Honey Spoon
29-12-2015
The Honey Spoon is a small cup within a spoon, filled with 100% flower honey. An unique way to serve honey without any mess. Convenient, hygienic and unique.
Honey Spoon
Within the out-of-home shops and thus also in the hospitality, alternatives for sugar are increasing in popularity. Honey in the tea is getting more popular. In order to keep it simple and clean and don’t mess with a cup of honey they created a new invention, the Honey Spoon. A small plastic spoon, filled with flower honey. The only thing you have to do is, just like with a normal cup of honey, remove the plastic top. Then you just put your spoon in the tea, stir well and you have got a nice cup of tea with honey, without the mess.
Availability
The Honey Spoon is available in a luxurious dispenser with 125 spoons or in a silo with 20 spoons. It is possible to order a sample via this link. The Honey Spoon is available in The Netherlands at several wholesalers like, Sligro, Deli XL and VHC.
Valentine’s Day at ‘De Nieuwe Poort’
28-12-2015
On the 13th of February ‘De Nieuwe Poort’ in Amsterdam will host a Valentine’s Day meeting for young and old people. The moto for this event is; before you know it, you have got a date!
Valentine’s Day 2016
According to the organizers, young hard working adults do need some quality time to break the workflow. The young adults often don’t know how to do this. Experiences and memories from elderly people can help to have a relaxed afternoon. Elderly people on the other hand are sometimes fighting loneliness; regularly these men and women live without any family or friends. As the organizers already mentioned, elderly people do have a lot to talk about, especially the ones from Amsterdam take no mince matters. These different types of ‘problems’ can be combined perfectly in order to satisfy both parties. This is exactly what the organizers of the Valentine’s celebration do. Previous years both ‘seniors’ and ‘young professionals’ celebrated Valentine’s day, and experienced it as inspiring and fun to do!
Costs
The ‘seniors’ have free entrance, the organisation assumes ‘young professionals’ will pay for them.
About ‘De Nieuwe Poort’
De Nieuwe Poort is a house to meet and be inspired. They want to counterbalance the forces of the economy and politics, because they often prevail in society. De Nieuwe Poort helps the mild forces, in order to make us more human and richer. Whoever eats the dishes of Chef Marcel Johannes, or is just there to drink, they will always be surrounded by poetry and music. In short, De Nieuwe Poort wants to fulfil the role of a community centre and gather different types of people for different types of activities.
Wrong Christmas Sweater party
23-12-2015
On the Korte Heuvel in the Dutch town Tilburg, they celebrated the last Friday Afternoon Party before Christmas with a ‘Wrong Christmas Sweater’ theme.
Wrong Christmas Sweater party
Last year, the largest Friday afternoon party from Tilburg has been a huge success as well and they had the same theme; Foute Kersttrui (Wrong Christmas Sweater). Hundreds of people gathered at the party area of the Korte Heuvel to kick of the holiday season with colleagues and friends. Santa and his Christmas wives were present and there were torches everywhere. One could eat our famous Dutch pea soup (snert) and there was plenty of glühwein (mulled wine) and beer. This year the ‘Wrong Christmas Sweater’ party was held on Friday 18th December as from 17:00 everyone was welcome. With a wrong Christmas sweater you received free mulled wine at Polly Maggoo. Initiators are the owners of Polly Maggoo and it is now adopted by a number of cafes in the area.
Inspiration
Come up with a nice theme and prolong the festivities surrounding Christmas. Since 18 December, the Christmas Season started and there is no one available for work-related Christmas parties so this initiative in Tilburg is a lovely way to throw a party and to generate additional revenue. Win / win for participants and entrepreneurs. Just as the ‘Kerstmiddag’ (Christmas Afternoon) on 24 December in Hengelo.
SnowPage symbolises the festive spirit at the Peninsula Hotels
21-12-2015
The Peninsula Hotels are ready for the Christmas season. The SnowPage, their mascot and limited edition cuddly toy is for sale for the Make-A-Wish Foundation®.
SnowPage, the ultimate holiday ambassador
SnowPage is dressed to impress for the holiday fundraising campaign by the Peninsula Hotels. The SnowPage is fashionably restyled by the luxury toy art collective Papinee. They created a limited edition of just 300 toys for each hotel, and all profits will be donated to the Make- A-Wish Foundation®. If guests buy one of the SnowPages they will have a chance on winning an ultimate Peninsula experience with the “Golden Tickets”, offering prizes for all the family. The Golden Tickets are hidden inside some SnowPage boxes.
Papinee created the SnowPages
Papinee has hand-crafted 10 limited edition SnowPage toys, with the lovable snowman dressed in exquisitely embroidered costumes inspired by the arts, culture and architecture of each Peninsula destination. Hallmarked by Papinee’s detailed craftsmanship and vibrant design style, the exclusive SnowPage toys are designed with care using the finest luxury fabrics.
