Hilton Worldwide is getting a creative with their culinary concepts; the hotel group recently unveiled a new strategy to open 500 new restaurants across the globe over the next three years with the launch of a new website -hiltonrestaurantconcepts.com.

The website will help partner restaurateurs with its hotels around the world. The purpose: to identify new restaurant concepts that resonate with guests at Hilton Hotels worldwide, and give local chefs and restauranteurs an opportunity to work with a major hotel brand.

Restaurateurs visiting HiltonRestaurantConcepts will offer their culinary concepts including menu offerings, seasonal promotions, design concepts, and pricing. The approved submissions are then included on Hilton's website. Since its launch, Hilton cites nearly 900 hotel owners interested in identifying new restaurant concepts around the world, and Hilton hopes to add 500 new restaurant concepts to its network of hotels over the next three years. As an example of how the site works, Hilton paired the Washington Hilton with Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf -- a great nod to coffee fanatics who don't want to search for a fresh cup first thing in the morning.

According to Hilton, there are currently more than 80 deals pending right now, and the website is expected to have 50 additional concepts available for hoteliers to choose from by year-end.

"Our goal is to provide our hotels with great concepts that are unique to their regions and offer menu options that will appeal to their repeat customer base. It's also a great opportunity for restaurateurs interested in growing their brand," said Beth Scott, vice-president, food and beverage concepts, Hilton Worldwide.

The concept is actually quite intriguing and if successful, can be a real trendsetting concept for the hospitality industry. In addition to the in-house restaurants and food and beverage concepts conceptualized by hotel chefs and corporate culinary teams, the addition of outside restaurants or cafes will help keep guests lingering around the hotel a little longer.

In addition, we just learned that Hilton Worldwide is looking to recruit 50 young chefs to join its Chef Apprenticeship Academy this summer. The program, which has already trained around 60 apprentices since the academy launched in 2010, will offer students a 12-month apprenticeship at one of the Hilton Hotels around the world.

The apprenticeship gives on-the-job training from some of the company's leading chefs, along with either college-based courses or hotel-based masterclasses.

Melanie Nayer is a hotel reviewer and expert on luxury travel around the world. She has covered all aspects of hotels including corporate restructures, re-branding initiatives, historical aspects and the best of the best in luxury hotels around the world.

Melanie writes a weekly exclusive column for 4Hoteliers.com