In these times of algorithms, robots and social networks that homogenize even the tastes of the palate, Daniel Méndez had the idea of
rescuing traditions and transforming the gastronomic service.
By the way, he doesn't lack a job.
At the age of ten he began to accompany his father, the “colo” Méndez, an emblematic waiter at the central restaurant of the Rural Society and always ready to pay attention to the cabañeros who gathered every July at the livestock show to celebrate the breeds. champions
Daniel Méndez, now 66 years old, retains that obsession that motivated, from his work with the tray in the same Central restaurant, the creation of ByC.
07-28-2023 - Buenos Aires In July the Rural exhibition is held in Palermo.
This gastronomic group serves around
twenty places and has just expanded to Uruguay and Paraguay.
Of course, what is a logistics that cannot fail is managed with a
sophisticated technological system,
at the click of a button.
How did you relate to the powerful?
In the early days, Méndez combined his work at La Rural “always with the tray”, as he emphasizes, with other places such as the now extinct Mao Mao bar and the turf in Palermo.
It was the springboard he needed to relate to the “
powerful and the jet set of the time,”
he tells
Clarín
.
And from the orders for organizing parties or the catering service, “step by step and with some leaps”, as he points out, he developed a business of large proportions.
It grew from the attention in the
boxes of Boca,
Instituto de Córdoba, Ferro and even Racing to name some clubs to the great recitals in River, festivals such as Primavera Sound, gastronomy at the Movistar Arena and
Cirque de Soleil, Luna Park,
Parque Norte and even Casa FOA.
Acrobats during a Cirque du Soleil performance about Messi
His latest challenge is the
exclusive events in Punta del Este,
the boxes at the
Peñarol club and the opening of ByC in Paraguay,
where “everything is yet to be done.”
It has 150 monthly employees that grow to 600 at large events.
“We provide services for
more than 10,000 people simultaneously,”
she points out with that pride that characterizes self-made men.
He says that the relationship with his suppliers
is key
in what is almost a round trip since he buys from them and they open more doors for him.
This is the case of Swift, Nestlé, Arcor, Unilever and McCain.
He confesses that growing in his field is not so much about the price but rather about the security that the service will not fail, which implies a great
mobilization of resources
such as cold trucks in the case of recitals.
The British band Blur at Primavera Sound, in Buenos Aires
Another secret: “
A staff with attitude
”, something that it tries to instill in its teams from its history: “I never forget that
I am and will be a waiter.”
As always goes back to the roots, Méndez remembers that the specialty of those old days in the Rural was the roast with leather and the scrambled gramajo, two dishes now in disuse.
What was the favorite drink of the Cabañeros?
And the required drink, the “Tom Collins” that was born in the bars of New York in 1876, in homage to a legend of the incipient city and ten years later than the Rural itself founded in 1866. There were cabañeros who had their own menu invariable.
It was the case of Barreto.
Every year he passed by the Rural early to make his order with which he honored his guests: a one-kilo cut of heart from the loin.
The cook already knew Barreto's phrase “I'll be there for lunch at 1 p.m.”
That heart of loin is called Barreto.
And, precisely, he baptized Barreto, the steak restaurant that opened in the most
neuralgic point of the Rural property in Palermo.
Look for it to be your insignia.
He invested US$400,000
for the setup and added the renowned Lucas Russo, former Hotel Alvear and LLao Llao, as chef.
Méndez confesses that his thing is quality, volume management and a negotiating wrist in months of high inflation.
-Are you afraid of lean times?
You are asked in light of the expected drop in activity.
-Business involves risk and I like risk, almost reckless.