At the website of Designboom we spotted the initial plans for a network of cable cars connecting Chicago’s city centre. Will these Skyline cable cars replace the hop-on hop-off busses in Chicago in the future? It could become Chicago’s unique feature like the Eiffel Tower in Paris or the London Eye. read more
Last Tuesday restaurant HanTing (1 Michelinstar) in The Hague tackled a world’s first. As the first restaurant in the world Michelin chef Han Ji launched an innovative Tea Menu. With each dish a matching and different tea was served, which, in combination with the food, has a positive effect on the human body. We tasted this Tea Menu! read more
Although the Netherlands is known as being the cannabis city of the world, we don’t have chefs pioneering with cannabis. As California prepares for the possible legalization of recreational marijuana in November, Los Angeles-based chef Chris Sayegh is on a pioneering mission to take haute cuisine to a higher place with his cannabis infused menus. read more
Introduced for the Dutch hospitality industry, OERS, Ons Eigen Reserverings Systeem (Our Own Reservation System). OERS is a new online booking system which has been launched festively on the 9th of May by chef Alain Caron at Restaurant Aan de Poel. The system is different; each participating restaurant owner is co-owner of the system and automatically become member of the cooperative OERS. This allows restaurant owners to decide themselves on the terms and commissions. Where other reservation systems will only become more expensive in the future, OERS will become cheaper. read more
The newest innovation in the world of frozen glasses is THE ICED. This machine makes it possible to instantly provide your glasses with a layer of ice, all done through carbon dioxide. Useful to serve extra cold drinks on a different way.
We can’t ignore this new drink: the makers of the beer slush received a lot of attention in the Dutch media today. Both on radio, television and Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. The Twentse Bierbrouwerij (Brewery) in the city of Hengelo, makes Iced Beer in the flavours Radler and Rosé beer. This is a beer that you drink with a straw!
At the redaction of Horecatrends we spot a lot of national and international trends on a daily basis. We pick the most interesting ones to write articles about, the smaller trends we use in our column ‘Trends we spotted this week’. This week among others, an article about an Escape Room Dinner Quest, a signature Sushi roll by restaurant Catch in New York and about restaurant Visaandeschelde who served a meal for their elderly neighbour on a daily bases. If you like to read the whole article, click the title. Enjoy reading! read more
Looking for an original cake for your birthday? Katherine Dey can help you with that! This nurse from New York has a very special hobby. She makes scary cakes based on her experiences as a nurse. read more
Drinking an alcohol-free beer at the dentist, again an excellent example of ‘Blurring’. There is a new dentist located at an old party centrum in Amsterdam, with an old bar which turned into a waiting room. Nervous? You can drink away the nerves with an alcohol-free beer, if possible ;-). read more
Hilton Rotterdam will open a new restaurant soon and this restaurant needs a name. Help is needed! As creator of the new name you will be rewarded big. Until the 10th of May, entries can be send in.
Lennert Rietveld senior counsellor at van Spronsen & Partners hospitality consultancy gave an inspiration session last month about co-creation. In this blog an insight into this session; which shows that the focus during events is shifting to influencing the guest journey!
The inspiration session for 80 event organizers showed powerful examples of co-creation. The presentation focused on compelling examples from entrepreneurs working together to improve the visitor experience. Everything is evolving around the guest journey. A good example is the initiative of the Dutch amusement park the Efteling to develop an app in co-creation with a Belgian company. They offer their visitors a lot more experience around their visit of the Efteling through ‘mixed reality’ and smartphones. Brilliant for kids, for example at the route app a witch voice gives directions.
A couple of other examples from the inspiration session around co-creation:
Research has used brain wave technology to measure the reactions guests have to different colours in the hospitality industry. The brain wave results of the colour green indicate a relaxed lunch with friends. The colour red stands for love and going for a drink with a date. Tork examined which colours work well in the hospitality industry. With a link to the study of Tork where they made moodboards in different colours and looked at the effect of that. Tork wants hospitality businesses to be clever with their colour choices.
