre Burger’ created by ‘Lock & Key Social Drinkery Kitchen’ in Los Angeles!
Bagels & Beans is changing its brand name on World Animal Day 2019 to Beagels & Beans
27-9-2019
As of the 4th of October, the sanctuary for bagels, coffee and happiness will change its brand name. The name change will be celebrated with a free cup of coffee or tea of choice and a festive giveaway for everyone who is bringing their pet.
On Friday the 4th of October the well-known Dutch hospitality formula will be renamed to Beagles & Beans. Pets have always been welcome at the coffee- and bagel bar, but on World Animal Day they want to put them in the spotlight even more. Only Beagles? Of course not: all pets are more than welcome to bring their owner. From hamsters to Shetland ponies, alpaca’s to goldfishes and from collar parakeet’s to stick insects. The owners will be treated with free coffee or tea of choice. And for the pets there will be a water dish with fresh water.
Hurryhurrygogo | The perky little sister of Happyhappyjoyjoy will open in Amsterdam
26-9-2019
Hurryhurrygogo will open its doors at the Singel 460 in Amsterdam by the end of October. Underneath the Supperclub, space is being created in the former French Connection for this even more chaotic and hysterical sister of Happyhappyjoyjoy. The new snack bar offers space for its own events, various cocktails and high-quality Asian snacks and, in that sense, will link itself to the city’s nightlife.
Amber Garden | True Chinese Cuisine
24-9-2019
Amber Garden, part of the international ‘Yisheng Group’, opened its doors in Amstelveen (near Amsterdam in the Netherlands) in a festive way on September 23th. Owner, Stark Li, third generation respected Chinese restaurant owner, together with Facility Manager, Ronald Ting, opened restaurant Amber Garden in the company of many corporate companies from the region, culinary enthusiasts and (Michelin) star chefs.
With the arrival of Amber Garden, the municipality of Amstelveen has added a beautiful, authentic fine dining Chinese restaurant at their list of restaurants. Lovers of the authentic Chinese cuisine can enjoy the ‘shared dining’ dishes here. During the opening we enjoyed dishes from Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Guangzhou and Xi’an. With the dishes you can enjoy wine pairing that are specially selected. For those who want to drink alcohol-free, they also serve delicious tea-based mocktails. True lovers of the Chinese cuisine must visit Amber Garden, if only for the delicious Dim Sum and their signature dish the ‘Amber roasted Beijing duck in the traditional way’. Like chef Shaun Song says: “You no longer need to go to China to be able to enjoy the best dishes China can offer”.
Trends we spotted | Week 38
20-9-2019
At hospitalitytrends.eu we spot many national and international trends on a daily basis. We pick the most interesting ones to write about, the smaller trends we use in our weekly column ‘Trends we spotted this week’.
This week, among other a link to an article about ‘The Swingers Open 2019’, a crazy golfing tournament at Swingers City in London, sponsored by Tanqueray No. Ten.
Also two articles with sustainable initiatives by McDonald’s in Germany and the UK and Burger King in the UK. SeaBubbles is another sustainable initiative in Paris, these electric and futuristic taxis are hovering the Seine.
From London this week two examples of a collaboration around one ingredient, a truffle menu at restaurant Orrery and the ‘Champagne Friends’ initiatives by bubbledogs.
Ever heard about a PizzaRitto? You can eat them at Russo’s House of Pizza in Pearl River, New York State. What it is? Check out the video!
Quirky ‘storytelling’ video for BUNK hotels | ‘Another hotel’
17-9-2019
If you have missed the news: BUNK Hotels has recently opened the doors of its first location in the heart of Utrecht in an old church. BUNK Amsterdam will open soon, also in a former house of God.
We wrote earlier about this special hotel in the Westerkerk in Utrecht, and with the announcement of BUNK Amsterdam they have created a special promotional video for the concept. A big nod to Wes Anderson’s Grand Budapest Hotel, that’s what you could call this artistic piece of cinematography from BUNK. And also an ode to the bird of paradise that lurks in everyone, as ultimately we all have our own original story. BUNK brings these stories together.
The Simple Greek |Interesting Greek fastcasual concept in the U.S.
