Last week, Coca-Cola launched its new brand: FÏNLEY in the Netherlands . FÏNLEY is a refreshing, alcohol-free, and low-calorie beverage which you can drink as refreshing drink in the afternoon or as a mocktail in the evening. It will be available in 6 surprising and sophisticated flavors at supermarkets, a few cinemas and gasoline stations. read more
Although CuliAir can’t been seen as a trend anymore, it remains special to see that the concept is still named as a ‘trend’ on various websites. The concept was initiated by masterchef Angélique Schmeinck in 2003. CuliAir is a culinary enjoyment at the highest level, literally and figuratively. If you want to experience something special, from the beginning of April till September it’s possible to book a diner in this floating restaurant. The restaurant consists of 14 spots and is a once in a lifetime experience that’s expected to stay trendy in the upcoming years as well. read more
Spring officially started last week and we’ve already had a few days of sunshine. Hopefully the start of a sunny summer period. Summer also means… ICE CREAM! What can we expect this summer as it comes to ice cream? We have seen a lot of videos about the Hawaiian Shave Ice which is basically nothing more than shaved ice! read more
At the recently opened ‘The Malt Vault’ in Utrecht they have over 130 types of whisky on their beverage list. At ‘The Malt Vault you just have to sit back and relax while enjoying your whisky. Inexperienced whisky drinkers can order a mini whisky tasting whereas the experienced drinker can discover new kinds of whisky’s. read more
Last week the official launch of Tito’s Handmade Vodka took place in the Netherlands. This American brand was last year’s fastest-growing vodka brand in the world with a growth percentage of 64.5%. The vodka is 100% gluten-free and is made of corn, consists 40% alcohol and doesn’t have any added sugar or gelatine. That’s why it’s pure vodka. read more
Restaurant The Carter in Sydney, Australia is inspired by the queen and king of American pop culture: Beyoncé and Jay Z. The restaurant starts as a restaurant by day and transforms into a club with live entertainment in the evening. A must-see for fans. read more
Last week Betty Koster was cited in an article on NU.nl about the combination of blue cheese and chocolate. “Cheese and chocolate are a great combination” she said. By reading the article my thoughts took me back to the theory of cooking I had at the hotel school. Every week we got to see the serie Kitchen Chemistry by Heston Blumenthal. One of the episodes was entirely devoted to chocolate. How it is made and why it melts more quickly when it is not tempered? All these questions were answered in the episode about chocolate. read more
At 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 amongst others wine infused coffee and New York gets a Fried Pickle restaurant.
If you like to read the whole article, click the title. Enjoy reading! read more
Paying with your fingertip? It’s possible at Proud Camden, a London based bar. Customers are able to pay their drinks here with Fingopay. This technology links your finger veins with your debit or credit card. Payments can be done both quicker and easier. It’s not only a unique and safe way of paying, you’ll don’t have to worry if you left your wallet at home! read more
At the beginning of this year we wrote about the Happy Drinks The Battle. With this initiative Pierre Wind and the ‘Trimbos-instituut’ wanted to challenge the hospitality and hospitality schools to make the supply of non-alcoholic beverages more exciting and more diverse. Monday the 6th of March at the finals of the Happy Drinks The Battle, Mark Jędrzejewski, bartender of De Smaakambassade, was awarded as Happy Drinks Mastershaker 2017. From the winning drink ‘The Madonna (like a virGIN)’, a special edition handmade syrup will be created. This will be done by Pinky Rose. This syrup will also be available for hospitality businesses. They hope that the The Madonna (like a virGIN) is going to be the mocktail of 2017! read more
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Pizza PilgrimsWhat about a dessert calzone with your own taste of chocolate or as you could say BYOC – Bring Your Own Chocolate. Pizza Pilgrims in Shoreditch London added an option on their menu where you can calzone your favourite chocolate bar. So if you’re obsessed with chocolate, you know where to go for a custom-made chocolate calzone. read more
The Shweeb is New Zealand’s newest adventure activity and world first overhead monorail pedal powered race circuit. The faster you pedal, the faster you will finish. The Shweeb is located in Rotorua within the Agroventures Adventure Park in New Zealand and the core market is very broad; from four to 89 year-olds. Google was also positive about the idea and submitted an investment of one million dollars. A great monorail circuit for an adventurous nature reserve. read more
