Why is hospitality so “yesterday”?

So I am curious – is it only me, who could think of a better present-day when it comes to hospitality?

Even newly opened restaurants and bars (and hotels) seem to carbon copy previous concepts – and it seems to be so wrong.

Let’s start small: a bar / café / restaurant table: most smart phones nowadays have wireless charging. So why don’t have tables areas, where you a guest can charge his/her phone?

Isn’t it just very basic? As basic as offering a reasonable speedy WiFi connection (which most places still fail to offer)? Brownie points for offering retractable cables for those, who haven’t yet a smartphone with wireless charging (or want to charge something else).

I haven’t seen this once. Isn’t that strange? When (especially here in Dubai) venues are fighting hard to compete in an unforgiving and highly competitive market, yet ignoring the “most fundamental” need of our target audience…

Hotels have changed in the last century. Rooms became bigger (and wow they received their own bathrooms), corridors became bigger and elevators where built in. Yet, even luxury rooms have no consistent service corridors on room levels.

Certainly – every hotel has “catacombs” which has the service departments, the main kitchen etc. But when it comes to the room level, for example room service / housekeeping etc. are still using the main (guest) corridors… This might be not an issue and a minor nuisance in a 3 or 4 star hotel – but a >5 star hotel, should have a different solution.

Now – sometimes progress is slowed down by other consideration. A couple of years back for example, I have cheered for the arrival of google-glass – however didn’t really anticipated the big privacy backlash (plus Google really didn’t rolled out the technology reasonably well).

However I still think, that face recognition systems would be a great asset – especially with the background, that most likely the government is using the technology anyway (for example in the UAE) – there are cameras anyway – and in my opinion, there is no big downsides of using the technology – at least in the most basic way (for example highlighting guest names).

I do think, that there should be a real serious consideration, for a 21st century hotel. It is not that the hotel, needs to look futuristic, but that the systems are working with technology.

At this stage I have got the feeling, that with every technology (at least in the last 30 or so years), things became mostly more difficult and complex. Off course there is more control and security in hotels – but overall it just created more bureaucracy – and yes – things became cheaper (often on the expense of the employees) not really easier.

Opening a new fine dining restaurant? Why don’t you try Yōshoku?

Tags

Chefs, Cuisine, Japanese cuisine, New Restaurants, Restaurant concepts, Westernized, yoshoku, yōshoku

Most people see me as reasonable intelligent individual who has the most experience in bars and the beverage business. That is true… But I have been working more than 25 years in luxury hotels and I learned one thing or the other.

One big thing I have learned: everyone is copying everyone. There are very few concepts which are original.

Another thing: A concept which worked in one place (especially celebrity chef restaurants and or “your celebrity hangout places”) doesn’t necessarily work in another place.

I am a foodie. No – this is an understatement. I am a hyper-foodie. Don’t necessarily eat and cook everything – but I like to absorb everything which is food (and obviously beverage) related.

One trend I have seen basically taking the culinary word by storm is yōshoku cuisine. You might ask: what is yōshoku? It is the Western cuisine in Japan. Now this is another understatement. There are heavy Japanese influences in this cuisine. You have got curries, which are very different as Indian and Thai (…) curries. Then there are things like the hambagu – which is more like a Salisbury steak than a hamburger. Incidentally – Ramen is also a part of Yōshoku (even though it is often no more considered as such). And some typical Japanese pasta dishes, off course the famous sandos (and from them the even more infamous Wagyu Sando) and so on.

Now I do think, that it would be extremely smart to do a fine dining restaurant, based on this cuisine. You have got already enough sushi restaurants – but yōshoku is comforting as it is flexible, delicious and authentic, without getting into hot water, if something is not super “original”.

Obviously it would be difficult to implement a widespread fine dining yōshoku restaurant in Japan – as the Japanese are extremely prone to specialize, it is not what might work in Japan. Most of the dishes are known in Japan to be rather inexpensive – hence opening there would from the start an upstream swim.

But abroad, it would be the smartest choice since Shake Shack franchised internationally…. (or sliced bread – you choose…).

