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- 🍽💡 Hospitality Innovation Flops ?!?
🍽💡 Hospitality Innovation Flops ?!?
We Researched All Award Wining Products' from HOST Milan So You Don't Have To
Welcome back to yet another edition of "On The House" the newsletter that’s smooth as a lightsaber through shawarma.
This week we are doing things slightly differently - We Reviewed the Host Milan Smart Label Innovation Awards.
Hence this is a leading fair for hospitality equipment and solutions it’s a good point to see where our industry is in implementing the recent technology. When we said review we actually think we gave our unnecessary truthful comments. If you want more details about the products the link is embedded in the name.
SPOILER ALERT: F&B and technology relationship still has a long way to go.
What is the Smart Label Innovation Awards?
In a nutshell - this award is for products that have exercised innovation, sustainability, and efficiency in their design and performance. This year’s award got 157 applications and only 26 products were awarded by the special jury
The award is divided into 3 categories :
Innovation SMART Label ( “products which features break and exceed consolidated trends“)
Green SMART Label (“ for products with a high level of innovation and distinctive characteristics in terms of energy saving, environmental compatibility and eco-sustainability:“)
SMART Label (“list of honorary products “)
Ok, let’s get to the nitty-gritty of these award-winning products that should be at the forefront of technology in hospitality.
Innovation SMART Label Products
“products which feature break and exceed consolidated trends“
Seriously a chiller display breaks and exceeds current trends? 🤔
Frotting milk became so complicated that we now need a machine to do it?
Yes we know what you are thinking“Is it just a panel?“ and yes the answer is “It is just a panel “
Because why wouldn’t you have a shot of espresso in your pocket?
Smart Cocktail Vending Machine - we dare you to use it after 3rd cocktail.
They also suggest the use of it for busy nightclubs!
You can now see the pattern of these products, most of them are creating a problem so they can solve it through technology, which is a standard move for technology and the internet industry, but hospitality is all about efficiency, we don’t need new problems.
At this point, we became slightly concerned but nevertheless, research continues … on to the next category!
Green SMART Label Products
“ for products with a high level of innovation and distinctive characteristics in terms of energy saving, environmental compatibility and eco-sustainability“
“Ideal for organic, gluten-free, macrobiotic and vegan products: at last a food tray coherent with the newest food style!“ - Because the aluminum tray isn’t vegan?
Yes, the frame that has water flowing down is considered a high level of innovation, at least in hospitality 🤯
Refrigeration was invented in 1834 - today is 2023. If somebody is counting that’s 189 years and we still consider refrigeration as a high level of innovation.
Sustainability is important but knives with recycled plastic handles are really nothing special in today’s world - HOST Milan step it up !
a garden chair, yes garden chair
The toy everyone would want and has in a professional kitchen is in the same category as the chair above - just FYI . Rational did what they do best but we think it needs a better category.
This category was promising to us, but we have to stress the range of the products here was just too wide. Having accountability to award these prestigious awards would push manufacturers to deliver and compete, something that is happening with UNOX and Rational in the current market is a thing we need for all innovation sectors.
On to the next category …..
SMART Label
“honorary mentions”
Voice-activated combi oven, now that is innovation !!!
We hope you got some perspective on the products that are presented at this fair. It may seem that we were a bit harsh, but all in a spirit of good fun.
The one thing we do want to stress is that most of the products were from the European market which we know is high in hospitality quality, the cutting edge technology of robotics and AI still hasn’t scratched these markets and to be fair it’s not their strongest suit, US and China are still the front runners in that field.
Maybe the UAE and GCC markets can be a great unifier for European quality and innovation from the US and China, we certainly hope so, as the industry is on the cusp of high turnover for staff and a lack of technology implementation
That’s a wrap for today’s edition, we know you got something out of it so drop a vote down below and forward it to your peers or share it on your social.
Stay sharp and keep making waves!
Weekly Angry Chef Meme
