Trends we spotted | Week 44
At horecatrends.com or hospitalitytrends.eu we spot many national and international trends on a daily basis. We pick the most interesting ones to write about, the other trends we use in our weekly column ‘Trends we spotted this week’.
With this week, links to articles about the hotel arrangement by Hotels.com offering a place to literally ‘hide under a rock’ during the 2020 presidential election. Although we hope that everybody allowed to vote will support their candidate!
The Former chief design officer at Apple will design ‘the next generation of Airbnb products’ and a link to an article about The ‘Don’t Call Me Chicken’ pizza by California Pizza Kitchen.
In New York the Brooklyn Dumpling Shop will open, it will be the first ZHI restaurant and they will be offering a special crossover. Also serving a crossover is Papa John’s: Double Cheeseburger Pizza!
Sensory Inc., an artificial intelligence provider in Silicon Valley, is debuting the alpha release of its artificial intelligence enabled virtual assistant. No more touchscreens at kiosks! And as flying taxis inch closer to reality, companies are scrambling to develop infrastructure.
‘Gordon Ramsey Burger’ will soon be available at Harrods, it’s the second location of his gourmet burger restaurant, the first one is in Las Vegas. And Japanese robots serve soft ice cream!
Click on the title if you like to read the full article. Enjoy reading!
Please vote if you’re living in the U.S. | But this is a funny hotel arrangement!
Although we hope that everybody allowed to vote does vote in the U.S., we grinned a little by reading this hotel arrangement. This month, US-based travel booking site Hotels.com began offering the chance to literally ‘hide under a rock’ as the 2020 presidential election approaches. Travelers can book a stay in an unspecified, underground location in New Mexico. The accommodations include zero access to wi-fi, the news or television to prevent visitors from obsessively ‘doomwatching’ or ‘doomscrolling’ through content about the election. The property is available for USD 5 per night from November 2-7.
Former chief design at Apple will design “the next generation of Airbnb products”
Apple’s former chief design officer Jony Ive has been hired by online rental service Airbnb to develop new products and services for the platform. Ive, who left Apple last year after almost 30 years to establish an independent design company called LoveFrom, will act as a design consultant for the online holiday rental website. Airbnb co-founder Brian Chesky: “We have made the decision to work together through a multi-year relationship to design the next generation of Airbnb products and services.”
The ‘Don’t Call Me Chicken’ pizza by California Pizza Kitchen
California Pizza Kitchen (CPK – chain in the U.S. and Canada), which considers itself the pioneer of barbecue chicken pizza, now offers a vegetarian take on that offering with its barbecue “Don’t Call Me Chicken” pizza. Guests can enjoy the brand’s plant-based pies that feature its all-plant-based chicken substitute, barbecue sauce, smoked Gouda, red onions and cilantro at CPK’s 155 corporate-owned restaurants across the United States and Canada.
AI-enabled voice assistants for foodservice, retail kiosks
Sensory Inc., an artificial intelligence provider in Silicon Valley, is debuting the alpha release of its artificial intelligence enabled virtual assistant, a cloud-based platform that provides voice assistants that combine biometrics, computer vision and customer analytics. The initial release has been customized to serve the fast-casual, quick service restaurant industry and is capable of processing voice orders in mobile apps, kiosks and drive-thru scenarios. Read more at the website of Kiosk Market Place.
As flying taxis inch closer to reality, companies are scrambling to develop infrastructure
Interesting read on the website of Robb Report for those who believe that the use of flying taxis is going quickly. Embraer (Brazilian aircraft manufacturer devoted to disruptive technologies) joins the growing number of global companies, including Hyundai, Uber Elevate, and Lilium, among others, focused on creating larger infrastructure networks for the electric vehicle takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft segment, rather than only developing the aircraft. It might be a quick solution from Schiphol to other parts of the Netherlands…. And if you have a Michelin starred hotel or restaurant guests arriving with a flying taxi might be reality within a couple of years.
The Brooklyn Dumpling Shop with zero human interaction
We wrote about this ZHI (Zero Human Interaction) restaurant this summer and it’s finally going to open next month and they promise their future guests a Cro’sumpling (an innovative blend of dumpling and croissant). The completely automated quick service restaurant will open in New York City. The restaurant will feature zero human interaction, orders are placed over apps and then picked up from small, specialized lockers that keep their contents fresh. It’s called the Brooklyn Dumpling Shop. The new eatery will feature over 32 unique dumpling varieties ranging from pastrami to fried apple. More at the website of Total Food, link in the title.
It’s made us think about the San Francisco based restaurants Eatsa, created back in 2015. They stopped the restaurants back in 2019 and continued as technology company Brightloom, selling their advanced system to other chains.
Gordon Ramsey Burger soon available at Harrods
If you’re interested in the plans of Gordon Ramsey, this article on the website of Big Hospitality tells you all. Among the planned openings is a Gordon Ramsey Burger restaurant at Harrods in London’s Knightbridge. It is supposed to open before the end of the year and it’s the second location of his Gourmet Burger restaurant, the first one is located at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas (opened in 2012). The concept focuses on burgers, hand-cut fries, secret sauces and thick milkshakes.
Papa John’s brings back their Double Cheeseburger pizza
Typical for the U.S.: The brand Papa John’s Pizza is returning its Double Cheeseburger Pizza, originally launched in 2015, to its offerings and actually adding a Papadia version of what the brand said in a news release is a ‘fan favorite’. “The new Double Cheeseburger Papadia tastes like a cheeseburger wrapped in Papa John’s signature pizza dough,” Tom Smith, director of culinary innovation, said in the release. “We’re confident that we can satisfy even the most discerning cheeseburger lover.”
Another example of a crossover about which Leonie van Spronsen wrote a blog back in 2019. More at the website of the Pizza Market Place, link in the title.
Japanese robots serve soft ice cream
The Japanese company Connected Robotics created a robot that can consistently make perfect soft-serves in just under 40 seconds. The robots are designed as dog or dinosaur with mechanical arms. Check out the YouTube video below.
