Trends we spotted | Week 26
At hospitalitytrends.eu we spot many national and international trends on a daily basis. We pick the most interesting ones to write about, the smaller trends we use in our weekly column ‘Trends we spotted this week’.
This week, amongst others about tableside DIY Shawarma, the Donug, a website for cannabis-themed boutique accommodations and Apeel sciences in Santa Barbara created an edible coating that allows avocados to stay ripe for twice as long.
Click on the title if you would to read the full article. Enjoy reading!
Tableside DIY Shawarma
Lebanese restaurant Za’atar in New York City serves tableside DIY Shawarma. You will get the lettuce, spices, sauces and bread on the side and a spinning stack of marinated beef on the table and you can created your own dish. Check out the linked video of Thrillist Food and Drink in the title.
McDonald’s will ditch plastic straws in the UK and Ireland as from September
McDonald’s says it will start using paper straws instead of plastic at all its locations across the United Kingdom and Ireland. And it plans to test sustainable alternatives to plastic straws in some restaurants in the U.S. and elsewhere around the globe later this year. “You asked, we listened,” the chain announced on Facebook. The company says it will begin transitioning to paper straws at all of its locations in the U.K. and Ireland in September.
Thank God, it’s AI at TGI Fridays | TGI Fridays is investing in artificial intelligence to harvest data that will drive diner frequency.
Guests of the Dallas-based chain can now use a variety of social media platforms to place an order. From that customer interaction, TGI Fridays is using AI to identify ordering patterns, and that information is used to personalize marketing. If a guest order ribs through any of the platforms, for example, that data can be used to create future invitations based on that customer’s food preferences, said Sherif Mityas, Fridays chief experience officer. Read more at the National Restaurant News website, link in the title.
A chicken nugget crossed with a doughnut | The latest food hybrid
Scottish man Crag Carrick has invented the perfect hangover food hybrid: the Donug. The Donug is basically a chicken nugget in the shape of a doughnut. It is made of free range chicken, topped with cornflakes and panko crumb before being deep fried. You can then top the Donug with one of three sauces: either a Japanese curry sauce with mozarella, cheesy Dijon béchamel or a hot chilli sauce. Check out the images at the website of the Evening Standard, link in the title.
New at Paddington Central station in London | Huckster
A huckster is someone who plies their wares from a street-side stall. Bedding down in Paddington Central, Huckster is a vast street food hub-meets-nightclub that’s filling a multi-level, ’80s Manhattan-inspired space with its own exclusive street food stalls. You’ll walk into what feels like a warehouse airlifted over from the Meatpacking district, lined with graffitied walls, retro artwork and exposed pipework overhead; shepherding your companions past vendors slinging burger patties onto sizzling hot plates and weaving through Bladerunner-style neon signage towards your own private area which, being the wise connoisseur you are, you booked ahead. Some of the Hucksters: Crooked Peel Pizza Co, Mofo Chicken, Wonton Willy‘s bowls of classic wonton soup. True Burgers, challenging their namesake with the unreal Mac’n’Patty – a burger sandwiching both a beef patty and a slab of mac ‘n’ cheese; Rumbl and Bubble Gods.
Cannabis-themed Boutique Accommodations | Marijuana friendly hotels around the world
A new phenomenon “bud and breakfast”, there is even a budandbreakfast.com website which lists more than 400 marijuana-friendly properties. One of the properties is Bowmans Bearcreek Lodge in Hope Alaska on the Kenai Peninsula and at their site is stated “friendly accommodation that welcomes the marijuana traveller”. Another example is the Farmhouse Enlightenment Cannabis Experience at a 420 sq. ft. cozy modern cabin in a secluded wooded area overlooking a beautiful cannabis garden.
Edible coating allows avocados to stay ripe for twice as long
The tasteless coating’s formulation can be modified for strawberries, mangoes, apples, bananas, kumquats and asparagus. Avocados that stay ripe for twice as long as usual thanks to an edible barrier made from plant materials will be sold in the US for the first time this week. The tasteless coating, developed by Santa Barbara company Apeel Sciences, controls the two main factors that cause fresh produce to go bad: the rate at which water escapes the surface of fruit and vegetables and the rate at which oxygen enters. This allows treated produce to stay fresh for longer. Read the full article at The Guardian. That the industry is working on these kind of solutions is known in January 2017 we wrote about Edipeel.