A la carte options of sharing dishes and or individual dishes could exist besides of a yōshoku omakase.

I believe, it is just a cuisine which is under-appreciated on first sight – but could be a massive success (well – you could argue, that it already is – restaurants like Zuma already “mix in” some dishes which are not authentic Japanese).

On another note: As I am German, I would probably even open a German-Chinese restaurant instead – a lot of dishes which I could indulge in when I was young, when my parents went to a “classy” Chinese restaurant, just disappeared in favor of more authentic dishes or “more casual delivery-Chinese dishes”. But this is not necessary an “either or case”.

Yōshoku cuisine is delicious, is fun. It is truly great – and would be great to be base of some new fine dining restaurants…

r/Antiwork – a path into the future

Tags

AI, antiwork, politics, technology, universal income

There is a new trend – the reddit forum antiwork. It sounds initially very radical – but the forum is a movement, which has worker rights in its hallmarks. The remote goal is: Unemployment for all, not just the rich! But the forum is not full of idealistic good-for-nothings… e.g. when Kelloggs workers were striking for better work conditions and Kelloggs management decided to terminate all striking employees and replace them with new people, the forum has been creating campaign to (successfully) spam Kelloggs’ HR with fake applications and eventually forced the management to negotiate better terms (and saved the strikers jobs). A member of the forum even designed a program which can automate this “spamming” for future instances (also against other companies).

But the end goal – as above mentioned, is to free people from work – or lets say unwanted and excessive work. Even in the middle of last century politicians and sociologists projected, that the work week will shrink to around 15 hours a week (between 2000 and 2020). Nobody could have known, that capitalism in its worst form would take completely over.

But fact is, that a lot of work is not necessary. Instead of freeing the human of work, technology created more work – often work which is (to a reasonable extend) not needed. Technology is giving us the perception of control and determination – where this isn’t necessarily true.

At this point, we should really consciously decide, in which direction future should go. As said: antiwork and unemployment seems a bit radical and harsh – but the serious question has to be allowed: are jobs, people don’t want to do (but are forced to do) ethical? Should we not follow our talents and our passions – instead of continue in a career, just to be able to pay our bills?

Sure – one has to live. But a political movement is important. At least in industrial nations, there is sufficient capital, that people would have a universal income. If you are following up human rights – it comes eventually to universal income. People should have the right to feed themselves, to have a roof over their head, to have receive medical care, to receive education (…).

The reason, why this is not the case has only one cause: people who decide, that their (and their peers) exuberant wealth his more important than thousands of not millions of lives!

And yes – their narrative of free markets and free capitalism (small government) will give anyone a chance is a straight up lie: almost all wealthiest individuals received “federal” support one or the other way (tax breaks, subsidies, bailouts of their companies – even Chapter 13 is kinda government regulated support) – we are not even talking about tax-funded research, which has been then patented by companies etc.

At this point the business world doesn’t decide, what is good for their employees, but always what is most profitable. Some jobs are just more efficiently made by machines – humans in between are just used because another machine would be not as efficient (and cheap) as a person, which is more adaptable.

But this is the wrong thinking. We should rediscover the human element.

And yes – there should be some motivation, that people would work. People will always work – even though they don’t need to. Certainly not all – but who is fulfilled by living on the minimum adequate living conditions?

I guess, replacing unwanted work is technologically already possible today. The raise of AI plays already a big part of it as well. But conservatism and the resistance of creating a better world (because of the fear, of loosing individual privileges) is holding back technology, is corrupting the legislative etc.

In fact: introducing a universal income would increase the individual spending and would support especially the middle class. Oh – maybe few super yacht producers would go bust (…) – as the super wealthy would need to share a bit more of their wealth and would not have that much expendable income – but I guess, this is a small price to pay.

Ultimately we need the development of AI to get into government and bureaucracy. Nope – we don’t need to be afraid of SkyNet… at the end, these AI systems are not generic but very specialized. But to find ways for equality and for a righteous distribution of wealth – we cannot keep it in people, who are far too easy to be corrupted.

