The city Nijmegen has the cheapest prices on patios of the Netherlands. The average price for a round of drinks (2 coffee’s, 2 beers, 2 softdrinks, 2 glasses of Rosé wine) at a patio in Nijmegen is € 18,77. Van Spronsen & Partners horeca-advies conducts this survey annually. The article is only available in Dutch.
Last weekend I read a blog by Ciao Tutti about the Mercato Centrale in Florence. Within approximately 3000 square meters above the Mercato Centrale you will find a selection of small restaurants, winebars and tasting rooms that are in place to allow you to try the best Italian delicacies. This in addition to the market where you can buy local products. A type of “foodhallen” that have been popular in South European countries for years. The owners of Eataly were able to also make this concept of a combination of restaurants + retail popular outside of Italy. The growth of Eataly locations seems unstoppable, right now they have 27 locations of which 10 in Italy, 13 in Japan and the others in cities like New York, Chicago, Dubai and Istanbul. Rumors say they are working on a Dutch location.
While reading I started wondering why don’t we have a “foodhall” with Dutch products?
This autumn the first indoor food market, named the ‘Foodhallen’ will be opened in Amsterdam. The ‘Foodhallen’ will be located in the former tram depot ‘De Hallen’ and is based on foodcourts such as Mercado de San Miguel (Madrid) and Borough Market (London). ‘De Hallen’ is a building of 16.000 m² and beside the food market it will accommodate two restaurants, ‘Halte 3’ and ‘Meat West’, a movie theatre, a hotel, a library and several shops. Chong Chu, Tsibo Lin, Zing-Kyn Cheung and Rakish Gangapersad are the founders of the project and owners of the two restaurants.
This summer ‘Proeflokaal Bregje’ opens its doors at the Citymall Almere. This is the second establishment of the cozy grand-café chain ‘Proeflokaal Bregje’. The grand-café has a traditional atmosphere and a Dutch menu. Earlier this year we wrote about the opening of Hudson Bar & Kitchen in the Citymall as well. By opening ‘Proeflokaal Bregje’ the attractivity of this neighborhood in Almere will increase.
What do you get when you put ‘Gangs of New York’, ‘La Dolce Vita’ and ‘Ben-Hur’ together with roller coasters? Movie-park Cinecittà World, which is inspired on Cinecittà studios in Italy and the US, where over 3.000 movies and television shows are produced with which they won 38 Oscars. The park has 38 attractions including the World’s longest water coaster of 1,800 feet. Cinecittà World was build alongside of filmdom’s most legendary shooting lots just outside Rome and will be opened this Thursday, 24 July 2014.
The owners of the Faraday Café in Vancouver hope to restore non-digital, social interaction between people by creating a place without any digital connection. They went a step further than just not offering WiFi; social artist Julien Thomas and Hughes Condon Marler Architects (HCMA) have designed the first coffee shop that repels wireless signals. In the Faraday Café, you get disconnected the moment you step into the coffee bar. The café derives its name from the Faraday Cage, the material shield that has been used to block all signals. The Faraday Café offers artisanal coffees and will be the home of several events such as ‘drinks and discussions’ and meditation sessions.
The French government introduced a new law forcing ‘fait maison’ (home-made) where restaurants have to indicate whether they are only using home-made food. This means that they can use the mark of ‘fait maison’ when they are only using food which has not been processed or prepared before. The restaurants can be recognized by the logo of a frying pan with a little roof on top. The French government is using ‘fait maison’ to improve the state of their traditional restaurant scene.
Perfect service throughout the whole staff is the most hospitable gesture you can make to your guest. No grand gestures but simply a team like a well-oiled machine.
In this edition of “small hospitable gestures” we focus on gestures in hotels, where we separate gestures to the business guest and leisure guest. Download the full version here.
Event organization ID&T offers free tap water to visitors of several of its festivals. The goal is to provide all ID&T events with free water on a short term. The festival ‘Welcome to the future’, 26 July, already has special water bars were visitors can fill up their water bags and cups. The video shows that ID&T wants free water for everyone, especially on their festivals.
As an interior designer Matthijs Tukker worked for several hospitality entrepreneurs until November 2012. This was the point where he took the first steps to create a restaurant of his own. Through crowdfunding he was able to collect the necessary investment and ten months after the start, the restaurant opened. “Soup with balls” is the motto of the restaurant that is neatly called ‘Voldaan’ (translated: Satisfied). The products are mostly organic and vegetarian, special attention is paid to people with gluten and / or lactose intolerance and there are no refined sugars in the food.