17-9-2019
‘The Simple Greek’ is redefining the traditional Greek restaurant with an interactive concept that combines high quality ingredients, open kitchens and Greek atmosphere in a fast casual setting. At Pennsylvania-based ‘The Simple Greek’, customers build pitas or bowls with Mediterranean staples such as grilled steak, tzatziki sauce, feta cheese and garbanzo beans. This concept is one of the fastest-growing franchise restaurant concepts in the U.S.. It capitalizes on the popularity and health benefits of the well-known Mediterranean diet and is a ‘build-your-own’ concept. ‘The Simple Greek’ was mentioned as a high growth, emerging concept to watch at the 2019 National Restaurant Show by Technomic Inc, the leading strategic research and analytics firm in the U.S. for the food industry.
We never spotted a similar concept in Europe but we love Greek food and the fast-casual concept of The Simple Greek is tempting! And who doesn’t love a concept that has this saying: ‘We have OPA’?
Where ‘opa’ is the Dutch word for granddad, at The Simple Greek it stands for O (Outstanding service), P (Passion for the brand) and A (Awesome food). Their slogan is ‘Eat Fresh, Eat Simple, Eat Greek’. Although they aren’t thinking about franchising the concept outside the U.S. we’re quite sure the people from the Netherlands would embrace the concept as well.
Geofencing | How location-aware dining apps are changing the hospitality industry
16-9-2019
QSR (quick service restaurant) brands have only begun to scratch the surface of geofencing. Beyond providing better delivery analytics and clever marketing campaigns, location context can help restaurants understand customer loyalty, impact customer engagement, and help them save on operational and delivery costs.
A rather long but interesting article especially for fast food and fast casual brands about the possibilities presented by geofencing. A guest blog by the company Radar! They give examples on how some QSR brands have started experimenting with geofencing to improve the customer carryout experience. They indicated that API’s (application program interface) are the next big thing in the SaaS (Software as a Service) wave and have been recognized as a Rising Star on TechCrunch.
Trends we spotted | Week 37
13-9-2019
At hospitalitytrends.eu we spot many national and international trends on a daily basis. We pick the most interesting ones to write about, the smaller trends we use in our weekly column ‘Trends we spotted this week’.
This week, amongst others a link to an article about a special collaboration between the restaurant of the Andaz Amsterdam and Heinz ketchup, a menu called ‘In case Ed Sheeran’. And have you got any idea what the ingredients are for a dish called ‘Musubi Madness’?
We also read an article about a dumpling made with lab-grown kangaroo meat and another ‘veggie’ collaboration; Beyond Meat and Subway introduced the Beyond Meatball Marinara Sub this September.
The Gateway Foundation says it will open its first space hotel in 2025, check out their artist impression of the ‘Space Wheel’ hotel. And the new Raaago app, developed by German design group Random Access Studios, aims to make travel more interesting by making it random.
And Starbucks is rolling out the Chinese ‘Starbucks Now’-concept. The first pick-up-only shop will open in New York City this fall.
Neat Burger | First location in London for this plant-based sustainable burger chain
10-9-2019
Five-time FIA Formula One World Champion, Lewis Hamilton is collaborating with hospitality organisation ‘The Cream Group’ and investors including UNICEF Ambassador and early backer of Beyond Meat, Tommaso Chiabra, to revolutionize fast food when they launched the new concept Neat Burger, a plant-based sustainable burger chain. They opened their first site on September 2nd just off Regent Street in London. Neat Burger promises to transform the way people see plant-based food by appealing to not only those who follow plant-based diets, but any individuals, meat-eaters included, who want to eat delicious meat-free dishes that are more sustainable, healthier and ethical. The team has ambitious plans to expand the concept globally with 14 franchises planned in the next 24 months.
We have been spotting a lot initiatives which include the burgers or other products by Beyond Meat. Burger King recently tested Beyond Fried Chicken™ which was sold out in no time and this September Subway will introduce the Beyond Meatball Marinara sub in 685 participating restaurants in Canada and the U.S. for a limited time only. As far as we know Neat Burger will be the first plant-based sustainable burger chain serving unique patties, specially created by their team of chefs in collaboration with Beyond Meat.
