Chef and co-owner of El Celler de Can Roca
“Murcia is an emerging region because of the talent of its chefs, but also because of what so many generations of farmers and ranchers have done for years”
In crises there are those who cry and there are those who sell handkerchiefs. And the cook –“better than chef”– Joan Roca (Girona, 1964) is clearly positioned in the second team. Although they are not precisely what the three Roca brothers (Joan, Josep and Jordi) sell at El Celler de Can Roca, recognized on several occasions as the best restaurant in the world, they are not handkerchiefs. After participating in a conference organized by BBVA at the University of Murcia on financial health and before eating at Nazario Cano’s restaurant in Odiseo, Joan Roca attends LA VERDAD. And he gives readers a recipe for maximum use, which is one of the many pillars on which El Celler de Can Roca continues to grow. Who had ever thought of a dish with the trunk of cauliflower “cut into very fine slices, seasoned with mandarin juice reduced with olive oil?”. “This society throws away 30% of the food it produces,” he laments.
-With the unsustainable growth that food and energy prices are having… How can the economy of a restaurant be sustainable?
-It is being a very important challenge, and not easy at all. What we are doing is trying to be efficient in management. The key is to put a lot of creativity in management, in how to solve those problems that are coming to us and whose solutions go through fine-tuning management, but also diversification. In all the crises that we have experienced in the restaurant, that of 1993, that of 2008 and this last one, we have sharpened our ingenuity. One of the most effective formulas we have seen is diversification. We have now opened a small ’boutique’ hotel with a chocolate factory. Also a new restaurant called Normal and which is in the center of Girona, with which we want to claim normality from the gastronomic point of view, but also from the point of view of habits. It is about putting the focus outside our sphere, which is haute cuisine, which is currently in very good health. In short, it is about sharpening your ingenuity and working hard. Much more than before, also in team management and talent management. There are many young people with a lot of talent who are disenchanted, and those people have to be taken care of. We must give more opportunities and offer better working conditions. This is the great challenge of the sector. Everything will be more expensive, and it will be more expensive to go to a restaurant. This is real.
TEMPLATE
«Each year we receive 700 requests for internships; We have no problem hiring”
–Have they had to raise prices at El Celler de Can Roca?
-We have had to raise prices, of course.
-How much does the menu cost at the restaurant now?
-To be honest I do not know.
-Really?
-I swear. It’s just that we’ve had uploads recently and I don’t know. But the rise does not come from ten or twenty euros, of course. The client who comes from Helsinki, or from Chicago, or from Seoul, will come the same way. This is an advantage, although we don’t like to brag about it. Our segment, within such a complex sector, is a privileged one that lives very far from many of these problems. Even if we raise prices, the customer will continue to come.
The importance of values
What is this crisis teaching you?
–All crises have helped us to be creative, to take advantage of opportunities, to grow and to evolve. In all the crises we have done important things. The history of El Celler de Can Roca is the story of three brothers who get along after 35 years working together.
Surely this is the value of that story. The value of the values of our parents, who taught us to work, but also to share, to show solidarity, to be generous. And all those values are what have brought us here. What have crises taught us? To support us, to help us, to work harder and to be aware of the opportunities that may arise in this type of situation. In all crises we have stepped out of our comfort zone. We have even taken advantage of the synergy of the crisis. When we had to close in 2020, we took the opportunity to make the new kitchen. And we kept the full salary of our workers. It is true that the economic situation allowed us to invest, but it is also true that a reform like that of a kitchen in a restaurant forces you to close. The crisis forced us to close, and we took the opportunity to make that new kitchen.
INFLATION
“We have had to raise prices. But, even if we raise prices, the customer will continue to come»
-Another big problem in the sector is the difficulty in finding personnel. Do you have a hard time finding it too?
-Nope. This is another great advantage of being a benchmark restaurant, where boys and girls from all over the world want to come and work at El Celler de Can Roca. Every year we receive more than 700 applications for internships and we can only accept around 60. That’s less than 10%. Many of them end up staying on our team, or lead projects in our ecosystem, or are scattered around the world as ambassadors of El Celler de Can Roca. Some have tattooed our logo. I get goosebumps thinking about it. Ours is more than just a restaurant. There is a family with a maximum level of commitment to excellence, where each one takes their plot very seriously.
From 180 to 250 workers
–Has the rise in prices forced you to deprive yourself of something?
-On the contrary. We have continued to invest in talent. We have a botanist, a doctor in Chemistry, a psychologist… We have increased the R&D department. When the pandemic arrived, we were 180 workers in the restaurant and now we are 250.
John Rock /
–The price of eggs, for example, has grown by 34% in the Region of Murcia in one year. Are we running the risk of turning traditional foods into luxury products?
-The key is in the maximum use. We throw away 30% of the food we produce as a society and this is not sustainable. Sometimes it happens that some of the eggs we buy expire. You have to be very aware and be more efficient in management. We make recipes with things that people throw away. The trunk of a cauliflower? It is wonderful. Cut into very thin slices, seasoned with mandarin juice reduced with olive oil…
-Go on go on…
-We now make a potato soufflé with the skin of the potato. The skin has a lot of starch and we make a broth with it. We also have a glass workshop, where bottles are turned into glasses, and other recycling workshops. For example, all restaurant uniforms are made from recycled plastics. We don’t throw anything away. Not even the water in the buckets. We learned this from our grandmother.
-From the Region of Murcia, what would you take to your restaurant?
–All his orchard! Here are extraordinary products. From lemons to figs through wines and oils. It is that there is everything! In addition, for a few years, the Region of Murcia has also had a selection of very talented chefs who are giving it a lot of visibility. In the end, we cooks act as ambassadors and put the territory under the spotlight. When a chef receives one or two Michelin stars, what he does is put his territory on the map of the ‘gourmets’ and the rest of the chefs. Murcia is an emerging region, gastronomically speaking, because of the talent of its chefs but also because of what so many generations of farmers and ranchers have been doing for so many years. Another peculiar thing is the mixture of cultures that have passed through this land, which have left a deposit in the form of recipes and gastronomic culture. This leaves a mark on this popular and traditional cuisine that I would like to get to know more and better, calmly, with the family. I will be back.
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