Berlin City Breaks Include a Local Guide

Taking an overseas city break is a great experience, but somehow it always seems like the locals are having all the fun. If you’ve visited Berlin, Germany, and wished you knew where to find the best entertainment or the “in” places to eat, you can relax. Plus One Berlin has launched the city break with a difference – you not only stay in a modern studio apartment in Berlin’s trendy Kreuzkölln district, you get the company of a local resident who can show you where it’s all happening.

Plus One Berlin visitors have a choice of accommodation and a selection of local hand-picked guides who are chosen for their knowledge and passion of the city. When a guest makes their reservation, guests are given a login to enable them to browse and select their guide. Once they pick a local guide, they indicate if they wish to experience the local area by going to a restaurant or be taken to popular local hangouts.

Plus One Berlin is a great example of exceeding expectation by thinking outside the box. Hospitality entrepreneurs from around the world, here is a value add service idea to add to your offering!

Bridal Brokerage: Market-Maker for Unwanted Wedding Ceremonies

It’s a sad-but-true fact – every year, thousands of brides-to-be change or cancel wedding plans, many ending up out of pocket because they can’t recover money spent on advance bookings for the big day. “Not any more,” says Bridal Brokerage, an online start-up, featured in The New York Times, that finds buyers for unwanted wedding ceremonies, receptions and wedding parties.

Couples who need to tie the knot in a hurry, or those for whom cost is a big factor, are the target market. Bridal Brokerage identifies cancelled ceremonies that match the required date, location and number of guests, and acts as a go-between, negotiating a price acceptable to both parties.

Bridal Brokerage claims that anything from wedding photographers to catering services can be reassigned. Once the deal is done, it utilises an in-house graphic designer to produce invitations and orders of service for the new couple – all in double-quick time.

The new service helps disappointed couples to minimise the financial impact of changing their plans, while allowing lucky brides and bridegrooms to enjoy wedding days that might otherwise have been unaffordable.

If you’re involved with events or bookings, is this an idea that you could apply in your niche segment of the market?

Milk Sniff Replaced By Technology

The traditional method of identifying that your milk has gone past its life has been the trusty nose. Well does your nose really know? Last month, crowdsourcing incubator Quirky teamed up with GE Garages and called out to the Quirky community to nominate an everyday item or process that can be improved.

The winning nomination came from San Diego entrepreneur Stephanie Burns, who wanted a milk jug that can indicate milk gone off without using the faithful nose sniff method or expiry date on the carton.

As a result, the Quirky Lab team have produced The Milkmaid which monitors your milk. It's a glass jug that has a PH sensor that monitors the PH level outside of the safe range. It also has a scale, wireless transceiver and a rechargable battery. If the milk PH level falls below the safe range, it triggers the green LEDs to turn yellow. The Milkmaid has a supporting iphone application to notifiy you if the ph or supply level drops below the mark to prompt you to buy more milk when required.

Is this too much technology for a simple problem? 

Quirky are currently crowdsouricng votes for the correct price point for the Milkmaid. Another great example of a day to day issue been resloved with a  smarter solution.

Eco Grab & Go Cups

We are seeing more and more retailers selling convenience foods in new, practical and sustainable ways. Biomass Packaging, has created a new line of environmentally friendly single serve food packaging solution called 'Greenware", that helps package foods that don't keep well together once mixed stay fresh with an added bonus of been eco-friendly.

The main package includes a cup, an insert with a lid and another lid for the cup. The packaging is made from Ingeo Biopolymer referred to as a Bioplastic derived entirely from a plant hence designed to be compostable and biodegradable.

Great concept and solution that provides food service operators limitless possibilities with merchandising breakfast foods, lunch combos and all day snacks to those busy on the go consumers that expect to grab on the go nutrious and appealing food. In addition, providing sustainable and environmentally friendly packaging that is good for the planet. One to introduce to a market segment near you.

Mobile Food Trucks Revitalised

They have existed in the US for decades and have a sub culture following, but more recently the iconic street food trucks have gone gourmet and with a fan base managed and promoted through social media. The US has seen local communities and cities really embrace the new age of upscale mobile food trucks such as the taco truck Kogi Korean BBQ with a Korean twist,  Big Green Truck serving Italian wood fire pizza, Dessert Truck serving luscious desserts and America's first "bustarant" named World Fare.

The culture has become so popular that even mobile apps are popping up such as Food Truck Fast Pass which connects food trucks with their fans and broadcasts their location, daily specials and sold out items. The strEATS mobile app maps out the sites of Washington DC's favorite food trucks and street eats locations.

It was only time that other parts of the globe would catch onto the rejuvenated and exciting new mobile food culture. In Australia this week, Sydney City Council Lord Mayor Clover Moore announced 10 successful businesses that are to service the Sydney area with mobile food trucks.

Over 30 operators lodged applications and went through the formal compliance process which involved finishing off with a cook off. The 10 successful operators are:

Agape, Al Carbon, Bite Sized Delights, Burger Theory, Cantina Mobil, Eat Art Truck, Lets Do Yum Cha, Taco Truck, Tsuru and Veggie Patch.

Foodie entrepreneurs its time to introduce the mobile food culture to your corner of the globe!