Mike Hohnen

[lang_da]Jeg har holdt tæt øje med udviklingen af virtuelle, sociale netværk i et stykke tid nu. I den proces er jeg blevet overbevist om, at det på et tidspunkt vil flytte sig igen fra virtuel til virkelighed – læs den fulde artikel, som jeg har skrevet for Visitor om dette emne her.

Jeg vil ikke bruge ‘K-ordet’, så lad os bare blive enige om, at markedstilstandene varierer, og at betingelserne for vores livsform er under forandring.En af de positive konsekvenser er præcis det, at vi bevæger os fra virtuelle til virkelige netværk – og hovedkraften bag denne tendens er Generation Y.

Generation Y elsker de markante statements og at finde en større mening i tingene. Blandt andre kæden Starbucks har fået øjenene op for de muligheder, det giver. Prøv engang at se her:

Da jeg sidst besøgte deres website, var de langt over målet på løfter om 100 timers frivilligt arbejde fra de unge – godt gjort! Nu kommer så den mere tricky del af konceptet. Jeg vil gerne se, hvordan det udvikler sig. Bliver arbejdet lavet og bliver konceptet en succes, eller vil det langsomt dø ud?

På mange måder viser Starbucks vejen her. Jeg er sikker på, at andre restauranter og cafeer kan udvikle sig til lokale netværkssteder. Mulighederne er uendelige: Fra at være værter for café-workshops, give løsninger på dagligdags problemer – til at give tips om jobsøgning, osv. Eller hvad med være vært for en madlavningsession for de unge, som gerne vil spare penge på madbudgettet – måske endda opfordre dem til gøre det til jævnlige, fælles aktiviteter og derigennem skabe et socialt netværk – det kan give så meget mere end et par indlæg på facebook.

Første step er at få de lange fællesborde tilbage i cafeerne, hænge en opslagstavle op og se, hvad der sker…[/lang_da]

[lang_en]I have been watching and trying to learn the ropes of virtual social networking for a while now. In the process I have become convinced that this must some how eventually spill over from virtual to real.

I don’t what to use the “R” word so let just say that market conditions fluctuate and we seem to be in a change phase ;-) One of the positive things that may come out of that is exactly this move from virtual to real networking – and the main driver of this will be Gen-Y.

Gen-Why loves a big calling and a big hairy purpose – and Starbuck’s has seen the opportunity in this. Take a look at this:

When I last checked their website they were well beyond their goal of over a million hours pledged. Well done – now comes the tricky part execution. I for one will be watching how they get that going. Will they build on this and actually cash in the pledges or will it fade out?

But in many ways Starbuck’s is showing the way here.
I am sure that other restaurants and cafes could develop themselves as local networking hubs and in the process keep their turnover from sliding the wrong way.

The possibilities are endless: from hosting cafe workshops or finding solutions to everyday problems, tips on job hunting. Or how about hosting a cooking class for those youngsters that would like to save a few bucks on their food budget (and stay healthy at the same time) by cooking some real food themselves, maybe even encourage them to do it as communal effort – it could become a diner network – and that could be a lot more rewarding than a few posts on facebook.

The first step is to bring back in the communal tables and hang up a message board and see what happens…[/lang_da].

[lang_da] Den internationale afdeling af Leaders Club holdt sin årlige konference i Lyon i Frankrig i januar. Det var også lanceringen af den første Foodservice Exchange.

Fredag holdt vi en ‘Best Practice Workshop’, hvor mere end 60 førende direktører fra store europæiske foodservicekæder tilbragte morgenstunden med at dykke ned i en række spørgsmål – så som:

Fra et globalt perspektiv: Hvilke handlinger ser du som de mest fordelagtige i forhold til at beskytte vores miljø og hvorfor? (dette kan indeholde handlinger, som ikke er specielt synlige, men ikke desto mindre særdeles vigtige).

Eller marketing: Hvordan har Internettet ændret restaurationsbranchens marketing – og hvad er dine bedste og mest kreative eksempler på innovativt brug af nettet, når det gælder marketing?

…og 8 andre spørgsmål af den karakter,

Moderatorerne for begivenheden var Florian Beckman og Mike Hohnen.

Det stod meget klart ud fra de ivrige og intense diskusssioner, at der var rigtig meget at snakke om. Diskussionerne blev sammenfattet i korte statements og vil blive sendt ud til deltagerne.

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[lang_en]The international branch of Leaders Club held its annual gathering in Lyon, France this weekend.
It was also the launch of the first Foodservice Exchange

Friday we held a ‘best practice workshop’ more than 60 leading executives from major European foodservice chains spent the morning exploring a number of questions such as:

From a global perspective: What are the operational practices that you see as being most beneficial towards protecting our environment, and why? (This may include practices that are not very visible but none the less very important).

Or marketing: How has the web changed restaurant marketing and what are your best and most creative examples of creative use of the web for marketing purposes?

- and 8 other questions of that nature.

The event was moderated by Florian Beckman and Mike Hohnen.

It was very clear from the intense conversations that followed that there was lots to talk about. The discussions were captured in short statements and will be posted to participants.

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We have spent the past 3 weeks in southern Morocco – mainly working on materials that we need for our 2009 workshops.

3 glorious weeks at the RIAD M’HAÏTA the ideal spot to relax, regenerate and get som thinking work done.

But we did find time to take a trip in to the Sahara. And I think we found the perfect setting for our next Time Out workshop.
About 3 hours out of Zagora you turn of the road onto the dirt track

After another 3-4 hours in the dust the worlds looks more like this:

And when you wake up in the morning….this is what you see:

Personally I can’t wait to get back.