At the end I love my job. I would not resign (and most others wouldn’t either) if I would get a universal income. However life would be easier – and there wouldn’t be the heavy weight on our shoulders, which is the responsibility for the future (we might get sick, or loose our jobs, or who knows what). And bad employers would have no tool to keep employees which are just staying for the sake of their “survival” (sometimes literally).

Next stop: AI augmented global citizen leadership…

Please stop to say, that the market in Dubai is not mature enough.

Tags

bars, Dubai, entrepreneur, market, maturity of market, mixology, Restaurants

Just recently we have had a talk – a pitch to be precise with one investor / owner of a restaurant group. And when the topic came towards the market, this person mentioned, that the Dubai market isn’t mature enough.

While I have been quite diplomatic in this specific situation, a comment like this rather eats me up inside. I have heard this several times and it almost provedwrong:

• The alcohol supplier said that the market is not mature enough, when I asked for craft beer. Now it is the fastest growing segment in their portfolio.
• When I just started in Dubai in Vu’s Bar, some people have given me “good willed” advises, that Dubai is not mature enough, to offer premium (and more expensive) cocktails. Today – there are a lot of bars which do “mixology” and offer premium drinks – and a lot of guests are enjoying those.
• I have heard the phrase anytime, when I was looking for some unique ingredients: produce, spirits, liqueurs, wine etc. a lot of those products are now here and are rather popular.

I find, that this is a lazy straw man argument. And the supporting arguments often don’t hold up, if you are checking them…

E.g. As I mentioned, I looked for craft beer about 6 or 7 years ago, but all supplier said, that they have nothing such. Then I found one outlet in Dubai serving Brewdog. Hence I went back to the suppliers to ask for it – and several times (within several weeks), both supplier assured me, that they would not have the respective brand in their portfolio – nor did they special imported it. But finally after consistent nagging, one supplier (which previously told me, that they don’t have Brewdog) confirmed, that they in fact have this beer brand available. Hence I ordered it. Without a lot of luck – because the logistics of the company didn’t new anything of the beer brand neither – and basically ignored my order. After I have followed up again with the account manager, they finally “found the product” – but their information was wrong – some of the SKU’s were not available (while others which were not listed were available). This all took several months to sort out – and I was quite happy, when I received finally my first craft beer in the UAE. I sold a couple of different craft beers of Brewdog rather successful – however after a few months, the beers were short expiration and finally discontinued by the supplier. The reason: craft beer doesn’t sell in in the UAE – and the drinkers are not mature enough.

I respectfully disagree – not only did the suppliers failed to advertise (or at least informed anyone of) the respective product, it hasn’t been listed and it seems, that everyone involved actively discouraged me (as client) to buy the product. To say then, that the market is not mature enough, is simply a lie.

Talking about bars, there are a lot of reasons, why a bars don’t work properly here. Inconsistency (quality, message, concept etc.) is one of the reasons. Sheer quality (or better said, the lack of it) is another reason. Leadership, vision, investment are all points as well. But honestly I don’t believe in one second that the market is not mature enough. Dubai is the hub for so many people, with so many diverse backgrounds – and a lot of them a well traveled. There are tourists, residence, business travelers. And the restaurant scene is also thriving… So – the market is mature enough, but often the entrepreneurs / restaurateurs / operators aren’t.

Are hotels in the UAE taking sustainability serious? What’s about brunch…

Tags

Brunch, Dubai, Environment, Hospitality management, Hotels, Middle-East, opinion

You can browse any website of most major hotel (management) companies, you won’t fail to find a statement about a commitment to environmental sustainability. Today there is one new reality in business: don’t neglect the environment. And this is for Apple as important as for the next small hotel.

But how serious is it to the hospitality companies?

The issue here is, that most hotels and restaurants don’t serve as a great enemy stereotype for environmental protection groups. These companies are not traded and supported by big hedge fond banks, they don’t usually accrue billions of dollars cash and so on.

And at this point, they are still quite a (domestic) big job provider.

But for me it is particularly despicable, to claim to care for environment, but at the end, “you” just don’t!

There are few examples, but not one is s glaring (at least in Dubai) than the Friday brunch.

So what is it about?