In the line of extra ordinary pop-up restaurants: TOAST in Toronto, Canada. As from the 7th of May this pop-up restaurant will be open for four weekends in a row. The only thing you can order here is toast with a spread. The bread is from different bakeries from the region and all the spreads are homemade.
Back to the future? More like forward to the past. Coop Italy, Italy’s biggest grocery cooperative introduced their idea, the supermarket of the future at the Expo Milan in 2015. At the beginning of April 2016 they showcased it at Microsoft’s Envision Conference. They are using futuristic technology to help shoppers return to the sociable days of open-air markets, when there were shopkeepers at every stall, ready to answer any question a customer might have about their wares. read more
At the redaction of Horecatrends we spot a lot of national and international trends on a daily basis. We pick the most interesting ones to write articles about, the smaller trends we use in our column ‘Trends we spotted this week’. This week among others, an article about a gin bar in London where the owners claim having the largest collection of gins, and HIHAHUT started a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to build more sustainable cabins. read more
We couldn’t find an immersive Christmas Light Maze in Europe yet, howevere correct us if we are wrong. But we love the idea, another fun read more
We have been sharing inspiration on our website since 2007, inspiration that we find in the hospitality industry or by online spotting of what our read more
We have been sharing inspiration on our website since 2007, inspiration that we find in the hospitality industry or by online spotting of what our read more
The Latvian airline AirBaltic gives passengers the opportunity to choose their meal before they are going to fly. When to costumer books his flight online, they can choose their own meal. They can choose from a range of meals, salads, bread, drinks and desserts. And to make the consumer more conscious of what they are eating, the nutritional information is described of each menu item . The customized meals are served by AirBaltic during the flight. An interesting way to offer passengers more choice and it can help to increase revenues.
Syntens Innovatiecentrum organizes the ‘Taste of the Netherlands’ for the sixth time in a row. It’s an annual election of the best product of Dutch origin. The regional qualifying rounds take place in June, where the products will be tasted by the jury. The ultimate finale of ‘Taste of the Netherlands’ will take place on 25 November.
Drinking a glass of Duvel beer and get a two years ripened L’etivaz or Comté Fort Saint-Antoine cheese served with it.. The provocative character and the bitterness of beer fits well with cheese, and it is something different than a wine-cheese combination. Brewery Duvel Moortgat organizes master classes of cheese and beer tastings in cooperation with cheese specialists Michel and Frederic van Tricht. For each type of beer you can find a suitable cheese and vice versa. The cheers sessions start with a fragile cheese and a light beer and end with a strong cheese and beer. Combinations are for example Liefmans Cuvée Brut with a blue cheese or La Chouffe blond with Munster Fermier cheese, a hard cheese with a red crust.
As the summer season begins, people often work outside. With this umbrella, guests at your terrace can recharge their laptop or mobile via an USB outlet. The umbrella has a small solar panel that converts solar energy into electricity for the USB outlet. Restaurants can provide their guests with extra service, allowing guests to spend more time on the terrace.
Obviously The Netherlands is a country filled with flowers that are used in every hotel bouquet or beautiful garden. But special details made out of flowers are not as day-to-day, like in the “Pangkor Laut Resort” in Malaysia where they make little pieces of art of flowers and put them in your room, in the garden or between towels. Do you want to read more examples of small gestures, read our last edition of ‘Royal hospitable gestures‘.
A totally different way to bake burgers! A wonderful movie about a burger seller of Singapore.
This video shows how America sells Amsterdam. A fun video to watch, but also a nice city to visit or live in.
Each day a different cup of tea with the tea calendar of Hälssen en Lyon. The calendar days are made of tea leaves that dissolve directly into a cup of hot water. Nice to serve to your guests!