The Peninsula Hong Kong SnowPage will be dressed in a dark navy jacket, embroidered with vintage neon motifs, The Peninsula Beijing SnowPage will wear a signature Page cap with his red patterned coat with a traditional Chinese dragon design. A New York SnowPage is stylish in red, white and blue with hints of New York’s Art Deco movement, while the Tokyo SnowPage will be dressed in a classic cherry blossoms-embellished kimono.
Christmas afternoon party Hengelo’s peak of the year!
15-12-2015
Bram Kosterink blogs about a tradition of his native region Twente, in the east of the Netherlands. An inspiration for cities all over the world.
Most Dutch trends are made and tested in the western cities of the Netherlands, like Amsterdam. Something which was mentioned during one of my trend presentations last Tuesday. This remark set me thinking, which cool successful initiative is conceived in my native region Twente? The first thing crossing my mind was ‘kerstmiddag’, our Christmas afternoon party! No it isn’t Christmas eve or a Christmas diner but ‘kerstmiddag’. For several years a successful tradition in my hometown Hengelo. The initiative was conceived by an entrepreneur with a restaurant in the city centre of Hengelo. After he initiated this event, many hospitality companies followed his idea. Nowadays almost all hospitality companies within the city centre are joining this event.
The Christmas afternoon party is an event which all citizens of Hengelo are looking forward to. Students who left their parents homes, citizens who emigrated to other parts of the country, all come back for this special event! Weeks in advance tickets are sold by several hospitality companies. Prices are ranging from € 15,=, some included entrance fee, other companies include drink vouchers.
Christmas afternoon party
What is the meaning of ‘kerstmiddag’? From eleven in the morning the real diehards are gathering together, others will join during the day. Meetings are set with family, friends and relatives to gather over drinks in several cafés and restaurants, just to meet. At four/five o’clock, after a full day of singing, dancing and talking, people are heading home (mostly a little tipsy). They quickly refresh, take a powernap or start drinking again, all to prepare for Christmas eve.
Annually 20.000 till 25.000 partygoers meet in the city centre of Hengelo, a huge success! The commonly support is the major strength of this event, almost every citizen and hospitality entrepreneur joins the festivities. Curious about the event? Join me at the 24th of December. If you are looking for a ‘good’ conversation, you can find me at café ‘t Uurwerk.
I am very interested in your Christmas tradition. If you have one, please share at tip@spronsen.com and I hope to inspire other hospitality entrepreneurs with your story! ^Bram Kosterink
A small hospitable gesture: Children’s buffet
14-12-2015
The 5-star Brown’s Hotel in London, is not only entertaining for parents but for the children as well. Brown’s Hotel offers, besides the normal buffet, a full equipped children’s station on the buffet during breakfast.
Children’s buffet
The children’s buffet at the Brown’s hotel can only be used by children, ‘no parents allowed’! Equipped with a selection of cereal favourites, fresh fruit, pastries and even reading material for when they are waiting for mum and dad to finish their breakfast and newspaper.
The Italian Baglioni Hotel Regina offers a small buffet especially designed for children as well. One of our followers sent us the pictures, as can be seen above, of the hotel situated in Rome. The Brown’s Hotel and the Baglioni Hotel Regina are both member of The Leading Hotels of the World.
If you spot nice hospitable gestures, please let us now and send an email to tip@spronsen.com.
A guide for child-friendly hospitality industry
The children’s buffet could have been mentioned in the guide for a child-friendly hospitality industry named ‘Kinderen aan tafel’, published in Belgium. The booklet provides a self-test for restaurant owners, practical checklists, tips & tricks for child-friendly service, menu suggestions, tips for plate decoration and additional services. Unfortunately it’s only available in Dutch.
Ping-pongbar Daily Social will open in Amsterdam
8-12-2015
Amsterdam will get the first ping-pongbar in the Netherlands. The ping-pongbar Daily Social will open this December and is a venue where the traditional table tennis has a leading role. Socializing while playing ping-pong!
Ping-pongbar Amsterdam
Daily Social combines sports and entertainment. The café offers nine different tennis tables, each accommodating up to 20 guests. The tables are suitable for large groups. Besides the sport a game of ping-pong is also entertainment and is good for team building! The Daily Social will soon open for all ages. As from 18:00, the bar is only accessible for people aged 21 and older. You can order a wide variety of drinks at the bar and there is also a small bar menu, including lots of snacks and salads.
International ping-pongbar
We have seen more ping-pongbars worldwide, so they are not new. We spotted for example the Spin, ping-pongbars in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Toronto. An alternative for our snooker & poolcafés. We wonder if hip Amsterdam will play ping-pong here and if we will see more ping-pongbars in the Netherlands. After all there are also many snooker & poolcafés in the Netherlands! We wish the team of Daily Social lots of fun and succes at the opening!
Traditional French table service at Restaurant Hemingway
11-11-2015
‘Back to the Classics’, restaurant Hemingway from Grand Hotel ‘De Draak’ (the Dragon) is going to implement traditional tableside food preparation for two days this month.
