Trends we spotted | Week 12
20-3-2020
Our perspective on the world has completely changed in the past week, what a paradigm shift! I personally thought that we would no longer post trends and inspiration on Horecatrends. It seems of no importance right now but we also spotted a lot of positive inspiration. So, we have written a ‘trends we spotted this week’ with small positive gestures and inspiration in these anxious times.
Stay healthy and take care of each other! ^Marjolein van Spronsen
This week, among other links to articles about a hand wash tutorial by Gordon Ramsey and the Cheese trucks of the London based The Cheese Bar.
McDonald’s in the U.S. and Canada are considering rent deferrals for its franchisees and Uber Eats is introducing a new support package that includes a waiving of delivery fees on all orders from independent restaurants across U.S. & Canada and dedicated marketing campaigns.
And an article at Eater about what restaurants need right now to actually survive in the USA. Here in the Netherlands, the government is taking all the necessary measures at this moment and even banks are helping. We wish all restaurant owners worldwide will be able to find a way to stay in business.
Chipotle tackles social distancing with virtual hangouts on Zoom, interesting inspiration if you try to reach young people. And upscale restaurant Canlis in Seattle finds new business model in the Covid-19 crisis.
In the Netherlands we spotted free e-learning programs for people working in the hospitality industry and many restaurants offer gift vouchers with benefits. One of them doesn’t give vouchers but gift plates!
Winners of the 1st ProVeg Vegan Cheese Awards I Max & Bien and Petit Vegann
13-3-2020
The Amsterdam vegan cheese maker Max & Bien won the audience award of the ProVeg Vegan Cheese Awards 2020 with their blue cheese. The Petit Lorrain, a vegan brie from Petit Veganne from France, was the favourite of the jury. The awards were presented during the well-attended sixth edition of VeggieWorld in Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Although a news from a week ago, we still love to mention it! There is currently an increasing demand for high-quality vegan products with which you can make a difference in the catering industry. For example, we recently wrote about camembert made from cauliflower and hemp seeds from Grounded Foods in New York.
BUNK hotel Amsterdam |A new hotspot in the former Sint-Rita church
9-3-2020
After the booming success in Utrecht, Amsterdam now also gets a BUNK Hotel. BUNK opened its doors on the 5th of March in the former Sint-Rita church in Amsterdam North. After a thorough renovation, the monumental building has room for 300 guests. Is it a hotel with hostel prices? Or a hostel with the quality and service of a hotel? BUNK invites you to experience it yourself. BUNK has a sympathetically priced restaurant and a broad cultural programming. With the compact rooms and Pods, the lively shared spaces and the free cultural offer, BUNK focuses on connecting with the neighborhood and the world.
Last Tuesday, the 3rd of March, I was present at a dinner at the BUNK hotel. You are already impressed upon arrival by the transformation of this large church into a hotel. Great to see the BUNK pods but also the 107 compact rooms in the belly of the church, a separate concept. From April onwards you can and go sleep there, I believe this is a special and pleasant experience in Amsterdam. It’s also a great place to enjoy dinner with dishes based on various international cuisines, including that of Amsterdam. ^ Oscar van der Maas
Booking.com Launches New Pilot App CityBook in Amsterdam, London and Paris
25-2-2020
Booking.com, one of the world’s leading digital travel companies committed to making it easier for everyone to experience the world, recently announced the launch of a new pilot product, CityBook, a responsive digital guide for cities that seamlessly combines inspiration, planning, navigation and experience all in one place. The first pilots launched in the cities of Paris, London and Amsterdam.
This Pilot product leverages machine learning to make instant recommendations for travelers to easily explore all the best a city has to offer on the go. Booking.com just made exploring cities a whole lot easier.
Soulpicks app | Already 120,000 unique favorite places, restaurants, wine bars and Cafe’s worldwide
25-2-2020
Places where you like to go and share in private with friends, family and acquaintances. In the past year, 120,000 of these kind of unique ‘soulpicks’ were recorded and shared in the Soulpicks app by users and the experts associated with Soulpicks. Of all favorite places, restaurants are the most shared, but also wine and cocktail bars and cafe’s throughout the world are well represented in the app. More than 7,800 favorite places have already been added in Japan, more than 31,000 in the USA and more than 16,000 in the United Kingdom and France. The milestone is an important step towards the position of Soulpicks as a ‘go to app’ for the implementation of your leisure time, wherever you are in the world.
