Horecava Innovation Award Winners

On Monday 9 January, the winners of the Horecava Innovation Award 2023 were announced during the festive opening of Horecava 2023. Puck Wilbers, the chairman of the jury, presented the awards for the categories; food & beverage, equipment & services, concepts, interior & design, digital, apps & social media and sustainability.

Food & Beverage

This category includes products with new flavours, flavour combinations or applications. Innovative in the market, surprising for the guest, commercially interesting for the entrepreneur. All food (in all states of processing; from fresh to ready-made) and beverages. Food & beverage products from the region also fall within this category.

Redefine Meat won in this category with its product 'Redefine Beef Bavette'.

Redefine Meat uses technology, rather than animals, for their meat products. They call this New-Meat™ because it has the same taste, texture, mouthfeel and versatility as animal meat, but is 100% plant-based. They develop their products based on an in-depth study of the aspects of meat. The meat is made in collaboration with leading meat experts, butchers, and chefs around the world to offer their customers the ultimate meat experience.

Equipment & Services

This category includes products or systems that facilitate, ease, reduce, speed up or make work easier for entrepreneurs and employees. Or techniques that ensure better quality of the catering product, performance-enhancing equipment, technology (e.g. robots), installations and tools.

FrieteRia-BrasseRia / infratuur.nl won the award in this category with its infrared fryer.

Increased gas prices are making many cafeterias want to switch their fryer's energy source. FrieteRia-BrasseRia / infrature.co.uk offers a solution for this namely a fryer heated by infrared panels. This is a relatively cheap and simple energy transition in cafeterias. FrieteRia-BrasseRia / infratuur.nl wants to convert existing fryer walls to infrared panels so that cafeterias can get rid of gas.

The jury: "Truly a solution to one of the biggest problems of our time: energy costs. In addition, the product has other advantages. Less oil needed, no more open fire and easy to clean. The technology can also be used in other applications. Truly innovation that originated from Horeca itself."

Concepts, Interior & Design

This category includes products, for both interior and exterior, that contribute to a better appearance of companies, increase the atmosphere and comfort of guests, create an experience or contribute to higher sales. Examples include furniture & furnishings, lighting, crockery, cutlery & glassware and decorations.

Sit & Heat and Satellite hospitality furniture won with the Celsius patio chair.

In cooperation with Sit & Heat, Satellite Hospitality Furniture is launching the Celsius patio chair with integrated heating system. It provides comfort and saves energy. Outdoor heaters running on gas or electricity consume a lot of energy. With the Celsius outdoor chair, the use of a patio heater is no longer necessary. The energy saving is 95% compared to traditional heating systems.

Digital, Apps & Social Media

This category includes mobile and digital applications for guests, consumers and/or entrepreneurs within the hospitality and foodservice industry that enhance quality and experience and/or make doing business easier and/or increase returns.

Lacoly is the winner in this category with a solution for whatsapp communication in the hospitality industry.

Thus the jury: "The concept is simple & quick to understand which makes it widely applicable. It runs on existing technologies everyone uses. After all, who doesn't have whatsapp on their phone? That makes the introduction of new apps unnecessary. The presentation was a pleasant surprise. Young, fresh and enthusiastic entrepreneur. The implementation was well thought out. Lacoly is not a big company (yet). They are small entrepreneurs with the potential to help many hotels and other hospitality businesses."

Sustainability Award Karel de Vos

The Karel de Vos Award is a special trophy focusing on 'caring for a better world'. It is an umbrella category for sustainability and one entry is awarded this prize, named after the initiator of the Horecava Innovation Award.

The Clique Circular Bakken is the winner of this Award.

The Clique uses the city's 'waste' to feed the city. With little effort from all parties, waste turns into valuable raw materials and food products.

The system: local hospitality and catering businesses receive 20-litre mayonnaise bucket-type plastic returnable containers to deposit their cutting and food waste. Clean, sealable, with no foul odours. Coaching is provided on proper separation and behavioural change. The labelled bins are collected by cargo bicycle and emptied, registered, cleaned and returned at the hub (shed).

Oyster mushrooms grow on the collected coffee grounds at a local grower for use in the kitchen. This is used to make bitterballs, among other things. From orange peels, a small local food producer presses orange oil for detergents or as flavouring in beer, for instance. The rest is composted into rich compost, on which herbs may grow again. The entrepreneur has up to 70% less waste and a good story to his customers.

"It has come pretty full circle," the judges felt. "A unique local collaboration between the hospitality industry and small-scale food producers. Now only in Utrecht but the Clique is looking at bigger The Hague. Each time growing quietly from a local hub, that's the idea. In all its simplicity, the most sustainable innovation of 2023. Therefore: convinced winner of the Karel de Vos Sustainability Award! "

Overall Winner: Redefine Meat

Redefine Beef bavette is a juicy, plant-based cut of meat. This tender piece of meat is perfect for grilling or frying, allowing vegans and meat lovers alike to enjoy meat without compromising on taste or sustainability.

"This entry shows that by thinking around, you can also go along with the current developments in plant-based products without going "mad". It gives you a different experience of meat that closely approximates the original. Which is also reflected in the ascription. Quality product that falls well. Both visually and taste-wise. People have been working on this for years, not avoiding the use of new technologies. Market figures show that 80 % of meat consumption is in the so-called "whole-cuts". The range/production has therefore been adjusted accordingly." Some of the comments from the expert jury's report.

About the Horecava Innovation Award

Each year, participants enter for different categories. Horecava created the professional award to highlight exceptional achievements in innovation and encourage innovation in the foodservice industry in the Netherlands. Anyone can enter the innovation election, both exhibitors and non-exhibitors. The election thus provides a good overview of important innovations in the industry. The jury judged the entries on four main criteria: innovative character, turnover and return opportunities, whether they make work more pleasant and quality improvement. In addition, there is an overarching category for sustainability and one entry is awarded the Karel de Vos Sustainability Award, named after the initiator of this competition. This award is for the innovation that most demonstrates a sustainable, future-oriented vision, gives the sector a refreshing boost and is produced with respect for people, animals and the planet.