June 2010, we spotted Food Hub, an online sales system for local products. Producers tell online what is salable of their harvest and restaurateurs / retailers know where fresh local products are for sale. An initiative that has also been launched by other parties. Food Hub is active in the West of the USA (started from Portland) and we recently spotted Foodem that started from Baltimore (Maryland) with their B2B platform for food suppliers (farms, specialty food producers and distributors) and food buyers (hotels, connects restaurants schools, hospitals, etc.). The latter have recently launched a new version of their platform. Foodem 2.0 has added price transparency, more efficient processes and increased possibilities for analytical reports. The websites are becoming more professional. In the article of 2010, we were already wondering who will start a similar website in the Netherlands and we actually still do! The film above by Food Hub gives a clear idea about the impact for buyers and sellers.
Create a special vibrant atmosphere in a hotel room with the ‘Forms of nature’ light. This light was developed by Hilden & Diaz and inspired by Ernst Haeckel’s (1834-1919). This creation is elegant and it look like it is made of tree branches. When the light is turned on, you will find yourself in the middle of a forest. The shadows are cast on the walls in the form of branches and trees. An interesting way to bring light into a hotel room.
Finding a cheap hotel is not always easy, but with the suitcase ‘Hotello’ you can easily set up your own hotel room or workplace anywhere. The suitcase on wheels does not immediately look like a bedroom, but when you unpack the suitcase you transform a empty building in a hotel room. This flexible room can be placed in just any empty space. The suitcase contains a bed, desk with chair and a storage. The ‘Hotello’ is developed by Roberto de Luca and Antonio Scarponi for the Swiss company Daskonzept. The big question is who is going to facilitate space to unpack this ‘suitcase’. More pictures at PSFK.
Imagine, you are on a holiday and you want to eat a local dish. You can eat a meal at a restaurant, but you can also have a dinner at someone’s home… The global community EatWith invites people to dine in homes across the world. Users can offer their ‘kitchen’ on the website of EatWith as an alternative for the restaurants in the area. Travelers can have a cozy dinner at someone’s home, share stories, have an unique experience and meet new people. It is a similar concept as AirBnB. The question is to what extent providers on this website must meet requirements such as hygiene and so on.
Eating your spoon as well after dinner… could a chef get a better compliment? We have seen chocolate, cookie and peppermint versions but the ‘edible spoon’ from Triangle Tree is organic and a responsible replacement of a disposable plastic spoon. The spoon is composed of organic ingredients such as corn flour, eggs, milk, sugar, salt, herbs and spices. This spoon comes in three flavors: Plain, Spicy and Sweet. The Edible Spoon can be used to eat a variety of foods. It’s tasty, it’s healthy, it’s convenient, and it promotes a cleaner tomorrow. The spoon could be served alongside appetizers and meals at restaurants or at events such as festivals. Or serve this previously spotted edible teaspoon with a cup of tea.
The Glad Tent is a tent and a compost bag in one. So when you are done partying at the festival, you can leave the garbage in the tent where you spent the night. A brilliant way to be more environmentally friendly this festival season.
Coffee that really fits your taste, is hard to find. BeanGenius offers a service where you can discover high quality coffee beans sourced from independent coffee roasters from across the USA. Consumers can indicate their preferences in a coffee taste profile and BeanGenius will recommend which coffee fits the best. They will ship them three different freshly roasted bags of specialty coffee from independent roasters across the country. Consumers can try a monthly bag of coffee and tell BeanGenius how they liked them. The more you use it, the smarter BeanGenius gets in catering to their tastes and preferences.
Pay attention to the initiative of “arty napkins” at the “Kapellerput” conference hotel. Every year they choose a piece of art that touched them and have it printed on their linen napkins. They give it out as corporate gifts. The ‘arty napkins’ symbolizes what their conference hotel is about; hospitality and inspiration. The original piece is bought and one napkin is framed, the restaurant uses a disposable version. A true royal gesture. The napkins so far are made by the artists Marijn Moree, Saskia Heuer, Janne Hopman and Jolinde van Poppel. Do you want to read more examples of small gestures, read our last edition of ‘Royal hospitable gestures‘.