Did you always ate cereals for breakfast and are you an ice cream addict? Well Ben & Jerry’s turned your nostalgic breakfast into an ice cream: Ben & Jerry’s Cereal Splashback. Put your PJs on, watch your favorite television show and enjoy a scoop (or two) of breakfast ice-cream. As it’s not going to be sold on the Dutch market, it might be interesting for ice-cream shop owners. read more
A couple of top restaurants in Rotterdam, In den Rustwat (IDRW), Parkheuvel and Amarone hosted the first edition of the Smeele Hospitality Inspiration Sessions. During this unique inspiration tour hospitality entrepreneurs and chefs enjoyed watching and talking about the interiors of these three restaurants and got some great bites from the chefs they visited. The patrons told colleagues how they have addressed their interior modifications and which choices they had to confront. A great way to get inspired if you’re thinking about remodelling your interior. read more
Pizza Hut is putting an indulgent twist on the caviar craze sweeping foodie culture with the launch of ‘Pizza Caviar’ – a first-of-its-kind innovation that read more
At horecatrends.com we spot many national and international trends on a daily basis. We pick the most interesting ones to write about, the other trends 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
J&B Rare whiskey goes back to its roots and has released 25 tattooed limited edition bottles. The bottles are coated with a latex skin, so they could be tattooed just like a human skin. Tattoo artist Sébastien Mathieu tattooed the bottles and it took him about 20 hours per bottle. The tattooed bottles are available in Paris at Publicis Drugstore and L’éclaireur rue Herold.
Airline Virgin America has launched a new social network app, the ‘Here On Biz’ app. The app connects people on the plane or at the airport through their LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter. Travelers can make contact with people on the same flight or another Virgin America flight, people at the airport or with people at their destination. The airline wants to reinvent the flying experience for their customers and the app is part of the campaign.
Consumers often do not know where their food comes from. Cisse Trading Co, a company that focuses on Fairtrade chocolate bakes and drinks, gives consumers the opportunity to send a message to the farmers. There is a QR-code at the packaging of the food that can be scanned by the customer. The consumer is linked to the Facebook page where they can leave a message to the farmers. So there is more transparency and it creates a connection between the farmer and the consumer who buys their products.
This Monday 24 February the ‘Koksgilde’ and Gastronomixs organize the Young Talents Festival at Koppert Cress in Monster. Syrco Bakker (Pure C resto bar – Lounge*), Bas van Kranen (Restaurant De Leuf**) and Maik Kuijpers (De Librije***) give live demonstrations and there are several other activities. The festival is targeted on the chefs that gratuated in 2013 on level 3/4, but there are also limited tickets available for members of the Koksgilde and Gastronomixs.
Jaap Urban started a project to provide a temporary practical solution for one empty building in Groningen at the end of April or the beginning of May 2014. With the launch of tijdelijkestad.nl he motivates citizens and entrepreneurs to think along about the optimal use of a building for one week. Potential buildings can be suggested via the website, when one is found, the contents of the program and pop-up stores can be filled in. This can vary from temporary shops and sport facilities to restaurants and office space for entrepreneurs. Next that events and workshops will complement the program for the period.
Within three weeks a suitable building will be picked.
The Canadian beer brand Molson Canadian has placed a striking red fridge full with Molson Canadian beers in Canada’s Olympic House. However, the fridge can only be opened with a legitimate Canadian passport. A passport is first inserted into a slot located to the left of the fridge door and the door will be unlocked. Once the door is open, anyone can grab a beer, also the people who are not from Canada. The fridge encourages people to look for a Canadian friend. The refrigerator was placed at multiple locations in Europe before the Winter Olympics.
For the pastry chefs among our followers: the International Culinary Center literally takes a bite out of fashion! To promote the New York Fashion Week the International Culinary Center has made an exact copy of a Coco Chanel purse out of chocolate! In the video above, the model suddenly begins to eat her purse in the middle of a subway.
