The limited edition 85-gram bar, which is a joint venture between UK-based chocolatier Rococo and the Grenada Chocolate Company, is made from organic cocoa harvested and roasted at a solar-powered microfactory in St Andrews on the Caribbean island in February. After being turned into chocolate, the bars were shipped to the UK via the engine-less wooden sailing ship Tres Hombres, on March 24th, 2012, spending six weeks in transit. During the journey, the product was cooled using solar and wind-powered refrigerators. The Gru Grococo bar, which contains 66 percent cocoa and has tones of “tobacco and grass”, is now available in Rococo stores and online at a price of GBP 11.95. The hefty price tag, while ensuring a limited customer base, also raises awareness of what Rococo calls the “true price” of chocolate production. 100 percent of the profits are directed back towards the producers.

The Gru Grococo is a brave first step towards a chocolate bar industry which incorporates ethical values into each stage of the manufacturing of its product. However, this is by no means the only industry that could attempt to revise its practice for the good of society and the environment – one for inspiration?

Website: www.rococochocolates.com
Contact: www.rococochocolates.com/info/contactUs

Spotted by: Katherine Noyes

Teaming up with the Food Bank Foundation, the agency persuaded the “two most important pizzerias in Asuncion” to accept delivery requests from customers, advising them that the food would arrive within 45 minutes. Feigning bad service, all the pizzas were delivered much later than this specified time frame, prompting angry calls from those who had placed an order. However, when the food finally arrived, each box came with a note explaining: “When you’re hungry, you understand hunger.” Couriers then told each customer that the pizza was free of charge, but any money they did give would be donated to the Food Bank Foundation to help those for whom hunger is a genuine fear, rather than an irritation. The idea behind the concept was to help those who can afford takeaway food to put their complaint into perspective, in return offering them a pizza for free as a thank you for taking part in the experience. The following video was created by ONIRIA/TBWA to demonstrate the campaign:

Where traditional campaigns may appeal to rational thought or emotion to convince viewers to help, the ONIRIA/TBWA campaign gave pizza customers an unusual experience they are not likely to forget. According to a Fast Company report, the campaign helped collect 50 tons of food for the Food Bank Foundation, but would you be prepared to risk permanently dissatisfying your customers for a single campaign?

Website: www.oniriatbwa.com
Contact: www.oniria.com.py/index.php/contacto

To create the Textspresso device, Zipwhip installed a Jura Impressa Xs90 espresso machine with SMS and printing capabilities using an Android app, servo motors, an Arduino microcontroller and a retrofitted Canon printer. Users can text their order to the device, which will then brew their coffee and keep it hot on a warming plate until they pick it up. Perhaps most interesting of all, though, is that the machine can use edible ink to print text on the coffee’s foam, opening the door to a world of personalization possibilities. For example, the machine can be used to text the last digits of a customer’s phone number, enabling them to easily identify their coffee when they go to pick it up. The video below explains the premise in more detail:

Zipwhip actually created its Textspresso machine as a way to showcase its cloud texting service, and it has no plans to produce more of them, it says. The code and plans for making the device are open source, however, and available to anyone seeking to make their own. Tech-minded entrepreneurs and coffee shop owners worldwide: time to build one for yourself?

Website: blog.zipwhip.com/2012/04/30/textspresso-machine-celebrates-cloud-texting-technology
Contact: info@zipwhip.com

Spotted by: Denise Kuperman

Sales of nori reportedly took a downturn following the Japanese earthquake and tsunami of 2011. In response, international ad agency I&S BBDO created for Umino its new line of designer nori: seaweed for sushi that’s laser-cut into artistic, designer patterns. Five precut designs are available — including “sakura,” featuring cherry blossoms, and “mizutama,” or water drops — each reportedly based on an element of Japanese history or symbology.

Umino’s designer nori was on exhibition earlier this year at the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum in Tokyo and pricing on the nori rolls is reportedly JPY 840 each, according to a Design Boom report. How could your brand infuse its products with a similar splash of style?

