Become a feedie besides being a foodie

10-10-2013

Share your food photos online and share actual food with those children who need it. Feedie, a new free app, aims to channel all the food ínstagrammers’ toward a common goal. After a restaurant guest uploads a photo on Feedie and shares it on his or hers social networks (Google+, Foursquare, Facebook or Twitter), participating restaurants donate money to The Lunchbox Fund, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing a daily meal to extremely poor school children. The app has been launched officially on October 9 at The Lunchbox Fund’s annual gala. Quite some restaurants in New York are participating, including Del Posto, The Spotted Pig and La Esquina. Feedie says on their website that they are already working international.

Pizza like ice cream on a stick

10-10-2013

A real Italian promotional short film, a bit old fashioned, but the product is innovative. The Italian company Hasta La Pizza has introduced ‘pizza on a stick’ on the Anuga fair in Cologne. It is designed for the on-the-go market. Hasta la Pizza is available in the flavors Margherita, ham and salami, in packs of 60 grams. Gerardo Acampora came up with the concept two years ago when he saw two boys on the beach. One ate a slice of pizza, the other an ice cream on a stick. That gave him the idea to combine the two. He went to work and four months later he applied for a patent. You can warm them in a toaster or in the oven and the makers promise that the pizza’s won’t leak tomato sauce and you will not get dirty fingers. Hasta la Pizza offers ‘pizza on a stick’ in license to producers from outside Italy.

‘s-Hertogenbosch is most welcoming city again

9-10-2013

This article is only available in Dutch:

Brugal Refreshingly Dry Bar

9-10-2013

Brugal rum from the Dominican Republic is celebrating their 125th birthday! To celebrate this they have challenged bartenders from the Netherlands to create their own Brugal Dry cocktail recipe and to create a concept for a Brugal Refreshingly Dry Bar. From all entries 10 bartenders were selected from witch the jury will taste their cocktail. Three finalists will continue and decide who makes the best cocktail and came up with a great concept on the 21st of October in hotel Droog (Amsterdam). The winner wins his or her own Refreshingly Dry Bar for a night in hotel Droog. They can invite their friends and Wyane Collins – an internationally renowned and award winning bart trainer – will join as colleague.

Your entry 24 hours in the sunlight

9-10-2013

Drawing the attention of all passersby, the vegan restaurant Rayen at Lope de Vega street in Madrid creatively redesigned its store entrance facade. The installation is titled (fos), which means “light” in the Greek language, and “melted” in Catalan. The entry of this small eatery invites their passersby to stop and step into the ‘spotlight’.  Created by Eleni Karpatsi, Susan Piquer and Julio Calvo, the (fos) trio. The team introduced an unique installation that paints the illusion of an artificial light beam shining from above. Effectively highlighting the restaurant front door for 4 days and nights, was made using yellow tape, pineapples, a lamp, and painted pieces of art and lawn furniture. At the Facebookpage from the (fos) trio, you can find a lot of inspirational pictures.

Dutch hospitality game

8-10-2013

Late September, our colleagues Lennert Rietveld and Laura Stoter got introduced to the Dutch board game ‘Gastologie’. Jeannine Sok who developed the game together with students from the ‘Cas Spijkers Academy Twente’, played the game with visitors during the event ‘Gastvrij Rotterdam’. Nice to play the game with your staff or to use it to increase the Hospitality level that you want your guest to experience in your business.

Hotel Mitland uses the HotelBooQi

8-10-2013

Recently our managing director, Hans van Spronsen, wrote a column ‘Generation 0.0’ from witch we quote the following paragraph, ” Maybe the fact that the majority of hotel guests in the middle and upper segment is older than 40 years and is not active on the social media. That’s why I’m always amazed when I see that these hotels have a Facebook page and are very active on Twitter. Who are you trying to reach? Not the target audience, I think. We do not read tweets or likes.” In his column which is published in a Dutch magazine he explains that this generation checks all the reviews at bookings.com or Tripadvisor and that hotelmanagers better check these reviews at a daily base and react to the reviews in a personal way.

Hotel Mitland in Utrecht is responding with the introduction of the hotelBooQi . This communication tool , a folding flyer credit card size , serves as a holder for the room key, contains practical information about staying in the hotel and a map with landmarks. The hotel thinks that despite the attendance of mobile applications, that at this moment in time it is still more effective to inform their guests this way. This in addition to the information on their website and taking into account the 0.0 generation. Besides that the unfolding of the HotelBooQi is still faster than downloading and opening an application.