The ‘Shanghai Tower’ will open its doors in Shanghai in 2014. The building has a total height of 632 meters with 121 floors. Between the 84th and 110th floor of the building there will be a hotel with 320 rooms. This is the highest hotel in the world. The building has walls of glass so it gives a 360 degree view of the city. The ‘Shanghai Tower’ will also have a number of retail stores, offices, cultural facilities and an observation deck.
Restaurant, Bar & Marina Terrace I-Dock, located on the ground floor of the new Room Mate Hotel Aitana Amsterdam, opened its doors at February 8. The hotel bar I-Dock is a place where hotel guests and passers-by can enjoy breakfast, lunch, dinner or drinks. The menu is Mediterranean oriented with the concept of small dinners. Guests can taste different dishes or share the small bites with each other. At night the hotel bar transforms into a night club with DJs and live bands. I-Dock is a initiative of business caterer Vitam.
Now KLM Royal Dutch Airlines makes it possible for customers to pay their booking through social media. Consumers are already able to book extra services through social media, such as a seat reservation or extra baggage addition, but they can now pay their booking via Facebook or Twitter as well. KLM will send the customer a link in a private message on Facebook or Twitter, consumers can choose the method of payment and complete the transaction. A KLM service agent receives a payment confirmation and sends a message to the customer. KLM is the first airline that makes it possible to pay through social media.
Restaurant Sjalot & Schanul in Belgium is welcoming to all its guests, including the children. The restaurant charges a fee for children based on their age. A child of 4 years will receive a dinner for € 4,= and a 6-year old will pay € 6,= for a slightly larger portion.
Bello Bergamotcello is the new fresh version of Bello Limoncello. The Bello Bergamot is made of the Bergamot lemon, a citrus fruit that is normally used in tea or perfume, because of its aroma. The liquor-makers Natwerk used these lemons to make a Limoncello. Chef cook Jaimie van Heije was so excited by the special Limoncello, that he serves the drink in his restaurant and has put a cocktail variant on the menu.
The ‘Home Exhibition’ in Amsterdam RAI is really a female fair, but each year around 25,000 men visit the event. To do the men a favor, during the event from 15 to 23 Feburary, there will be a Men Café again. Men can drink a beer here, eat some croquettes and there are pool tables. Racing driver Tim Coronel will be present to accompany the men in the café. The visitors can sit in the Dakar buggy of Tim Coronel and take a picture.
“Kwik, kwak, kwek, please come back”. That is the motto of the Hampshire rubber duck. It’s a business gift for special visitors of the hotels and a cool way to give a friendly reminder of your visit. There are various photographers that shoot rubber duckies around the world. Perhaps you’ll see the #HampshireDuck pop-up on social media any time soon..
Emmett’s introduces typical Chicago deep dish style pizza’s in New York. These pizza’s look more like a quiche rather than a traditional pizza. See the video for a review.
Update: in the meanwhile we’ve tried this pizza ourselves. Take a look at my report here ^Marjolein van Spronsen
The hotel ‘The Thief’ in Tjuvholmen (Norway) welcomed its guests at the first day of the Olympic Games with French kissing hetero and gay couples from different races. The campaign is inspired by a video from Norwegian singer Annie and Norwegian visual artist Bjarne Melgaard and in collaboration with a national LGBT-organization. With the campaign the hotel supports the #principle6 campaign, based on the Olympic values. The video of kissing people is projected in room #410 and visible at street level for two weeks.
The municipality of Amsterdam appointed four locations for pop-up stores at the ‘Zuidas’, near Amsterdam Zuid train station. From 1 May onwards the locations are available to unique concepts that complement the existing offer for six months. All competitors, with both food as well as non-food concepts, can send in their plans before 5 March 2014. The four winners will be announced on 13 March. Perhaps the area will be enriched with a test sleep facility, a tasting area or a collaboration between local entrepreneurs like we’ve seen in the West of Amsterdam.
We all know that Fashion Weeks are concentrated around fashion shows and after party’s but this year Marc Jacobs took the opportunity to do another type of stunt!