Friday brunch is the Middle-East approximation of Sunday brunch. On the guest side, it is all about gluttonous indulgences. Eat and drink as much as you want for a more or less reasonable package price.

For the hotel it is already quite puzzling: due to the extreme competition, the hotels have to bring their A game. That means lobster, tenderloin, rib steaks, foie gras and sushi. The real issue is here: there is very little profitability. You might ask, why are the hotels doing it?
My answer is: I really don’t really know. There might be some misconceptions, that people who are visiting the hotel for brunch, are coming back – and that brunch is a great marketing vehicle. But if you have a glimpse of critical thinking, this is quickly debunked. Yes – maybe some guests are coming back, but those will hardly balance the expenses. Moreover due to the excessive competition in hospitality, people can choose very carefully, where to go. And brunch would be one of their least consideration.

But the real casualty is the environment. See – the original brunch was pretty good, for the environment, as chefs used the preparations/“leftovers” from the week and sold it all on the weekend – hence they didn’t needed to waste food. But nowadays it is exactly the opposite: Chefs are preparing a huge amount of food solely for brunch. And after brunch a lot of great food goes into the garbage bin.

Food waste is pretty bad in several ways: it fills (unnecessarily) landfills around the world. It also increases the food production, basically for nothing – which uses up more resources (water, soil, use of more fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides etc). And especially in Dubai it is increases additionally massively the carbon footprint (as most produce has to be imported from long distance production areas).

In my eyes it looks like that: only because owners and senior management teams think  that there is a hidden benefit of offering brunch, each hotel wasting using tons of carbon dioxide emissions, hundred thousand of liters of water, thousand of liters of fossil fuels and thousands of tons of waste (which is also often not even recycled or separated)!

I do understand, how difficult it is sometimes to act environmentally responsible; and often the resistance to change and the inconvenience can be so big, that it is a tough sell, to do something serious for more sustainability. However in this case, hotels going through great lengths and effort to offer “a promotion” which actively makes a lot of things worse (at least for the environment).

The frustrating part is, that there is an alternative, which might be more profitable, more sustainable and might become even more popular: offering an a la carte brunch (or late breakfast). Let people decide, what they would like to eat, and for good value for money prices charge, what they are ordering. As everything is made to order, there is far less wastage, the guest might even spend less money – it might be not as lavish and gluttonous, but it is more sustainable, better for the environment and especially better for the health of the guests.

A holistic approach to F&B venues

Tags

artisan, craft, craft bartending, F&B, Guest Engagement

I have just received and read an interesting article:

Serving up a great restaurant customer experience

To be honest, I do mostly agree with the article. Yes – a friendly, engaging, enabling atmosphere and approach to guests is important. However there is one big issue: Nowadays people (managers / directors) assume, that if you are good with guest engagement as well as complaint handling, you do have a winner venue.

I am sure, that you are not surprised, that I have got a very different opinion.

The issue here is, that guest engagement supposed to be part of the experience – not the only part of the experience. Guests/customers are dining out, to eat and drink; the quality of residential F&B is (or at least should) be a huge difference of what we F&B professionals should be able to offer.

But due to the very different focus I experienced, that <good> employees and job applicants are often very good “with guests”, but it is almost impossible to find staff, which is very good at the core-skills of their job.

I am for the moment in the process of hiring Head Bartenders. If I would have only guest engagement in mind, I would have found a couple of really great candidates. But as soon as I talk about bar, about beverage knowledge, these candidates are disappointing. I have to chose not the best one, but the least worst one in their job.

These candidates were working years (in average 4.5 years) as bartenders – at times they worked as bar supervisors, head bartenders, even as assistant bar managers (…) and yet they don’t sport a solid knowledge.
This isn’t solely the fault of the candidates. It is an issue, what we do have nowadays in hospitality.

My very own job is a result of this issue: when I was bar manager, I have trained my bartenders, I have negotiated with suppliers, I have amassed and used my beverage knowledge to improve my respective outlet.  If I evaluate my fellow outlet manager and assistant outlet manager colleagues now as beverage manager, I do see, that there is an obvious lack of technical prowess.

