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El Bulli to Close - Page 2

post #16 of 26
2/3/10 at 12:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by zbromer View Post
It's my understanding that El Bulli always operated at a loss. I can't remember where I first read this, but the quote I seem to find now says the restaurant "is nothing more than an R&D laboratory which they don't expect to be profitable by itself. The restaurant generates the knowledge that is needed for the profitable areas in the El Bulli business model." I guess the fame of the restaurant is basically a marketing tool to bring in income from other related Adria interests.

One of the other related interests, Fast Good, Adriá´s fast food JV with NH Hotels, has closed, so I don´t think it was a cash cow that has subsidized El Bulli. I suppose he also gets some royalties from his cookbooks, but they don´t seem a best seller either.
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post #17 of 26
2/3/10 at 1:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by pinchi22 View Post
One of the other related interests, Fast Good, Adriá´s fast food JV with NH Hotels, has closed, so I don´t think it was a cash cow that has subsidized El Bulli. I suppose he also gets some royalties from his cookbooks, but they don´t seem a best seller either.

Here's an excerpt from an article about him from a few years ago. The title of the article is "If the world's greatest chef cooked for a living, he'd starve."

"El Bulli itself may not make money, but the brand has spawned plenty of other things that do. Those 100,000 big books that he has sold containing the Bulli secrets, going back to when Adrià first joined the restaurant in 1983 cost £100 each and are printed by El Bulli's very own publishing house. Then there's his range of supermarket books (50 new tapas you can make at home, 10-minute recipes, that sort of thing); a hotel in Andalucía; three fast-food outlets called Fast Good (two in Madrid, one in Santiago, Chile), with four more on the way; and his endorsement of a top-selling brand of olive oil. He charges many thousands for each lecture he gives. He has a collection of kitchenwear, a joint venture with Armand Basi. He has his own brand of plates and cutlery (including a spoon with small holes in it so you can eat your cereal without drinking the milk).He has deals with Lavazza coffee, Pepsi, United Biscuits and Spain's biggest hotel chain. One could go on but he is, in short, the David Beckham of the food business."
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post #18 of 26
2/3/10 at 2:54pm
Damn. I really only tried the lottery once and have wanted to go... guess I'll never get to have the experience. Oh well... Royal Farms is still serving their fried chicken, so I'll get by.
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post #19 of 26
2/3/10 at 2:56pm
Douglas, they're taking a few years off. They're closing in 2012 and opening up again for season 2014.
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post #20 of 26
2/4/10 at 2:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by zbromer View Post
He has a collection of kitchenwear, a joint venture with Armand Basi. He has his own brand of plates and cutlery..."
The cutlery is amazing!
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post #21 of 26
2/4/10 at 12:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by km83 View Post

The cutlery is amazing!

I like the look of it, but a family member has a similarly designed set (no fancy etching, though), and the knives balance for shite. Very annoying.
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post #22 of 26
2/4/10 at 11:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by km83 View Post

The cutlery is amazing!

Believe me, the knife is horrible.
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post #23 of 26
2/5/10 at 12:53pm
I hope the 2014 re-opening actually happens. My wife and I honeymooned in Barcelona and we thought about trying to get a reservation up at El Bulli, but passed. I hope we don't regret that.
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post #24 of 26
2/5/10 at 11:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Montrachet View Post
I hope the 2014 re-opening actually happens. My wife and I honeymooned in Barcelona and we thought about trying to get a reservation up at El Bulli, but passed. I hope we don't regret that.
It doesn't really matter if you didn't try to get a reservation. Chances are absolutely spectacular that you wouldn't get one anyway unless you know someone at El Bulli.
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post #25 of 26
2/8/10 at 8:15am
^^ open 6 months of the year and an absolute lottery as to whether you can get a reservation, unless you have influence. A restaurateur mate of mine ate there last year courtesy of a dropout from a Timeout booking. He said it was hard to remain focused once they got beyond course 21... Many of the 3*'s run at a loss, they are PR exercises for the rest of the empire that does make money.
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post #26 of 26
2/12/10 at 8:42pm
Sounds like it's permanent now.

On Friday he said he decided to close the restaurant for good because he and his partner, Juli Soler, had been losing a half-million Euros a year on the restaurant and his cooking workshop in Barcelona.

"At that level of contribution,'' he said of the losses, "I think we would rather see the money go to something larger that expands the concept and spirit of what El Bulli represents.''

He said he would use that money "” which he earns mostly from consultancies and other businesses "” to establish his new academy and to finance scholarships so the world's most talented cooks can attend.
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