Revealing the concept
A Good Hotel launch event was organised in Amsterdam with the main goal to attract future investors. The evening was supposed to not only let them hear about the concept, but to also let them taste it, and feel it. The Good Hotel launch turned out to also be the start of the customary Good Training program, training local residents out of unemployment and into a hospitality career.
The event
For this event, Marten and his team trained 5 unemployed youngsters with the goal to serve the potential investors only 2 months later in a 2 Michelin star restaurant. It would only be at the end of the evening the guests would come to know that only a couple of weeks ago, these 5 trainees had never even opened a bottle of wine, let alone served in a Michelin star restaurant.
The trainees
What the guests did not know, is that during the months leading up to this moment, Marten and his team had recruited unemployed people in the local area and given them the opportunity to train in the highest standard of hospitality and service. On the evening, our Good recruits served the room to perfection, exhibiting their new skills. The guests were completely unaware until a video began to play and they recognised the faces of the people who were facing long-term unemployment, were now the same faces serving them dinner.
Proof of concept
This exercise proved the Good Group concept - that with the right skills training, a person can achieve anything - as long as they are given the chance. The evening was a roaring success, and this was the night that kickstarted the development of Good Hotel.