Restaurant ‘Bolenius’ grows its own vegetables on a roof-vegetable garden next to the restaurant. Chef and co-owner Luc Koster keeps in control of the quality of the vegetables this way. The vegetable garden also serves as a way to create more awareness among children about how vegetables grow and where they come from.
Last year’s ‘South by Southwest festival’ introduced a wristband that measured audience interaction. By measuring motion, volume and temperature through sensors, the individual interaction was ranked and rewarded. At the ‘Lollapalooza’ festival, wristbands, that can be linked to credit or debit card information are offered to festivalgoers. These wrist bands allow people to pay for food and drinks without paying by cash or card.
‘Magical friendship bracelets’ as ticket and communication device at Tomorrowland. Tomorrowland is one of the largest dance-music festivals in the world. These bracelets will not only serve as ticket, but also as a way to connect with other visitors of the festival. At the press of a button, visitors of the festival will be able to send out Facebook friend requests and stay in touch with new friends. Take a look at the video to see how it works.
Russian soccer fans, who were in Brazil for the World Cup, were treated to a six-pack of ‘Skol’ beer entirely encased in ice. The unique packaging was designed to chill the beer without freezing it and included a handle for easy transportation. The ice-pack was designed as a reminder that packaging can be both beautiful and multifunctional. Although the video is spoken in Russian and Portuguese, the reactions speaks for themselves..
Your own fresh coffee during a picknick or a festival. It’s possible with the ‘Hey Joe Coffee Mug’. This isn’t only a coffee flask, but also a portable coffee machine. Making a cup of coffee is simple; add water and coffee, press one, two or three times on the button to decide the temperature and the ‘Hey Joe Coffee Mug’ does it’s magic. The device is battery operated, which allows the ‘Hey Joe Coffee Mug’ to be used everywhere. The ‘Hey Joe Coffee Mug’ can only be preordered via Kickstarter (crowdfunding platform).
With the ‘Petomato’ you can grow your own vegetables 365 days of the year. The originally Japanese product exists out of a special bottle cap, which you can place on a plastic bottle filled with water. The next step is to choose from the seven different seeds, such as cherry tomato, basil, strawberries and fresh mint, and place these in the cap. The ‘Petomato’ is a great product to recycle used plastic bottles. Available in Japan and the USA.
The latest promotional stunt from Canadian beer brand ‘Molson Canadian’ is testing the country’s patriotism with a special beer fridge. The fridge only unlocks when people sing the country’s national anthem, ‘O, Canada’, with perfect timing and passion. The fridge is released in honor of the 147th birthday celebration of the nation.
RipeNearMe is an online platform from Australia that helps users find fruit and vegetables in the neighborhood. Visitors of the platform keep track of the ripeness of the fruits and vegetables and buy or collect these when they are ripe. They could also contact the growers and give their vegetables a review. In the neighborhood of New York you can collect free Butternut squash at this moment because somebody has to many in his of her garden.
The Green Plugin is a modular system whit which festivals can be built sustainably. It uses sustainable sources as wind-, solar- and human power. The Green Plugin has several items such as a dance floor, that gathers the energy of the people who are dancing and lights itself. Or an interactive recycling installation, where visitors can take their cups and transform them into a 3d-printed item. The Green Plugin is a initiative from UMEF (United Music Events Foundation), the Perpetual Plastic Project and Energy Floors.
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Recently a Weber barbecue academy opened in Berlins Mitte area. Our neighbours from the East will thus have complexer barbecue-dinners this summer as well. In the Netherlands we can prepare ourselves for the Big Green Egg barbecue competition at the FG Food terrace and are already serveral Weber BBQ academy days.
To make insect meat palatable for the western world, the brand Six Food has created ‘Chirps’. The ‘Chirps’ are made of a mix from ground beans, rice and cricket powder that’s baked rather than fried. The result is a gluten-free, natural, low fat chip full of protein. Chirps are available for pre-order now.
The third largest supermarket chain in France, Intermarché, introduced the campaign ‘inglorious fruits & vegetables’. The supermarket buys the ‘ugly’ fruits and vegetables that would normally be thrown away and sells it 30% cheaper. It is a win-win-win campaign: consumers get good quality fruits and vegetables for a cheaper price. The growers are paid for products that normally would be discarded and Intermarché increases its sales with this new line of products. Besides the ‘inglorious’ fruits and vegetables the supermarket sells soups and juices made from these products as well.
Intermarché launched this campaign nationwide trough billboards, social media, television and radio. In the Netherlands we have seen a number of actions to promote these ‘ugly’ products as well. In 2013 we saw the crooked cucumber action of the ladies of Kromkommer and the store Zegro in Rotterdam and in 2014 we’ve spotted the crowdfunding action for ‘kromkommer’ soups.
The Rembrandt Tower Boardroom will be transformed into a temporary restaurant of the highest level. Led by chef Wilco Berends, a dinner inspired by ‘The Amsterdam of Rembrandt’ is composed. Museum ‘Het Rembrandthuis’ exhibits a few paintings of Rembrandt, together with a collectors item that has never been exposed before. The ‘Heavenly Rembrandt’ weeks take place during the ‘art & culinary’-weeks of Amsterdam, from 22 September till 4 October, and is available for everyone with a reservation.
GloriaFood has released a new worldwide online ordering system for restaurants. Different from other online ordering websites, GloriaFood is free of charge for restaurants who participate. The system is easy implemented and managed by the restaurant owners themselves. Orders can be placed via the website, the app and facebook.
TWEAK doesn’t just keep your kitchen sink draining smoothly, but solves the problem of scooping cold leftovers out of the sink with your bare fingers. We don’t think that this, via kickstarter (crowd funding platform) financed product, will be used in a lot of professional kitchens. But in the smaller kitchens this silicone washing strainer can be useful.