After all the talk of alternative payment methods like Bitcoin recently, he decided to open a pop-up tweetshop, a store where you pay with social media posts, a brilliant idea to promote his fragrance Daisy. In essence this store was more about the experience than the shopping, being located in beautiful bright loft in Soho, the brand organized a set of activities. One was a photo-booth style field of daisies, where you could take daisy #selfies. When uploaded with #MJDaisyChain to Instagram or Twitter you could win great prizes with the messages, such as bags, full bottles of daisy, sunglasses and other gadgets. Other than the daisy-field booth there was also a cart with a coffeemachine and baristas making fresh coffee, ladies who were giving free manicures with Marc Jacobs nail polishes and lot’s of daisy art and daisies. A dj made the atmosphere even a bit more exciting and the “fabulous” NYFW visitors were having a ball. One simple tweet with the hashtag #MJDaisyChain earned you a small daisy roller and for the larger prizes your post had to be chosen. All together, a rather briljant concept and you bet that the # was trending during the opening days! ^Leonie van Spronsen
The QBara restaurant in the Fort WAFI Leisure Complex (Dubai) opened late 2013. The restaurant serves dishes inspired by the flavors of the region with a modern twist. Guests choose multiple dishes from the menu, which are served ‘family style’. For example we ate a few small dishes like ‘scallops, sumac and sweet & sour shallots’ and ‘tomatoes, watermelon and homemade Shanklish & mint’. The dishes we tasted were delicious with mysterious ingredients (for us) like za’atar butter and grilled vegetables ‘mechouia’. The desserts were also delicious; we loved the tempura Medjoul dates. As the alcohol consumption is less in this region, many restaurants have an extensive mocktail menu with great combinations of ingredients. All of this combined with the unique environment, with elements as the ‘magic wall’ (see a YouTube video of the wall here) and the house-Arabian music, makes for an amazing experience. The restaurant has a modern design that is enriched with oriental style. ^Marjolein
No red roses, bonbons or discount but attention! That’s what Droste’s attends its guests on with a nice little envelope for your telephone during the Valentine’s dinner.
Since last weekend, you can go bowling in nightclub Trouw in Amsterdam. There are three professional bowling lanes in the basement of Trouw where you can play from February 7 to March 2. Club Lebowski places pop-up bowling alleys at various locations and it took three days to place the bowling alleys at Trouw. During restaurant and club hours guests can throw strikes, spares and gutter balls along with up to six friends. The bowling alleys are open from Tuesday to Saturday for €10,= per hour.
A real bacon lover? Visit the bacon restaurant ‘BarBacon’ in New York City. The restaurant opened last month and is completely in the theme of artisan bacon. The menu includes a variety of bacon sandwiches, salads, bacon chocolate chip cookies and even a bacon whiskey variant. When serving ‘The Tasting’ the guest will receive a selection of four types of bacon and there is a bacon of turkey or vegetarian bacon. ‘BarBacon’ serves local craft beers and whiskeys in combination with various types of bacons. Maybe they can serve a shot bacon liqueur?
‘Pin’ and ‘Interest’, also known as Pinterest. The social online bulletin board where users can share their images has become a lot more popular in the Netherlands the past year. Currently 1.1 million Dutch use Pinterest, compared with 530,000 users a year ago. Pinterest has extended the functions, so there are more opportunities for the users.
The first Dutch hot tub cinema is located in Amsterdam from 6 to 9 March. In the ‘Machinegebouw’ at the Westergasterrein are 21 hot tubs and two cinema screens. You could book a hot tub with five friends and you will get a waiter service, bottle of cava and a private bath robe but it is already sold out. After the movie there is a bathrobe after party with a DJ. The concept is inspired by the Hot Tub cinema in London.
The first crowd funding platform especially for the Dutch hospitality industry is developed: Hospitality Crowd funding Netherlands. The platform helps hospitality businesses to raise capital. Hospitality Crowd funding Netherlands brings investors and hospitality business in touch with each other, so that the Dutch hospitality industry can continue to innovate.
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