King Kong Hostel

8-10-2013

The boutique hostel King Kong in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, will open in the first quarter of 2014. The 5 meter high loft offers extraordinary sleeping facilities. There are ‘huts’ between the roof beams to hammocks and cozy niches and normal two, four and six person rooms as well. The hostel accommodates a total of 150 beds.

Festivals in bungalowparks sold out

7-10-2013

All the bungalows at bungalowpark ‘De Eemhof’ are fully booked from 7 to 9 February 2014. Organizer ‘Meubelstukken’ only needed a week to archieve this, giving previous visitors the first chance to book their bungalow.

Party organization Loveland announced its ‘Loveland weekender’ bungalow festival in September. This festival, located at Roompot bungalowpark Weerterbergen in Limburg from 4 to 6 April was sold-out in only 24 hours.

The Italian restaurant in the picture

4-10-2013

Unfortunately this article is only available in Dutch.

De Italiaanse restaurants kenden in 2013 de sterkste groei van alle restauranttypen in Nederland. Er kwamen 55 nieuwe Italiaanse restaurants bij. Over een periode van 5 jaar groeide het aantal Italiaanse restaurants met bijna 14%. Ook over een periode van tien jaar zien we een zelfde ontwikkeling met een aanwas van 576 bedrijven. Hierdoor nam het marktaandeel van Italiaanse restaurants de afgelopen tien jaar toe naar in totaal 12% van de totale restaurantmarkt. Deze positieve ontwikkeling wordt mede veroorzaakt door de opkomst van Italiaanse fast casual concepten. Desondanks staat de gemiddelde besteding onder druk. Dit blijkt uit het brancheonderzoek ‘Het Italiaanse restaurant in beeld’ van Van Spronsen & Partners horeca – advies uit Warmond. Bekijk het volledige artikel hier of download het onderzoek

Warning for tourists in New York

4-10-2013

A warning with a wink for all tourists who will be visiting NY in the coming period. This hilarious movie should be mandatory for tourists to prevent sidewalk-clogging, by tourist taking pictures while wearing tracksuits. According to New Yorkers tourists need to learn how to behave. And Johnny T, tells about all the jerky things tourist do in NY and tells the basic tenets of not-obnoxious touristing. At the expense of large restaurant chains (although again with a touch of humor) the creators ‘Glove and Boots’ refer to smaller restaurants to eat. He also recommends that out-of-towners stay in their hotels between the hours of 4 and 6pm, when residents are trying to get home. Just another way to put your city in the picture ;-).

Small gestures in hospitality 2

4-10-2013

With the publication of “Small gestures in hospitality” we want to provide hospitality entrepreneurs with hospitable gestures that are usable without having to make large investments.

We have examples from the Hotel Mainport in Rotterdam, The Mark Hotel in New York, het Pulitzer hotel in Amsterdam and the Palais Hansen Kempinski in Vienna. Download the free publication here.

Proefwerk

3-10-2013

We are full of prejudices when it comes to food, this unfortunately affects our kids as well. In their eyes something can instantly be disgusting or weird. At ‘Proefwerk’ children are challenged to do blind tastings and describe the taste of for instance a cucumber or a raisin. Because the children built up confidence during the tastings initiator Fleur Derogee often ends with exciting insect tastings. ‘Proefwerk’ takes place at the Future Food House during the World Food Festival in Rotterdam and starts every half hour on Wednesday from 13.00 – 17.00 o’clock.

Badoit transforms the Rue de Rivoli in a Rue de la Gastronomie

2-10-2013

In September 2013 the French water brand Badoit did a sequel on the marketing stunt Badoit express of 2012. In cooperation with Chef Thierry Marx** the lucky drivers of the Rue de Rivoli were surprised with a first-class gastronomic performance. The travelers of the street were treated to a 4-course dinner consisting of a ceasar salas, a veal ossobucco, a pastrami pressé and a Paris-brest. Chef Thierry Marx himself walked in the middle of the street collecting views and comments of the drivers. The action promotes Badoit water as the water that best accompanies meals.

Casa Barcardi

2-10-2013

Bacardi organizes cocktail parties in a classy art-deco building along the Rue Defacqz in Brussels. These cocktail nights are from 27 September to 19 October and limited to 70 guests only, who are chosen from registrations through a special phone number. The lucky few can prepare themselves for world class bartenders like Roman Falton (Artesian, Londen), Shingo Gokan (Angel’s Share, New York) and Elizaveta “Lizzy” Evdokimova (Delicatessen, Moskou). The concept refers to the exclusive cocktail parties in ‘El Edificio Bacardi’ at the Avenida de Bélgica (Havana) during the beginning of the 20th century.