We had 2 interesting days in Hamburg. The idea was to check out a few innovative ideas and have a general chat about how to cope with the ever increasing problem of scarcity of trained chefs and spiralling labour cost.
We started out with lunch at Va Piano In my opinion one of the most innovative food concept we have seen in a long time.
Followed by tour of the East hotel
And dinner at Elysee
The reason we had dinner the Elysee was that we wanted to test the Block Menu concept live – and that was a real eye opener for all. A 160 seat restaurant handled by 2 chefs in a space no larger than 14 sqm. In the banqueting department 2 chefs handle up to 1000 covers in a night with ease.
So the next day we went to Zarentin outside Hamburg to find out what the sceret begind the low labour cost was: Block Menu
Export manager Rüdiger Brümmer took us through the menus and demonstrated how far sous-vide cooking has come – and we may all have different opinions on taste but we could not fault the quality of the products.
The experience was intense – every one fully concentrated
On the way back to Copenhagen in the bus we had a god chat and reflection on the merits of the various cusines we visited and our hig profile chefs of course stuck to their principles and gave conveniens food a good bashing – but then they got hungry…
Need I say more…
It was good fun and an eye-opener for us all – and like it or not, what IKEA has done to furniture production, Block Menu is determined to do to food production.
Our article in this months copy of Danish hospitality magazine Visitor hit the streets yesterday and created an unexpected flurry of interest from local Danish media – I was interviewed by Ritzau the news agency and later in the day for Danish Brodcasting who did a 4 min piece on Pizza Kone on the 18 o’clock news.
Business.Dk wrote the story on their business blog: Pizza Nu som Vaffel
If you mised my earlier post here on the blog you will find it here
There is also a video clip of the production process here
Springwise also have an update on this
Grab, Grip and no drip has been the mantra of success in the Fast Food business for years. Pionered by the Americans and their need to drive and eat. You can eat a hot dog or posibly a burger in your car – but you can’t walk on a crowded street and talk in your cell phone and eat a burger at the same time. Solution a hand held meal in a cone – simple and obvious once you have seen it. Pizza Cones are the big thing i Korea and rapidely spreading to other parts of Asia.
More on this:
PizzaKonno
CrispyCone
The centre of this new chocolate culture, Max Brenner chocolate bars are open from morning til late, changing throughout the day. In the mornings, soft jazz music plays while people hug hot chocolate in their hands; in the evenings, the mood becomes more sensual as the music changes, candles are lit and the crowd becomes more intimate.
The brand is heavy on storytelling, and on ceremony. Brenner wants to change the way people experience chocolate, turning consumption into a ceremony, with its own special utensils, textures and tastes, much like wine and coffee. The chocolate drinks menu spans four pages, including chocolate granitas and frozen chocolate cocktails for hot summer days. Special cups were created for different ways of drinking chocolate. Shown above are the Hug Mug, shaped for hugging in both hands; Alice, the ‘ultimate’ milkshake cup; and the Suckao, a special cup with a metal straw and candle underneath designed for preparing thick hot chocolate from hot milk and flakes of chocolate.
More on this at Springwise
A few years ago, Illy defined a handful of Illy Bar Concepts: the Core Bar is situated in historic centers, and functions as a meeting point that expresses the culture and the daily life of its location. Landscape Bars are set in busier areas, such as shopping malls or museums, and are meant to provide a restorative break. Transit Bars are spacious bars for travellers, in stations or airports; Community Bars serve regular customers in residential or semi-central areas; and Corner Bars are stylish, open-plan affairs offering fast service for quick consumption.
Last year, Illy announced that its line of concept bars would continue to expand under a new brand: Espressamente. Over a hundred cafes have opened everywhere from Rome, Munich and Oslo to Sydney, Tokyo and Shanghai, all under Italian design, led by architects Luca Trazzi, Claudio Silvestrin, and Paola Navone. Fast growth countries are France and China. The United States, home of the Banana Coconut Frappuccino, isn’t on the roll-out list. Yet. Its first careful forays are temporary ‘Illy Gallerias’ in New York City: SoHo last fall, and the Time Warner Center this fall.
Unlike Starbucks, Illy is focusing purely on high quality coffee. Forget being spaces, where consumers can park themselves with their MacBooks and Venti Lattes — Espressamente is all about a perfect shot of dark elixir. With rapid expansion plans, this means plenty of opportunity for franchise-minded entrepreneurs. It also shows that innovation never stops: next up, how about the inevitable uber premium coffee chain that will get away with charging 12 dollar for out of this world lattes? It’s all about upgrading the experience these days, not to mention upgraded margins. One to watch.
Website: http://www.illy.com
Contact: exportcs@illy.it
Business Week