If the outlet manager doesn’t know, he/she won’t have an understanding about the qualification of his supervisors and bartenders (…). And if he/she does an interview, he/she doesn’t know, how to acknowledge these specific talents. Let’s not talk about training and setting training as priority!

To bring in a beverage manager doesn’t completely solve the issue, because it is about setting priorities and understanding weaknesses.

If you are buying a table of a carpenter, and this table doesn’t meet your expectations due to the lack of the skills of this very carpenter, you would not be completely satisfied, if the carpenter is engaging, very friendly and knows how to handle a complaint. You probably want to have a table, which meets your expectations!

We have to ensure, that we are not only focusing on the “soft targets” – the guest engagement, but that we are putting the craft first! My experience shows, that if you are knowledgeable and skillful (but still down to earth), the guest experience will follow almost automatically.

 

 

The connection between telomere (DNA) deterioration and bad venues

Tags

bars, Concepts, copy, Restaurants

There is a very interesting theory around – since we seen (The Old Man) Logan in the last movie. Check this out…

Telomere are the ends of  is a region of repetitive nucleotide sequences at each end of a chromosome, which protects the end of the chromosome from deterioration or from fusion with neighboring chromosomes…

When I seen the video about Wolverine and his issues with his “disappearing telomere”, I thought directly about F&B venues.

There are nowadays a lot of similar concepts of outlets. Usually the first “copies” of some outlets are “going strong” – are well functioning interesting concepts – even though they are based on other “originals”.
However there is a “dilution” taking place, which becomes apparent in a lot of restaurant and bars. Owner representatives and operators of restaurant groups and hotels see specific concepts thriving, and try to jump on the bandwagon; often copying not the original (which might be not “on-site” but copying the copy.

Hence the telomere of the original venues are “cancelled out” and essential “sequences of the DNA” of the original concept are corrupted.

The question is, if it is possible to counter-steer this effect. 

For sure, there are some points:

• If you must copy a concept (…), try to find the original and not the copy of the copy – and try to understand the “essential DNA” of the specific venue.
• If there is one specific trend/concept you want to follow, try to find the right chef – not a celebrity chef, but a upcoming talent, who either way worked in some of the original venues, or has a real connection to the specific concept.
• Try to be authentic in yourself – and try to understand the essence of specific concepts.

The last point is quite interesting – because you see this often going very wrong. An example is Peruvian cuisine – since years you hear that this becomes the next big trend – and indeed Peruvian restaurants in Peru are thriving. However most people tend to oversee, that “authentic” South American cuisine is all about the produce – all about the ingredients. Hence it is possible to replicate Nikkei cuisine – but it is almost impossible to create the “new” Peruvian cuisine abroad (if you don’t want to stay with ceviche and few other genuine Peruvian dishes). 

At the end the restaurants becomes a type of Peruvian-Mexican-Latin fusion, which isn’t that exiting.

I think the best way is to find a chef who has respective roots and you give him widespread control over the respective concept. 

Screw caps on wine

Tags

consultancy, innovation

More and more wines are sold in bottles with screw caps – and since wine is sold with screw caps, there is a lot of controversy about this topic.

If you are pragmatic, you would know, that a screw cap is far more advantageous. It is easy to use and opens without an additional tool. It closes the bottle air tight. It is has less impact in the environment – and the wine will less likely have a cork taint (the wine could still has contact with TCA, while it is produced – but most of the time, the cork is the offender).

Cork is more romantic. More natural. Some people argue, that wine in cork ages better (it has at least a long history of being “ok” in aged wines).

I have had a quite interesting conversation with Thibaut of Mouton Rothschild – as they are also changing some of their lower wines to screw caps. And this discussion just fueled my imagination.

Why are screw caps so controversial?

There are three important points. One is traditionalism – corks were used through hundred of years – maybe even millennia. People are quite resistant to change – even though there are objective reasons for a change. Corks are also relatively cheap – maybe this is the reason for the whole TCA dilemma… some innovations like glass corks (I think these are really cool) were just dismissed, because they were substantially more expensive.
Hence screw caps are the underdog. But I do think the real issue is, that they “feel cheap”.