The interior has a raw and warm look & feel. The open kitchen is the check-out counter at the same time and there are jars for sale with homemade dips, toppings, chutneys and compotes. The restaurant invites to stop over for a healthy bite and quickly and satisfied continue on the road again. See the location here.
We have spotted restaurants in old trainstations before, but in Denver a complete hotel opened in an 120-year-old station. The Crawford hotel has 112 uniquely decorated guest rooms that reflect the different eras of the building’s history. The Crawford hotel has amenities such as a spa, fitness area and room service. The Crawford experience starts at the Denver Union Great Hall. This area serves as the main entrance and lobby of the hotel, which features a 65-foot ceiling and houses 13 restaurants and retailers. Watch the pictures to get an impression of this beautiful hotel.
We have mentioned the food oasis before, for the first time, a public food forest was created at seven overgrown acres ground in Beacon Hill, in the neighborhood of Seattle. A food forest is a vegetation of edible plants, fruiting shrubs and vines, planted as a self-sufficient forest. We think it is a nice initiative to involve the neighborhood by growing such a special natural food forest in Beacon Hill.
A special collaboration between restaurant Basiliek and ‘Dutch Sea World’ Dolfinarium in Harderwijk. They created a package where people can visit the park and end with a three-course meal at Basiliek. The tickets of Dolfinarium can be picked up in the morning at the restaurant, and from 5:00 pm a table is reserved for dinner. We wonder whether the chef is inspired by the dolfins as well?
Hilton hotel Rotterdam produces its own honey. We have seen it before at the Waldorf Astoria in NYC and Fortnums & Masons in Londen, but Hilton Rotterdam is the first hotel in Rotterdam and is the first Hilton in the Netherlands that keeps beehives on their roof. The hotel cooperates with the city’s beekeeper Balten Schalkwijk. As expected, their own honey will be placed on the breakfast buffet as from August on and it can be purchased in jars as well. Maybe we can do a suggestion? They could also place a honeycomb on the buffet!
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.
With ambitions to double innovation, Taco Bell is sharing exclusive insights into its plan to R.I.N.G. The Bell for winning in the years ahead! The 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
Montreal-based firms Aedifica (architecture) and muvbox have teamed up to bring ‘snackbox’, a shipping container turned modern canteen, to new york’s times square. Created for restauranteur Jonathan Morr, the movable venue sells iconic new york street food with a gourmet flair. Located on a section of broadway with no vehicular traffic but many pedestrians, Morr needed a compact structure that would fit into the limited space, yet still stand out amidst the visually saturated area. Watch here another movie about a container.
The sunsmart collection sombrillas from Hollie and Harrie, an ideal alternative to the common beach tent and the gorgeous Sunshirt. See the sombrillas here.
Since November two young entrepreneurs are organizing dinners for young professionals and other entrepreneurs that want to combine a proper dinner with networking. Through the website shareabite.com it’s easy to check who the other table guests are thanks to an integration of Facebook and LinkedIn.
Doesn’t it sound like a great idea to have chilled champagne while bathing? The design of Hammacher Schlemmer is offering the solution. By using special chrome clamps the cooler can easily be attached to the bathtub. The cooler can also hold any other beverages. Perhaps an idea for your honeymoon suite? See the champagne cooler here.
Starbucks recycled shipping containers to a Starbucks coffee shop in Tukwila, Washington. Starbucks used in total four shipping containers to build the coffee shop, it is decorated in the style that people would expect from Starbucks. The coffee shop is a initiative from Starbucks to stimulate the use of green buildings and environmental design in the retail. Another keen example of container upcycling.
This week, the Trendgids.com (Dutch) is presented and published. Tackle opportunities, creativity, collaborate and innovation dominate this edition. Trendgids.com is a free digital magazine in which experts, including Marjolein van Spronsen (Horecatrends / Van Spronsen & Partners), give their vision on hospitality in 2012. This magazine is intended to be a source of inspiration for entrepreneurs of the industry.
Last week the fifth store of GooodyFooods opened in Apeldoorn. Apart from the 100% biologic supermarket, there is a 35 seat biologic café as well. GooodyFooods’ goal is nationwide coverage within two years.
No longer squeezing lemons. With the new design from quirky.com you can instantly spray the lemon juice from a fresh lemon. You can put the spray directly into the fruit. It’s still unknown when the product gets into production.
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.
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