Last June, Mr. Mofongo a new section with Mofongo's Greenhouse and Mofongo's Rooftop Winebar. With the expansion, it has become a balanced concept with different worlds. The addition to the culinary world tour is the work of Patrick Beijk, a creative catering entrepreneur who also hides behind the catering section of Merckt, the future corner building on the Grote Markt. What can we expect from that? Horecagroningen.nl talked to Beijk about his new, unique catering concepts.
Watch the word
“There has been a noticeable shift in the hospitality industry, with concepts gaining much more depth in the last few years. More and more catering companies are specializing in specialty beers with a wide and exciting range, for example, and we are also seeing more refinement and quality in the world of cocktails. We had already responded to these trends recently with Mofongo's Distillery & Cocktail bar and on the other side The Dog's Bollocks as a counterpart to a more gritty Pub with 150 types of beer”. So the logical consequence is a wine bar? “Looking at our range of drinks, there could have been more attention for the wines, we mainly sold house wines and wanted a more exciting range. So we decided that if we wanted to tackle this properly, it would be time for a nice wine bar. However, a wine bar with a convertible roof so that we are less vulnerable in the summer. Recently you have seen a remarkable growth of beautiful wine concepts, in a bustling city like Groningen you see that there is sufficient market potential for a few beautiful wine bars.”
Last June, Mofongo's Rooftop Winebar and Mofongo's Greenhouse opened. A wonderful addition to the Grand cafe restaurant, cocktail bar and distillery. In November they will also open a new coffee bar with a cool coffee roaster. The new addition ensures that Mr. Mofongo has now developed into a 24-hour concept. Watch about this; “In a few weeks we will be roasting our own single origins very early in the morning, so you can get a delicious fresh cup of coffee with a matching breakfast menu very early in the morning. Booz & Beans has the atmosphere of a Southern European coffee bar. While standing you can have a nice coffee at the bar and for those who want to work on their laptop for a while, you can go to a luxurious leather sofa with sufficient sockets.” With all the concepts mentioned, the guests of Mr. So Mofongo can enjoy different worlds almost 24 hours a day.
Wine & street food
The world tour in the field of food and drink is continued with an extensive range of wines. These are poured per glass by a self-developed robot system according to the “wine-by-the-glass” system with eighty positions. The robotic arms and wine climate cabinet are located under the feet of the guests, where information about the selected wine is projected via a transparent OLED screen.
The new kitchen in the center of the top floor, the Greenhouse, provides guests with a variety of street food dishes and food sharing boards from different continents until midnight.
Looking at the pans
Located in the heart of the Greenhouse, the Chef's Table promises to be spectacular. “You often look at the chef's back when you sit down at the Chef's Table on the ground floor. In our case, you look directly into the pans from a higher position.” Thus, Beijk. “Once at this table, all of Mofongo's specialties come together. Special technical innovations will also bring the experience to an even higher level, whereby literally every sense will be stimulated. For example, we are going to use a mini-distillery that comes down fully automatically from above the table, together with the guests.”
Mofongo in balance, on to Merckt
Beijk speaks with passion about the worldly concept Mr. mofongo. The entrepreneur will never stop his search for new ideas, technologies and recipes, but says that the addition of the new section has resulted in a kind of nicely balanced whole.
Despite the completion of this unique total concept, the plans to develop new ideas are not yet over. The catering entrepreneur is in fact behind the catering section of the future corner building on the Grote Markt, called Merckt. As Beijk describes it, this Food Market will consist of three layers of experience with a variety of Food Corners, nice eateries combined with a spectacular beer brewery, a distillery, a coffee roaster and, as icing on the cake, an exciting Rooftop Bar. Beijk goes into more detail about the atmosphere we have to think about. “In terms of appearance, I am basically thinking of a cozy Spanish Mercado, a place where people can get exciting dishes, drink a glass of wine, but which is also a place where you can also do some shopping with a caterer-like but affordable range. . Beautiful fresh products that are completely transparent in terms of production process.”
A look inside Merckt
We ask Beijk a little more about the brewery. “Merckt will have its own beer brewery that will be interwoven with the food market over several layers. The logistical processes of this are largely fully automated and are deep in the ground, at minus 2. If you look at the production processes of brewing, part of the process overlaps with the firing. That is why we opted for a combination with a distillery.”
It looks spectacular in the drawings, from the loft on the mezzanine you look almost 15 meters down a wall of fermentation tanks. The distillery will hang on a split level between the ground floor and the basement. In addition, coffee lovers can visit the coffee roaster, which will again be located between two floors. Enough ideas. The exact interpretation of the catering and Foodcorner offer is yet to be announced, as the demolition of the old corner building has only just been completed and they still have to start on the basement. Beijk still shows that he thinks extensively about qualitative systems in logistics, sustainability and the visitor experience and tells a bit more about the planning;
“The construction of Merckt will follow soon after the demolition. The shovel first goes into the ground almost twelve meters in order to eventually be able to realize a cellar of nine meters deep. The FoodMerct will consist of three floors. The floors each have their own destination and are connected to each other through transparent voids. In this way it becomes an exciting whole, but you are flexible regarding opening times and which zones will open, so you can make the food market larger or smaller depending on how busy it is. Later in the evening, the part of the brewery and distillery will continue as a multi-storey brewpub, with the Foodmarkt closing."
Last but not least there will be a rooftop bar on the top floor of the entire Merckt building with a view of the Grote Markt. The sun will provide the roof terrace with light and heat from morning to evening. The bar will be accessible via a lift and by using a convertible roof, you can enjoy one of the most beautiful views of Groningen regardless of the season in all weathers.
Tip from Beijk
When asked how Beijk describes his vision of maintaining success within the Groningen hospitality industry, he answers that it is important to go your own way. “I have traveled a lot myself and I have gained a lot of impressions. That shapes you, when I develop a concept I try to stay close to myself and look less at what other entrepreneurs in the city are doing, I don't believe in more of the same. Do your homework well and feel what the market demands, look for the latest trends and dare to walk off the beaten track.”
When we ask him if Merckt is his latest project, he indicates that there is secretly one more project that has been haunting his head for more than ten years. “This one is even more creative than anything I've done, and it's not just hospitality.” A spectacular promise.