We are in an era, where there are amazing glass bottles and closures – especially the liquor industry is constantly innovating this area. However the wine makers are using usually very cheap screw caps. The result is, that a certain sensual thing in the opening process get lost.
For a cheap bottle of wine, this is ok. However if you have a more expensive product, you like to be “soothed” by a sensual experience.

All is not lost!

There are different options, to improve the “look and feel” of screw caps. I would first of all change the thread: more “travel” and a noticeable point, which can be felt, when he bottle is closed or opened. Second: a coating on the thread. There is nothing worse than a “grainy” feeling, when you open a bottle – a coating on the bottle thread or the cap thread would ensure that the opening is smooth and enjoyable. Three: heavier cap – this for sure would increase the cost (probably only marginal), but having a less flimsy, maybe longer cap, would also just improve the experience.
There could be also the option, of using a small disc of cork instead of the usual rubber seal. These small discs would be far cheaper to produce and sterilize than corks, but would also ensure connoisseurs, that only natural materials are touching the wine (on the other hand, you would built in a chance for fail – this would though be an interesting compromise).

I am sure, that there are many further ways, to improve the screw cap.

What do you think dear Reader? Do you have any further ideas? Or do you hate screw caps and only buy wines with corks? Please feel free to comment your thoughts.

In these instances I also do see, that I might look for an opportunity in the consulting industry…

 

Government Simulation

Tags

face recognition, future technology, innovation, politics, presidential campaign, simulation, Trump

I do agree, that this hasn’t got anything to do with my job. However in the age of Brexit and Trump as presidential candidate (and probably upcoming: Dwayne Johnson vs. Kanye West in the next elections), but also chaotic governing in other countries, everybody should ask him & herself – what we can do besides of the rather passive voting? In the first world countries a revolution or putsch seems quite improbable. In the age of science, maybe the same can help us to resolve some issues?

In modern democratic politics there are basically two theories, which are competing against each other: the conservative idea: reducing the tax of the rich and the enterprises and deregulation of the trade, in the hope, that this will create more jobs (due to higher profits), more spending – and the liberal or rather social-democratic idea: protecting the worker, regulating (and controlling) the trade and nowadays: reducing the national dept.

Especially in the US, the democrats though changed from a party which stood for more social equality to a party which is “centre” – basically a relatively balanced governing (however the worker get less and less a representation in this politics).

These are two theories (obviously there is also the more progressive left-democratic side – though usually they aren’t very successful in elections – but it is nonetheless important to mention…) – but which is right? Or even more importantly, is an elected party or leader able to implement his political promises? And which implication would those action have?

Let’s just look for a moment in job fields, which are rather dangerous or complicated: a pilot, usually learns to fly on a simulator. Big parts of nuclear science or bio science is also done on simulators and simulated concepts. Even military strategies are simulated.

I do think, that politics has also a big impact on the safety of the citizen – often it is even a matter of life and death (think about war, crime or citizen unrests). So why shouldn’t potential political leader do a government simulation?

I am sure, that it cannot all be done with a software – but most of the scenario could be virtual – with real politicians and political scientists interacting. Obviously it also has to be a hybrid several disciplines society, economics, military, ecological, media (…).

Not only can the candidate and his team show, that he can successfully govern a country, you could see, how active or passive a candidate is, but every citizen could see, the results of respective actions.
For example, a lot of problems are far more complex, as a lot of people would like to see: let’s review one “solution” Trump has: He would like to ban Muslims and he things, that this would lead to more safety. But much more likely, it would have the opposite effect: If there is someone who literally target every Muslim, there is a far higher rate of radicalisation, support(er) for the radicals, as well as actions. Even with far higher spends into the police force, it is unlikely, that this could be kept under control. It further would have a very negative effect on the relations with other 1st world democratic countries, which would have a negative effect on trade. International (Islamic) partners, would also purchase their goods (mostly weapons) – in other countries than the US (Saudi Arabia is investing billions of dollars in American weapons, as well as the UAE, Oman and further Arabic countries). America would become “really” the bad guy. There might be even embargoes… Similar reactions could be expected for Trumps “ethnic cleansing” of latinos.