Restaurant Hemingway is part of the oldest hotel and company in the Netherlands, Grand Hotel De Draak in Bergen op Zoom. The team of the restaurant is going to implement traditional French tableside food preparations. Examples of this are flambéing, filleting etcetera at every course of their menu on Thursday the 26th and Friday, the 27th of November.
‘Back to the Classics’ with the traditional French table service style
A French serving style is not very common, but is seen at some exclusive upscale clubs and restaurants. The waiter typically has a fancy cart that carries different types of food for the guests to look over before they decide what they would like. Sometimes this is only done for appetizers or deserts, and sometimes it is done throughout the entire meal.
At restaurant Hemingway one can chose a four course meal with a classic dish at each course. During the evening they will cut smoked salmon, fillet sole at the table, serve chopped sirloin steak with flambéed lardons and they finish with ‘cerises flambées’. There’s a lot of craftsmanship to witness on these evenings in restaurant Hemingway.
The craftsmanship of preparing classic dishes at the table is disappearing
In recent years, more and more restaurants stopped preparing the classic dishes at the table. This is mainly due to the labour intensity but it also isn’t taught anymore at the institutions. The classic tableside preparations are no longer regularly practiced and they seem to disappear due to these causes. Fortunately they are still used with some regularity at high-end restaurants. Often in a fancy way, such as preparing ice cream at the table through nitrogen, or preparing a cocktail at the table or the bar this way.
One will find variations of the classic dishes such as Crêpe Suzette regularly in the top restaurants. Like at Maison Lameloise (***) of chef Éric Pras where they still prepare a delicious Crêpe Suzette at your table.
In the end the traditional French table serving styles guarantee a show and your guest will experience a night out instead of just having dinner! We love to experience it in restaurants and we do wish the guests of restaurant Hemingway lot of fun and the team the best of luck on 26 and 27 November!
Will pupcakes become a trend in Europe?
28-10-2015
Will the trend of pupcakes and homemade dog treats also get to Europe? And what can you as a restaurant or hotel owner do with this trend?
Pupcakes, it should not get any crazier
That dog owners in America love to pamper their dogs, is well known. Dog clothes, even from well-known designers are for sale everywhere. And since the owners are crazy about cupcakes, they’re also crazy about pupcakes. Sometimes the American dog owners go one step further with parties for the dog, including pupcakes and homemade dog treats. Whilst on October 4, International Animal Day, most pets in Europe just get a bone or an extra stroke. Nonetheless all photos on Pinterest are fun to watch!
Pupcakes as inspiration for restaurant or hotel owners
How nice would it be if your restaurant at the beach or in the vicinity of dog walking fields, also offers a menu for the dog? We’re not talking about a standard cookie from the store, but a homemade ‘pupcake’ menu. The dog owner can take his or her dog out for lunch! On Pinterest you can find many different recipes for pupcakes and their icings.
In America they know how to celebrate, the bigger the better, but in Europe it would be great if you have one or two pupcakes on the menu for people’s best friend. Such an incredible welcoming gesture!
A slumber party at The Mark hotel
27-10-2015
At the 5-star hotel ‘The Mark’ in New York one can book a Slumber Party Suite. The hotel offers extra attention to the children of their guests by providing a sleep-over service and some more child friendly initiatives.
A slumber party for young guests
The Slumber Party Suite in hotel ‘The Mark’ is specifically designed for parents with young children, including their own tepee. Upon arrival at the suite, the children are surprised with chocolate milk, cookies and an in-room family movie.
The Mark Hotel really offers special extras that their young guests will love, and so will their parents. For the very young ones they even have a stroller available, completely in the style of the hotel. Designed in collaboration with stroller manufacturer, Maclaren. They’re ideal for a stroll through Central Park, located nearby. A tour through the ‘Metropolitan Museum of Art’ is organized for children from 10 to 13 years to teach them a bit about the art and culture of the city.
Rumor around the brand
In addition, the hotel has bicycles available designed in the style of the hotel (black and white stripes), including a black helmet and a basket. Do you prefer to stroll through Central Park? You can also enjoy a ‘lunch-to-go’ prepared by chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. The picnic basket includes luxurious ingredients, a blanket, cutlery and spices. In order not to get lost in New York’s largest park, The Mark also designed a map so guests can easily navigate through Central Park. Four legged friends are welcomed with open arms as well. The dog has receives his own basket of the brand ‘Molly Mutt’ and water bowls with a coaster that is specially designed for the hotel. This creates a ‘slumber party’ including the family dog! All those extras creates a lot of ‘rumor around the brand’.
Inspiration for hoteliers
The service that The Mark Hotel provides is very thorough. However if it inspires another hotel owner to personalize sleeping arrangements for children in a family suite, that would be wonderful. In addition, a family dog getting a warm welcome is quite unusual, especially in large cities. Hotel The Mark has inspired us before in 2013, with a 24/7 shopping service at the luxury department store, Bergdorf Goodman.
