The mischief of waffles shaped like a reproductive system has stopped being funny in Murcia. A tragic end that is difficult to predict at the beginning of its short career, when the lines to taste a ‘pollofre’ or a ‘coñofre’ reached the surrounding streets. After its success in the Madrid neighborhood of Chueca, the erotic pastry shop was presented as a promising business. So much so that in 2021 this atypical dessert landed with force in the capital of the Region, where three locations were inaugurated in less than a week.
The first incorporation came from La Pollería, on September 24 of that year on Platería Street. Four days later it was the turn of La Pijería, which set up a stand in the Nueva Condomina shopping center. The gastronomic offer was expanded in a matter of 48 hours with the opening of La Polloteca, in the Zig Zag. The virile mass thus took over the busiest points of the city, where a veritable hive of clients was formed who came to watch the show for about four euros.
Now, the buoyant business has suffered a ‘trigger’. There is no longer a hint of those brand new queues nor is there a trace of the jocular atmosphere with which the shop assistants welcomed us. “When it opened there were quite a few people, but it was something that caught attention at the beginning and no longer continued,” says the employee of a store adjacent to La Pollería, which closed before last summer.
A bustle corroborated by another worker on this busy road, where she witnessed a line of people reaching Marvimundo, about 50 meters away. However, its 17 centimeters long plates have been replaced by a jewelry store. The misfortune was repeated at the competition’s facilities, which also currently house a different ‘stock’: manicure service at Zig Zag and a crepe stand at Condomina.
A dessert worthy of posturing
Phallic waffles are the true reflection of the expression ‘eat with your eyes’. And when a product goes viral, the palate neglects its role and sets out to try the invention that gains more in visual originality than in flavor. “It is a product that is consumed above all for fun,” says Sergio Montes, executive director of Training at ENAE Business School, regarding the purchase motivation. Its great appeal is based “on the moment of laughter”, since “in a large percentage it is a group experience, among several and to have a good time, but which in general you do not repeat because it no longer attracts you.”
The posture made this exquisiteness a real ‘boom’. “Visibility on networks is crucial for the survival and expansion of a product like this,” explains Alexandra Pop, head of Social Media at ENAE. And so it was, the client’s roadmap used to follow the same pattern: show up at the store, choose a combination, capture the scene and show it off on social networks. Once this ‘posturing’ was completed, there was an exodus of customers who saw in this delight something punctual and rarely repeatable.
From a business point of view, Santiago Foulquié, CDO and Marketing Manager of the same school, points out the decline to aspects such as a menu without great variety, intense competition that saturates the market and the lack of innovation. Added to this is that “consumer tastes change rapidly,” so what is “popular today may not be popular in the future.” All this in a context in which “economic fluctuations can affect the willingness to spend on non-essential products like this.” The result was none other than a business that did not evolve over time, became obsolete and, consequently, lost relevance.
Therefore, even though the ‘chicks’ and ‘pussies’ were on everyone’s lips, their success was a mere passing fad that was only able to satisfy sexual fantasies at a specific moment. And its exponential effect did not come to fruition and, after a period of time trying to stay afloat, these franchises collapsed due to lack of clientele. Thus, the places where jokes and shamelessness reigned have disappeared from the map at the same time that waffles have recovered their Belgian style and are devoured in the old fashioned way.
Passing gastronomic fads
These closures are added to some recipes that also failed to catch on among consumers in Murcia. The cereal stores have already anticipated the misfortune of gastronomic trends. In 2017, milk bowls decorated with sugary colored rings seduced the most adolescent sector. The snack became a long-distance race starring a trio of franchises that opened almost at the same time: Cereal Shooter, in November on Andrés Baquero Street; a few weeks later, Cereal House in Ronda de Levante; and shortly after Spoon Cereals, on Paseo Menéndez Pelayo.
The success was overwhelming. Sitting in front of a bowl of dairy pigmented with dyes and sweetened by some pellets from the United States was an opportunity to taste the flavor of childhood again. However, despite the fact that these colorful establishments took over the first Instagram stories, very soon the beans stopped decorating the bowls and were packed in moving boxes.
Ice cream in the form of frozen curls, better known as Ice Roll, was also a mirage of the ephemeral triumph of these establishments. Its preparation was a kind of ‘show cooking’. With plates that froze the concoction of milk, yogurt and various ‘toppings’ at -35ºC, the show increased the box considerably. However, the ability of the clerks only motivated them to make one visit, perhaps two, but not three. Once again, these innovative ice cream parlors lost steam and hung up the transfer sign.
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