It doesn’t need a lot of intellect and intelligence to understand this cause and effect – but apparently about 50% of all Americans (*cough* Republicans) simply don’t even own this mental resources. In a simulation, people could see the effects on their virtual lives – hence it would be rather easy for them to agree or not agree.

A simulation would take out the guess work out of politics.

I think, that this would be a brilliant idea – and instead of voting for the candidate which has the most campaign funds, or the candidate which tries to get the votes through fear and anger (fascists’ traits), a candidate could be preferred, which really would have the ability to change things to the better.

I don’t say, that “building” this simulation would be easy. I believe that faculties for computer science and political science could join forces and for once (especially for latter) do something with a real practical and positive outcome.

Do I miss something? Why did nobody yet had this idea? Let’s discuss!

 

 

 

Pokemon Go – 5 points what does it tells us.

Tags

augmented reality, Hotels, opinion, Pokemon Go, Restaurants, technology

There is a good chance, that some conspiracy theorists connecting the dots: Pokemon Go, Trump & Brexit (besides of other big “news” this year). I am not one of those – I don’t believe in non-existing conspiracies.

But even if you don’t believe in a “big brother watching you”, it moves us – it is not far away from our daily lives. Let’s focus on Pokemon Go…

You might think, why does this crazy grown up guy talks about a game for teenagers? Because grown up guys are playing it (in fact, I don’t play it). Because it has a very real impact in the live of “grown ups”. For example the stock market (at the point when this article was written, Nintendo just overtook Sony on the stock markets).

So let us do some bullet points, shall we? These are the points, which Pokemon Go tells us:

• The market mechanics are broken!
  Yes Pokemon Go is a mass phenomenon, but the basic app is free, Nintendo is also not earning 100% of the revenue and the trend might just be short-lived. Does Nintendo deserve to raise their stock market? Yes! But their games and consoles were lower than average successful, hence to rate a company just on one successful game, is insane.
• As entrepreneur of a physical business you have to be very naïve not to invest, into the different payed participation models.
  Businesses need footfall and Pokemon Go is creating footfall, like nothing else beforehand. In these not so rosy times, the Pokemon “Lures” look laughable cheap – businesses should be really think hard before rejecting this.
• Augmented reality is a winner, when it comes to future trends/technologies!
  Yes, Googles Ingress didn’t faired very well – but maybe because augmented reality just needed a well known “vehicle” like Pokemon to be embraced by the masses. I would be surprised, if Ingress wouldn’t also become far more successful (the company which developed Pokemon Go is Niantic, the same company which developed Ingress and the engine Pokemon is programmed on is basically Ingress).
  And further – if other good applications come out for AR, the market will further expand – obviously AR has to be developed further, which will definitely have a direct impact into the development of mobile device hardware!
• Sometimes “we” are all wrong, when it comes to, what people really want!
  I have said it so often – that very often people don’t really know, what they want (and usually I refer to the TED video of Malcolm Gladwell). Those readers who thought, that a game about Pokemon can interest adults, please raise your hands… now please only those should keep their hands risen, who don’t lie…! Even “current world’s most progressive chef” René Redzepi tweeted, that one guest of Noma played Pokemon Go throughout his/her complete dinner…
  I am often quite in touch with trends, but even me I never seen it coming!
  This isn’t bad at all – but it teaches us, that we should watch out, by making assumptions. Your customers just might need/want/desire something completely different, than what your objective thinking or (flawed) research is telling you!
• Pokemon Go is a battery drainer.
  This point might wonder some people even more than previous points. However how do you attract people, which are playing battery draining (and data package diminishing) mobile games? By offering them free charging and WIFI.
  While I don’t really like signs, that “Pokemon are for paying guests only” (frequently seen globally), you can easily reserve your WIFI connection and your chargers to paying guests.

As you can see, there is a nation-economical side, a psychological – society side and a very real business sides of Pokemon Go. You might not be able to tackle the first two points – but for sure, you could benefit out of the last one!