A new all-inclusive restaurant recently opened in Amsterdam. Restaurant View gives the all you can eat concept a special twist. Guests can prepare their dishes at the table, where literally a world of flavors passes by. The guests stay seated, because the plates (yellow for chicken, blue for fish, red for meat and green for vegetables) pass the tables on a moving conveyor belt. At their own table they can prepare the dishes on a grill. For € 34,50 guests can eat and drink (beer & wine)unlimited for two hours.
A ‘small gesture in hospitality’ made local. Like the “Ratilanne Riverside Resort” in Chiang Mai, Thailand did, they dress up their water bottles in local costumes. A very charming little way of presenting the local culture, who’s next or which hotel in The Netherlands serves their bottles in Dutch traditional costumes? Do you want to read more examples of small gestures, read our last edition of ‘Royal hospitable gestures‘.
A new all-in restaurant recently opened in Amsterdam. Restaurant View gives the all you can eat concept a special twist. Guests can prepare their dishes at the table, where literally a world of flavors passes by. The guests stay seated, because the plates (yellow for chicken, blue for fish, red for meat and green for vegetables) pass the tables on a moving conveyor belt. At their own table they can prepare the dishes on a grill. For € 34,50 guests can eat and drink unlimited for two hours.
Mama Sopa has developed soap products to support the projects of the famous Dutch water foundation SIMAVI. For each product sold, SIMAVI gives a hygiene training to a mother in India, to improve the health of their families and provides mothers with the knowledge they need to prevent diseases. The Dutch design packages are very appealing and designed by Studio Conn-Fetti. These playful soap products are great to use in hotels! It would be great if a hotel puts these soap products in the rooms, to contribute to charity.
Tourism organization ‘Westtoer’ pays tribute to the culinary treasures of the North Sea with the new campaign ‘Sea of Taste’. Gastronomic evenings will be organized at three beach bars during the ‘Sea of Taste’. The fish dishes are composed by star chef Stéphane and prepared on a barbecue by a team of students of the Hotel school. With this promotion they want to create more interest for the North Sea fish. Check the website for the exact dates and locations.
Our colleague Guido Verschoor spotted chocolate shop ‘Pierre Ledent’. Pierre Ledent is a multi award winning Belgian Master Chocolatier. His praline and almond biscuit creations are available in multiple locations around the world. His store located in Brussels has a luxurious look. The range consist of many variants of pralines and almond biscuits. The shop and the salon have a very luxurious look. In the salon you can enjoy desserts, verrines, ice creams and drinks. The dishes served look amazing! The almond biscuits are available in special varieties, like mojito, balsamic vinegar, olive and violet. The website is a source of inspiration and when we go to Brussels, we will definitely visit this shop!
The female PSV fans (football club from Eindhoven, The Netherlands) can be surprised by their partners or children with a brunch on the field of the Philips Stadium. Together with their children and husband they can kick a ball at lunch! A special location, although we recommend other clubs to use this for father’s day 😉
There’s a burger out there made with dry-aged ribeye, foie gras and entire chunks of butter. Then it’s topped with black truffles, truffle cheese and bordelaise. It’s a spectacular burger. But we have seen similar burgers worldwide. More spectacular is that the folks at Restaurant the Barrymore in Las Vegas only make a dozen per day. Image making your own ‘special off-menu’ dish and sell it in limited numbers.
Create more ambiance to your taste with the string lights and pendant lamps of iGlowbes. The lightning is available in more than 60 colours and the pendant lamp in five dimensions, so fitting into any interior. Great for restaurants, hotels and events to match the colours to the interior or the theme of the party. You can hang the lights, but they are also great as decoration on a table or in a vase. The lighting is hand made of polyester in Thailand, which makes each ball unique. Are you planning to open a pop up store? iGlowbes likes to take care of the lighting and create the atmosphere. Interested, please contact us via tip@spronsen.com or contact@iGlowbes.com. We will place your pop-up store with the decoration on Horecatrends.
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