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"Here we are cooking," says Ferran Adrià, referring to the simple culinary videos he’s been posting online for people on lockdown across Spain and beyond. The chef is sharing recipes with people whom he believes, amid the coronavirus outbreak, finally have some spare time to improve their cooking.
The giant of Spanish cuisine, the protagonist of one of the largest revolutions in contemporary gastronomy, does not try to amuse or entertain in his videos. Using recipes from his book, The Family Meal, he posts simple and inexpensive dishes that were eaten daily by the staff at his legendary restaurant elBulli. “We do it with the intention of helping, but also taking advantage of the fact that people finally have time to train in basic culinary aspects," says the chef, hyper-aware that the world of gastronomy as we know it, seems to be falling apart.
He feels there’s a strong public service required right now, it’s why his first move when Spain went into lockdown was to post social videos, a reply to the immediate needs of people. However, perhaps with a view to the long-term, he is also focusing his energy on what he says is the very important matter of business management.
Even though he is seen as the flag-bearer of avant-garde cuisine, the issue of managing gastronomic restaurants became one of his biggest obsessions after closing elBulli in 2011 and dedicating himself to the elBulliFundation.
"I am good at numbers, what I struggle with is the kitchen,” he laughs, highlighting initiatives like his business management book, Mise en Place. The book looks at many aspects of the restaurant business and was part of a partnership between the chef and Caixa Bank. It included scholarships for entrepreneurs with small and medium-sized enterprises who received specialised training on all the key aspects of business management.
"Opening a restaurant makes us entrepreneurs, which means that our greatest capacity and responsibility is to be good entrepreneurs. This emergency shows this," he says.
In Spain, as in many countries around the world, the government decreed a ‘state of emergency’ to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Hundreds of bars, restaurants and bakeries had to close their doors until further notice, losing their source of regular income. We’re talking about a sector responsible for 4.7% of Spain's GDP, which employs 1.3 million people and feeds a long chain of producers, farmers, transporters and workers. For the vast majority of these people, telecommuting is not an option. As everyone juggles to survive financially, the scary feeling is that the worst is yet to come.
For now, the Government has approved the largest economic package in its democratic history, dedicating 20% of Spanish GDP to respond to citizens and companies impacted by coronavirus. With the activation of measures such as the Temporary Employment Regulation Files (ERTE), companies affected by force majeure can request support from the State to cover a percentage of workers’ salaries. Without aid like this and many other stimulus packages to come, it is difficult to imagine a revival in the country.
“The vulnerability or fragility of restaurants seems somewhat endemic,” says Adrià. “We always lived in the moment. Why? Because nobody thought that a situation of this level would occur. Most were living day by day: remember that 50% of the restaurants in Spain do not last more than five years and that 22% do not last more than two years.”
He says every time he hears, “Ferran, I want to open a restaurant because I love cooking and I want to create." He gives the same reply: “Don't set up a restaurant for that. If you want to start a restaurant, the first thing you have to do is focus on management.”
It is true that, at a time when the word ‘sustainability’ is so trendy, there has been little debate in the industry about the sustainability of business models. “Although no magic answers can be expected nor should anyone take the opportunity to be smart, we can all be left with the idea that not being prepared, not having what I call a security fund, is dangerous. To continue like this, without a cushion or a clear strategy, will only take us down dangerous paths.”
In the midst of the discussion about the economic hit of the necessary fight against coronavirus, Adrià notes: “It is the first time in the history of gastronomic restaurants, let’s say in the last 220 years, that there are no restaurants open around us. It already seems all so shocking to me. When this situation is over, the value of the restaurant will be accentuated and everybody will have realized how nice it is to go to dinner. I’m optimistic.”
He’s positive but above all realistic. "If we already know that there will be no Euro Cup in June or the Olympic Games in July, it could be expected that some restaurants may open again in July if the pandemic will be under control. But some may only manage to do it in September, others next year, who knows?”
He says that “returning to normality” will not only have to do with removing the ‘state of emergency’ but if businesses have resisted the economic turmoil and “reset their business models” rather than simply “reinvent themselves”.
"Things will not be as easy as just opening again,” he explains, assuming that spending, consumer habits and the rhythms of people will be affected at least in the beginning. “What we cannot do is project the following months using the dynamics we were used to as a reference: clients traveling in summer, consumption increases during holidays at the end of the year… everything will change. Everyone must analyse the nature of their business and plan scenarios including government aid, credits, etc.”
Is there room for creativity during this crisis? Adrià, who has lived and breathed a hardcore creative ideology throughout his career, thinks not. “The first thing is to business manage,” he says, “right now it is not a priority to think about being creative. At the beginning it won’t be essential to invent a new dish, the first thing will be to serve ‘a dish’. As time passes, we’ll have to restart and adapt reference models from other economic activities. What is relevant from now on will be to understand once and for all that, our role as chefs is not just about ‘creating’. You need to know how to produce proper market research, to produce a proper strategy, how to monitor revenue and expenses, to assure a security fund. Ask yourself: ‘Who are you as a business? What do you want to be? And how do you want to do it?’ That is the kind of creativity we need right now."
Adrià is aware that his vision is different because he does not currently own a restaurant, and he says he would probably “be seeing a lot more cloudy” if he was responsible for his own restaurant right now. He is concerned about his friends and colleagues who are struggling. He wonders what is going to happen to the gastronomic offering that has been multiplying in Spain alongside tourism for the last 30 years. The uncertain scenario of the world he helped so much to promote worries him. But he knows that if “all this” is of any use, it will be that each person in this crisis starts to analyse their business mission. His own mission is clear: raise awareness of how essential it is to understand that good business management right now is the key to the future of the dining industry.