Trends we spotted | Week 8
24-2-2020
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 links to articles about the Crystal Clear Bread Challenge, cheese made from cauliflower and Popcorn Chicken Pizza.
Burger King New Zealand released a sandwich with just French Fries and at the New York Fashion Week Croc’s latest collaboration has been released: Crocs clogs for KFC fans!
KFC China created ‘pocket franchises’ via Wechat, a virtual franchise system to engage customers and encourage people to order from the restaurant. And the Travalyst coalition announces the development of new sustainability frameworks to help travellers to find sustainable travel and tourism options.
Gacha Gacha Coffee | A do-it-yourself coffeeshop by Maruyama Coffee
21-2-2020
A do-it-yourself coffeeshop, created by Nendo Design Studio for Maruyama Coffee In Japan. Although already closed it’s been an introduction to a coffeeshop that didn’t require many staff members. Nendo Design Studio created the almost fully-automated café called Gacha Gacha Coffee. The experience was inspired by Gachapon, a capsule toy vending machines that’s popular in Japan. The pop-up from October till November 2019, located in the observation deck of Roppongi Hills, featured 12 vending machines. At these machines consumers could purchase a capsule filled with coffee beans for ¥500 (USD 4.50). As from that the consumer had to take the coffee to semi-automated stations to brew it themselves. Staff only had to give information and clean up!
The idea behind Gacha Gacha Coffee is to create a coffee experience that makes you choose your beans, take time to watch it brewed and maybe even talk about coffee with a barista and of course enjoy the view at the observation deck! But as Trendwatching (we spotted Gacha Gacha Coffee in their ‘Innovation of the day’-trendletter) indicates it’s a great example on how you can use automation to face labour shortage, which we’re facing in the Netherlands as well.
Trends we spotted | Week 7
17-2-2020
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 links to articles about a nicotine-like ‘meat patch’ and the Fondue Pizza by Pizza Pilgrims and The Cheese Bar.
An international project upcycles shellfish to tackle plastic pollution and Café Jack and Beyond in London serves ‘bottomless Cake and Prosecco’. And a new water-saving defrosting system, called Boss Defrost, offers a more sustainable solution.
And an article on how the Coronavirus is hitting the business of American Chinese Restaurants and some inspiration for Valentine’s Day 2021!
Click on the title if you like to read the full article. Enjoy reading!
The city of Igualada & Airbnb | ‘Healthy Destinations Lab’
14-2-2020
A healthy tourism project between the city of Igualada (Spain) and Airbnb provides a blueprint to promote lesser-known destinations across the world. As told by Airbnb the number of arrivals of guests to the region increased 50% in one year propelled by domestic travelers. In late 2018, Igualada City Council and Airbnb announced the creation of the “Healthy Destinations Lab”. The innovative project brought together industry, policymakers and locals to explore, generate ideas and collaborate on building a healthy and sustainable tourism model for the municipality of Igualada, located within the L’Anoia region in Catalonia (Spain).
We wrote about the ‘Global Office of Healthy Tourism’ by Airbnb back in 2018 and recently they published a whitepaper on New Sustainable Tourism Destinations in which they, amongst other topics about sustainable tourism, subscribe the project with the city of Igualada in the Anoia region in Spain. The effect of the project: Guests arrivals in the Anoia region grew by almost 50% in 2019, 71% growth of domestic travel in the Anoia region in 2019, 16 of the 35 municipalities in the Anoia region received travelers through Airbnb.
Punk, Royals and Shoreditch | The new nhow London hotel has a special interior design theme
4-2-2020
NH Hotel Group recently opened its first nhow property in London at the beginning of January. nhow is a brand that surprises and inspires its guests by offering them an unconventional experience, which is unique to each hotel’s location. nhow London is part of the exciting new development 250 City Road.
Check out their Instagram account for more details of the interior design which has ‘London reloaded’ as theme. You’ll be welcomed by Henry the robot and we love the Big Ben rocket sculpture in the lobby!
