Bed bug detection dog
30-8-2011
Dutch hotels and hostels can use a special trained dog in their battle against bed bugs. Labrador retriever Sally has been trained for 1,5 years to detect these anoying crawling creatures.
Greenhouse by Joost goes to London
29-8-2011
Pop-up restaurant Greenhouse by Joost will soon be opening a restaurant outside Australia, in London. Greenhouse restaurant is about designing and operating better places for people, from lightning to the menu. They are also working on a permanent location in Melbourne.
No cash? Pay with services or goods
29-8-2011
Want to go out for dinner, but no cash? No problem at Restaurant Fireside in Chicago. The owner uses a barter strategy to keep his restaurant going. Guests can pay in goods or services, such as an ice cream cooler of a grooming service for his dog.
Whole Foods for a healthy lifestyle
29-8-2011
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The largest American retailer of organic food products, Whole Foods, opened the Wellness Club. Consumers can register themselves as a member, wherefore they pay registration fee and a monthly payment. Members have access to several classes and courses, cooking classes, community events and have a 10% discount on 1,000 healthy foods.
Surprisingly designed smoke detector
26-8-2011
The Dutch Louise van der Veld will releave us from the boring smoke detectors. Her Chick-a-Dee design is a real eye catcher. Our guess is that this bird won’t sing a cheery tune when it’s on fire.
Crepe shop as fastfood formula
26-8-2011
A solution for the crêpe-lovers who don’t like the sit-and-eat ambiance of the regular crêpe restaurants. Former American Football star Matt Chatham opened a fast serve crêpe shop in Massachusetts. With unique take-aways like the Cup O’ Crepes he expects to expand the franchise concept thoughout the USA.
Interactive skateboard video Sprite Zero
26-8-2011
Sprite has developed an interactive YouTube commercial to promote their new Sprite Zero. The viewer can interact by pressing the keys 4 to 9 on the keyboard. It’s a creative example of the possibilities on YouTube.
Restaurant dishes available in the supermarket
25-8-2011
ASDA supermarket chain, known from the British Walmart, started an experiment by selling take-away dishes of local restaurants. These are dishes of the Arabic, Pakistani and Indian kitchen. Last spring, the ASDA started a cooperation with the restaurant chain Zouk, since then the sales are tripled. Next year, this experiment will be extended to London.
At-sea tweetup
25-8-2011
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Norwegian Cruise Line organizes the first Twitter cruise, coming November. Guests are being encouraged to tweet their experiences during this 3-day cruise. Wifi is available on the cruise.
Your ‘private tap’ at the pub
25-8-2011
Grand Café Maria, located in Utrecht (Netherlands), offers their guests their own private beer tap. Guests buy their own barrel of beer. Besides the fact that this increases the experience of the evening, it is cheaper for the guests, and it reduces the work of the employees.
Create the Club of the Future
24-8-2011
By applying co-creations, Heineken will invite clothing, motion and interior designers and developers, to create the club of the future. Talents can register themselves on the Facebook page. The 80 best designers will join Heineken on an inspiration tour in Milan, Tokyo, New York and Sao Paulo and afterwards they present their concepts to the jury. The deadline to register has already passed, this date was the 21st of August.
Fashionable donuts
24-8-2011
Like we mentioned before on Horecatrends.com, the donut is rediscovered in the United States. Donut company Kripsy Kreme created a limited edition of the Glamour Glaze Donut, specially for the London Fashion Week, which starts next month.
Don’t buy unripe fruit
24-8-2011
With this new iPhone app, the Melon Meter, you measure the ripeness of the watermelon. First you give an indication of size of the melon, then you have to lightly knock on the melon, which will be collected by the microphone of your iPhone. Finally, the app gives an indication of the ripeness of the melon.
Roosvicee taste store in Amsterdam
23-8-2011
Lemonade brand Roosvicee has a temporary flagship taste store at the Kalverstraat in Amsterdam. Visitors can taste the new flavors and leave a ‘It’s gonna be allright, baby’ message until the 27th of August.
The small local stores return in Germany
23-8-2011
Mundvoll is a café and grocery store that brings back the local small neighbourhood shops. The concept is first implemented at a temporary location on the Zeppelin University campus in Friedrichshafen. The visitors can orders drinks, small bites and day-to-day groceries in the shop.
The Anti-restaurant in Haarlem
22-8-2011
The Anti-restaurant is a pop-up restaurant, and is not located at one place. People can sign in through Facebook, but the organization decides who will be invited. Moments before the start of the dinner, the guests will receive the location. For a group of 10 to 15 persons, a five course meal will be prepared. The first Anti-restaurant took place on last 15th of July.
Organic Fastfood – Blas Burgerworks
22-8-2011
A new fully organic and eco-friendly fastfood restaurant in St. Ives (Great Brittain), which is specialized in burgers. For their food, they only use fresh, local and seasonal products.
Inspiration from 2010: holiday in space
22-8-2011
Really want to go ‘away’ for the weekend? Go to space. From 2016 it is possible. The Russian company Orbital Technologies is working on a new space shuttle.
New ice parlour opened in London
19-8-2011
A new ice parlour, Polka Gelato, designed by Vonsung, opened in London. The interior of the ice parlour is colorless and mainly natural materials are used. The only colours you can find, are the colours of the ice cream.
Wilde & Greene Restaurant and Natural Market
19-8-2011
All in-one: a restaurant and supermarket, located in a mall in Skokie, Illinois. The restaurant covers almost 3,000 square meters and offers 18 counters where you can find organic, seasonal en local dishes and products. Guests can dine and doing their groceries afterwards.
Music & Food – the perfect combination
19-8-2011
Turntable Kitchen is started by a couple from San Francisco, who combine music and food. Every month they create a Turntable Kitchen Pairings Box, which includes a 7-inch vinyl single with tracks of their favourite bands, several recipes, local premium dried ingredients and suggested pairings. This box will be send monthly to their members.
Terminator in an ice cup
19-8-2011
After de frozen yogurt ice cream, we now see the ice cream parlours where the ice cream is prepared by using liquid nitrogen of a temperature of almost –200 Celsius degrees (-320F). Nitro Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt opened two flagship stores in New York. Guests can compose their own ice cream, by choosing the base (regular, soya, yogurt, sorbet), then they can choose the taste and finally they choose the topping.
Winecard, because tastes differ
18-8-2011
The winecard gift card gives the opportunity to order online a self-selected wine. You can choose between 250 wines. The gift card is available in amounts of € 10,= to € 50,=.
Create your own coffee-blend
18-8-2011
Create your own personalized coffee blend. That is possible at the British company EightPointNine. You can create and order your own blend at the website, by giving an indication of your favourite tastes. Or your can order one of the pre-selected blends of EightPointNine. Weekly, you will receive your blend.
Inspiration from 2010: A sunindicator by Nivea
18-8-2011
Nivea introduced in 2010 a sun indicator to enjoy the sun responsibly. This iPhone application tells you how and where you can enjoy the sun best, based on your skin type and the UV strength at your location. In addition, the timer indicates how long you can still enjoy the sun.
