Foodservice

Produkter er noget vi sælger

March 18, 2017By Mike Hohnen

[lang_da]Vi havde besøg af Iben Marburger på vores diplomlederhold til kick-off og på modulet GROW sales. Det handlede om salg, service og markedsføring. Iben sagde utrolig mange fornuftige og rigtge ting. Hun har et kæmpe talent for at forklare præcis, hvad service – det som alle gerne snakker om – egentlig er.

Men der var især én pointe, der gik rent ind hos mig. Vi talte om den tendens, som mange hoteller har, med at forsøge at give produkter væk som en slags extra service – at overgå folks forventninger kaldes det ofte. Men som Iben så rigtig påpegede, så er det en livsfarlig kurs at komme ind på. Produkter er noget vi sælger; de koster os noget at købe hjem, og vi skal have penge for dem. Tilgengæld er service noget, vi frit deler ud af – det koster os ikke noget, og gæsterne elsker det.

Den store fare ved at give drinks, snacks, pauseoverraskelser osv væk er, at det skaber en ny forventning og dermed skruen uden ende. Uddeler vi derimod masser af omsorg og service, sker der det samme. Men det koster ikke ekstra for os at leve op til det – tværtimod – og den forventing, vi skaber, holder hele teamet til ilden: Det bliver til “sådan gør vi her”.

At give sine produkter væk, er i virkeligheden en dyr og dårlig ertstaning for at yde superb service.[/lang_da]

How much extra for nice?

September 23, 2008By Mike Hohnen

Is the question Seth Godin asks on his blog – it reminds me of a quote i once read from the HR people at South West Airlines: ” It is not technical skills we are looking for it is nice people. We can train people to do anything technical, but we can’t make them nice” .
When I conduct training’s for front line staff I ask them what in your opinion is a wow experience and when did you last have one. Invariable the same happens no matter what group I do this with: a) out of 25 – 30 people only 3-5 have had a wow service experience.
b) when I then ask them to describe in detail what is was, 9 times out of 10 the best experience always have to do with some one who was exceptionally nice – never ever do people mention the chandeliers in the reception area, the 6-foot flat screens in their room or any of the other features that are listed in a hotel brochure – always we come back to nice – my conclusion on this is: wow – what an opportunity, obviously very few people do it and it costs virtually nothing to implement – A huge opportunity indeed as Seth Godin says. I could not agree more.

Read the post here

Vi er tilbage fra Madrid

April 21, 2016By Mike Hohnen

[lang_en] In June we went on a food safari to Madrid – it was spectacular. Especially our vissit to La terazza del Cassio It is part of the El Bulli Group and that shows. -[/lang_da]

[lang_da]Vi have en fantastisk tur til Madrid!
Sidste aften besøgte vi La Terazza del Cassio – en kulinarisk oplevelse udover det sædvanlige. Som et ekstra plus mødte vi Nicolai Tram. Nicolai arbejder på La Terazzza, og vi fik en tur bag kulissserne og rigtig god snak om hans job.

En aften med Flamenco hører sig til.

Men mest handlede det nu om mad.

[/lang_da]

Food trends for 2008

April 21, 2016By Mike Hohnen

This time of year we are all (including me ;-) ) busy trying to forecast what the new food trends are going to be.

I gave a speak on the subject at the UK CESA conference in november – presenting the new and creative concepts that I have encountered in the major cities. Among these a quite unique concept in Barcelona – made by Camper. Watch it here.

Here is an attempt from restaurant guru Michael Whiteman

And here you will find a less colourful attempt from the Magazine Restaurants and Institutions

One thing I have observed is that the new mantra for buffets and food displays is that less is more – simplicity and quality have replaced volume and variety in some of the best and most progressive concepts I have seen. Tappas and Sushi style bites have replace huge displays.

The photos here are both from the spanking new Renaissance Shanghai Hotel – note that the cokkie jars are there for quest to take their pick if the feel like a cokkie with their coffee.

What do you think are going to be the dominant new trends in the Food business this year?

Hamburg

July 28, 2017By Mike Hohnen

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.

Pizza Kones – hit the news in Denmark

April 14, 2022By Mike Hohnen

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

Pizza Cone – next big thing in fast food ?

April 14, 2022By Mike Hohnen

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.

Max Brenner chocolate bars

April 13, 2022By Mike Hohnen

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.