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
On a Saturday evening in December there was a disco evening at gas station De Lucht next to the A2 highway. The owner of the gas station organized a special disco evening for the visitors on their way to a techno festival in Den Bosch.
The Czech designer Martin Jakobsen had designed a whole new type of wineglass. The design is special because it is an laying glass. The difference with a traditional wine glass is that it has no foot. Handy because falling over is history now.
The first island of the Dubai World project is opened this week. The Island has different luxurious facilities including a 100 seat restaurant. The exclusive island can cost members up to $10,890 per year.
During the Open’er Music Festival in Poland, Heineken gave away personalized stickers with QR-codes. The brewer wanted to stimulate more interaction between the visitiors and introduced the slogan ‘Open your world’. The ice breaker was called ‘U-code’ and was requested and printed 5.000 times in four days.
It’s sometimes difficult to maintain a proper (reservation) website and run a Bed and Breakfast at the same time. Stinngo provides a user friendly web application to design and edit a B&B website that’s compatible with bookings via internet, mobile phones and tablets. Next to that the site is available in several languages and people can make reservations with Facebook. Subscription for VIP invitations are now available at Stinngo.com
The website masterofmalt.com provides a ‘lab’ to mix ten different flavors of whisky. Dose it by millilitre and personalize the label.
There is a special Scrabble board game Cooking Edition, especially for (hobby) cooks. Get bonus points for cooking words and special recipe playing cards. See the game here.
Growing vegetables on rooftops is already known. But growing vegetables and fish on a rooftop is new. The German company Frisch vom Dach is planning to exploit a roof on a old malthouse in Berlin. Currently the company already placed an shipping container with an integrated fish tank and an attached greenhouse, this container version operates on a closed water cycle whereby fish waste fertilizes the plants, and the plants purify the water. See the initiative here.
Haiko Cornelissen Architects designed the picNYC table, which brings the nature into your interior. The table is build of aluminum with in the middle dirt and stones. Because of the presence of a drainage system it is possible to grow different kinds of grasses, vegetables and herbs on your breakfast table.
In the Marche area in Italy it is possible to adopt your own olive tree. For $ 116 you receive a certificate, and two times a year a shipment of olive oil from your own olive tree. In the spring you will receive two liters of extra vergine olive oil and in the fall a trio of different flavors (lemon, chili and orange).
On the website of Normann Copenhagen are these unusually designed glasses displayed. These glasses are designed to enhance the bouquet, temperature and volume of fine cognac.
The website Baked Ideas by Patti Paige sells yoga cookie cutters for gingerbread. The cutters are available in ten different poses. Combine yoga with delicious home made cookies for a healthy 2012!
How do we feed our cities in the future? That is a central question at the Food Forward exhibition in The Hague from the 15th of January till the 1st of April. This December Arne Hendriks and Harold de Bree cooked an ostrich as if it was a giant chicken. If humans would shrink to 50 centimeters, chickens would provide the same amount of meat in comparison. According to Arne Hendriks, the solution to food problems lies in shrinking people. This is one of the solutions shown at ‘Food Forward’, some solutions are more realistic than others.
The Winter wake-up app of Boondoggle wakes you up earlier in case of extreme weather conditions. You set your normal time you would like to wake up. In the night the app locates where you are and the weather in that area. In case it’s snowing or freezing, the clock will wake you up earlier, and you have time to defrost your car and extra time to travel to work. You can also choose to set the option ‘If it is impossible to get to your work, no alarm at all’.
An interactive QR game has been developed by the Dutch Hotel & Restaurant Association and Deli XL. The game shows visitors of the Dutch Horecava Fair different possibilities of mobile communication and creates a more intense experience of the fair.
Inspiration for a sparkling glass of champagne at New Year’s Eve.
Beautiful building for the Basque Culinary Center in San Sebastian, designed by Vaumm Arquitectos Donastia. Next to three 3-stars restaurants the city also houses this building where culinary eduction can be obtained. Watch the pictures at both websites.
No more loosing business cards! By using a Poken, information exchange is much more complete and easier. Watch the movie for instructions.
Just a simple twist will turn your strawberries into a great addition to the grand dessert. Check the websites Cutest Food and Bakerella for more inpiration. Inspiring Holiday wishes from Van Spronsen and Partners Group.
Coca-Cola answers letters written to Santa Claus. In the Santa Claus Museum, in Indiana you can find letters written in 1930. From the 60.000 letters Coca-Cola choose 75 of them to answer. The writers of the letters got tracked down and they got the present that they asked for years ago. Can you imagine that Santa Claus is knocking on your door to give you the present you asked for 40 years ago? Check this movie to see the reactions.
This Christmas choir is sponsored by Bagel Nash, a bagel chain in the United Kingdom. In Leeds they went to four Bagel Nash shops to sing Christmas songs. People could request a song on Twitter or Facebook.
Already a known system in Germany, but now seen in the Netherlands as well. Did you drink a cup of coffee at Starbuck, keep your receipt to use the toilet. Clever for the entrepreneur; you prevent lines with tourists for the toilets.
The Mobile Man Cave; the CigaRv, is a cigar lounge. CigaRv is mobile and gives you the ability to enjoy live sports and a fine cigar without the worries of local smoking laws. The full-service lounge is used at special events and private parties.
Beautiful Christmas ornaments made of sugar. These are for sale, but you can be creative as well and bake these ornaments by your self. A nice decoration tip for your restaurant. Watch here a recipe to create your own.
BeuteFuchs, a butcher in Munich (Germany), is selling meat especially for dogs. You can buy beef, lamb, turkey and chicken, and during the season duck and goose as well. They even composed a special menu; they will add some fruit and vegetables to the meat. Within Munich they also deliver at home.
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