Website: www.isbbdo.co.jp/#/showcase/3
Contact: www.isbbdo.co.jp/#/contact

Spotted by: Denise Kuperman

Situated in the Windy City’s River North neighborhood, The Doughnut Vault opens at 8:30 am each day from Tuesday through Friday and 9:30 am on Saturday mornings. Patrons are given good incentive to get there promptly, however, because the store closes its doors for the day as soon as the last doughnut is sold — often within an hour, PSFK reports. Some 600 pastries are reportedly sold by The Doughnut Vault each day.

Doughnuts are easy to find in your average North American city — what better way to set yourself apart than by making sure yours aren’t? A get-it-while-its-hot model to emulate in the category of your choice?

Website: www.thedoughnutvault.tumblr.com
Contact: www.thedoughnutvault.tumblr.com/ask

Based in Manhattan and currently available in 25 cities in the US, each restaurant in the Hoppit database is tagged with one of ten “vibes” or types of atmosphere. These include ‘classy & upscale’, ‘hipster’, ‘romantic’ and ‘cozy & quaint’, among others. Users can manage their search results based on these categories, as well as the type of people they will be dining with – whether friends, family, business associate or date — the food they would like to eat, and the noise volume they would like to experience. Hoppit then displays a list of the nearby restaurants suited to the user’s plans and mood. The service uses “natural language processing technology and algorithms” to sort its data, which draws on existing online reviews. Search results are complemented by food and drink deals through sites such as Groupon and Gilt City, which are shown beside the restaurant options.

Hoppit hopes to takes the hassle out of trawling through online testimonials and also helps outlets connect with clientele suited to the ambience of their restaurant. An idea to adapt for locations outside of the cuisine world?

Website: www.hoppit.com
Contact: monocle@hoppit.com

Spotted by: Cecilia Biemann

Kirin creates its frozen beer foam by blowing air into beer as it is stirred and chilled to a frosty -5 degrees Celsius, according to a report on PSFK. Atop a glass of beer, the resulting foam can reportedly keep the drink chilled for a full 30 minutes. The video below depicts Kirin’s frozen foam in action.

Ichiban Shibori Frozen Draft is currently being tested out in Tokyo, PSFK reports, with a full Japanese launch planned for May. Brewers and restaurateurs around the globe: one to get in on early?

Website: www.frozen-nama.jp
Contact: www.kirin.co.jp/customer

Now on offer at No Black Tie every Thursday night through April 19, BBM Table Service gives BlackBerry users a way to order drinks without having to flag down a waiter. To do so, they begin by adding the bartender’s PIN on BBM and then scanning a QR code to activate the service. Once they’ve received a confirmation message, they can place drink orders or even call a waiter using their device; all they need provide is their table number. The company also claims that users of the BBM Table Service will receive a free beer, wine or soft drink courtesy of BlackBerry Malaysia.

Part brand butler, part free love and part BBM promotion, BlackBerry’s BBM Table Service also apparently made an appearance at Australia’s Water Bar last year. Venues and tech providers alike: be inspired!

Website: www.facebook.com/BlackBerryMY
Contact: Malaysia.BlackBerry@gmail.com

Spotted by: Leroy Luar

Conceived by ad agency Robert/Boison & Like-minded, the project featured a temporary outlet in Denmark – open for one day only – which labeled each of its products with a task the consumer must perform in order to ‘buy’ the chocolate. Designed to spread generosity, the tasks typically included a good deed to someone else, such as ‘Serve breakfast in bed to your loved one’ or ‘Help clean a friend’s house’. Cashiers were replaced by staff carrying iPads, where chocolate-buyers could log into their Facebook accounts and pledge to carry out the favor via a branded post on their wall. Anthon Berg was able to view the results of the promises when visitors to the store then posted pictures and comments on the company Facebook Page. The video below features footage from the pop-up shop:

The Generous Store’s innovative payment system, while only employed for one day, helped to portray Anthon Berg as a generous and socially-minded brand. An idea to adapt for your own projects, possibly over a longer period of time or in conjunction with a pay-what-you-want pricing system?

Website: www.anthonberg.com
Contact: www.anthonberg.com/Home/Contact.aspx

The Prague eatery has made connections with the local SANANIM aftercare centre, whereby those in treatment or rehabilitation can attend ceramics and candle-making workshops as art therapy sessions. The scented candles they produce during these classes are then sold in the café shop, while any pieces of crockery are used for serving customers. Aiming to provide a place of repose for recovering addicts as well as a way to ease them into employment by selling their art, Cafe Therapy also provides a way for customers to know their money is going towards a good cause. The premises hosts a private conference room which can be booked out for public or private occasions. Although designed with recovering addicts in mind, the restaurant is open to everybody. It offers newspapers, wifi connection and a non-smoking atmosphere, as well as a children’s play area.

Cafe Therapy is both a restaurant and a social enterprise, connecting consumers directly with the addiction sufferers providing the crockery they use and gifts they can purchase. How could your business benefit from a stronger relationship with the local community?

Website: www.cafe-therapy.cz
Contact: therapy@sananim.cz

Spotted by: Cecilia Biemann

Merchants that find they have stock which is reaching its expiry date will be able to send Zéro Gâchis price reductions they are willing to make on the products. Consumers with the Zéro Gâchis app in close proximity to those businesses will then be alerted to the discounts in real-time. This will help grocers to reduce the amount of food waste they produce and offer savings to shoppers, while the likelihood of a purchase being made will be increased due to the immediacy with which customers can take action. What’s more, buyers will be able to gain points on the site each time they take advantage of discounts, which can be converted into cash directed towards food waste charities such as Restos du Coeur or Banque Alimentaire.

Zéro Gâchis won first prize at the Startup Weekend in Brittany in October, but there are no details of a launch date as yet. One to partner with early on?

Website: www.zero-gachis.com
Contact: contact@zero-gachis.com

Spotted by: Francois Lavaste

At the bright and open Anticafé, customers pay one ruble and 50 kopecks for each minute they stay. Drinks and snacks, on the other hand, are free. Aiming to create a space where consumers can relax and pursue their favorite diversions, the venue offers tea, coffee and desserts at no charge, and patrons can bring their own refreshments as well. An assortment of board games are on hand for entertainment, meanwhile, as are Xbox games, wifi and a cinema hall.

We were intrigued when we first began to see pay-what-you-want pricing in restaurants and cafés, but the Anticafé’s concept is at least as compelling. Virtually infinite variations possible on this theme!

Website: www.anticafebabochki.ru
Contact: www.anticafebabochki.ru/contacts/

Spotted by: Elisabeth Dien

The brand has already established its eco-credentials by providing Australian grocers and supermarkets with homegrown Australian apples since 1922, and now it has launched Batlow Premium Cider, a 5.5 percent alcoholic beverage made from the apples it deems are not good enough for the supermarket shelves. The drink contains no concentrates or added sugars and is gluten free, which sets it apart from the majority of the commercial cider market. What’s more, Batlow Apples is already a well recognized brand in Australia, so producing the cider under the same name should require less marketing effort and spend than one would usually associate with the launch of a new alcoholic beverage.

Batlow Apples has identified a way to not only reduce the impact of waste on its overheads, but to turn it into a new marketable product. Could your business similarly make more from its throw-aways?

Website: www.batlowcider.com.au
Contact: info@batlowcider.com.au

Spotted by: Rich Coombes

The UBC Alma Mater Society (AMS) already sells about CAD 1 million a year in alcohol and food at two Vancouver campus outlets, and now there are plans for a student-owned brewery to be built in a new student union building set to be finished in 2014, according to a report in The Province. Plans call for the new microbrewery to occupy the 1,000-square-foot basement of the new building, groundbreaking for which will take place at the end of February. The brewery is reportedly expected to add between CAD 500,000 and CAD 1 million to the new building’s CAD 103 million building budget. “We hope to pay it off relatively quickly. We go through a lot of beer,” commented the AMS president Jeremy McElroy.

Is there any match more natural than college students and a microbrewery? Campuses and student organizations around the globe, there’s plenty for inspiration here.

Website: www.ams.ubc.ca
Contact: president@ams.ubc.ca