The Robuchon crisis in Madrid

Expectations were high: lines of people were expected at the door, waiting their turn to get a table at what was supposed to be one of the gastronomic temples of Madrid: the Robuchon restaurant.

It hasn't been like that.

The opening at number 12 of Paseo de la Castellana, in September 2022, in the same location where Embassy was located since its inauguration in 1931 and for 86 years, the legendary tea room with shop and restaurant included, has not been well received. expected.

It has not been what those responsible for the brand of one of the giants of French gastronomy, Joël Robuchon, predicted, who in the presentation on their online page of the project announced the landing of the group in Spain, which would allow “this emblematic corner to return to be a benchmark for restaurants in the capital.”

After the first impact of the inauguration, in September 2022, after two years of renovation of the premises, which attracted gourmets, the media and clientele loyal to the previous business, but never with a waiting list or the line organizer As some stores in the area are spent, the bubble deflated.

“The days are very irregular, there have been services in which we have made four covers and others we have made 30. The upper part has been working, but the lower part has not worked,” says a member of the team on the other end of the phone. founder of the restaurant, who prefers to remain anonymous.

These figures are far from the capacity of the premises, of 950 square meters, whose renovation was carried out by the interior designer Lázaro Rosa-Violán, and which he distributed into three different concepts.

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On the upper floor is the L'Atelier, with a Japanese bar and several tables, inspired by Nou Manolín, the Alicante bar where the French chef was a customer, given that he spent time in Calpe, with a total of 66 seats, and a average price of the menu of more than 80 euros.

In the entrance area is L'Ambassade, a tea room and a restaurant with more informal offerings and a capacity for about 80 customers.

To these would be added the 112 seats planned on the terrace.

Another space was also conceived, Le Speakeasy, a meeting point where you can have drinks and cocktails.

“But none of this has come to fruition in this year and a half,” says the aforementioned source.

Regarding this first exercise, Richard Clark, the CEO of JRI (Joël Robuchon International), which brings together the Spanish subsidiary as well as the rest of the restaurant licenses - 24 in total spread over three continents with the chef's brand - points out In a statement sent in writing to this newspaper, the experience has served to “gain valuable knowledge and understanding of the local market and clientele, while we strive to offer the best possible experience based on our core values ​​of simplicity, excellence and coherence.”

And he adds that “we are delighted with our progress to date, but we are always seeking to expand our commercial knowledge of Madrid and the relationship with our clientele, which continues to grow, as does the loyalty index, which makes us believe that we are on the right track.” correct address".

Interior of the Robuchon Madrid restaurant.ROBUCHON

During this time, the restaurant has been losing one of its strengths: some of the talent with which the ambitious project began.

Most of the positions of responsibility have ended up leaving.

“Out of boredom or frustration at seeing that things are not working,” explains a source in this environment.

Among the professionals who have abandoned ship is Mercedes Moraleda, who joined in 2021 as general director, from the Lateral group, responsible for the implementation, development of the business plan, as well as the design of the brand's operational model in Spain, and that a few months ago he left the company.

The experienced head waiter at L'Atelier, Rebeca Bellido, has also left, now serving as director of the Mexican restaurant Can Chan Chán.

The last one to walk out the door this week was the head chef Jorge González, a renowned chef, trained at the Toulouse School (France), responsible for more than 14 years of the gastronomic proposal of the Ritz hotel in Madrid, in addition to work at the Goizeko Wellington restaurant, also in the capital.

Another of the professionals who left his position as sommelier was Alberto Ruffoni, who was in charge of the local winery for just over a year.

His reasons, as he explains to EL PAÍS, have nothing to do with discontent or disappointment, but rather as part of his learning process and the fact of having lived a unique experience, such as the opening of a restaurant of this type. wingspan.

“It is a job that requires many hours because the group is very demanding, and that idea fits with the perfection that is part of the success of the Robuchon brand.

It was the icing on the cake of my time in hospitality, and now I dedicate myself to other training and consulting tasks,” explains Ruffoni, who has been replaced by the renowned sommelier David Robledo, with plenty of experience for two decades at the Santceloni restaurant. in Madrid.

All these changes, points out the marketing director of the firm in Spain, José Luis Reyes, are due to the objective of improving the restaurant's business model, "because we are reformulating our proposal."

And he recognizes that from the outside we may not “have had overwhelming success, given that Madrid is a complicated place and our goal is not to be a fad, but rather a long-term recurring restaurant.”

Regarding the need to continue attracting top-level professionals, the CEO of the group, which has accumulated 15 Michelin stars, highlights “the reinforcement of the gastronomic proposal by the hand of our culinary leader, Mathieu Desbat, a profile that knows perfection is the essence of Robuchon, after working in our restaurants in Cyprus and London", as well as the new general director Daniel Olid Román, "who is excited about our future in Madrid."

Another novelty, as detailed by the marketing manager, are the works that will begin this February on the ground floor of the premises, where L'Ambassade is located, "to adjust it to the new needs of the restaurant."

The new space is expected to be ready for reopening next March.

The aim would be to remove all connotations that could remind us of the previous tenant of the premises.

There are those who remember when at the beginning customers from the Salamanca neighborhood, regulars at Embassy, ​​came in, ordering the classic champagne cocktail, which had been served since the 1940s, with Campari, ice and a secret house mix.

Nobody could replicate it.

The chef Joël Robuchon, who died in 2018, in an archive image.REUTERS

The opening of Madrid is part of the expansion plan of a group that has maintained Joël Robuchon's desire, to see his name become something more than that of a chef: into a prestigious restaurant brand, present in Europe, Asia and North America, through different models Atelier de Joël Robuchon, Joël Robuchon Restaurant, Le Salon de Thé de Joël Robuchon, La Méditerranée Robuchon, Le Comptoir Robuchon and Le Deli Robuchon.

He died of cancer at the age of 73 in 2018, at his home in Geneva (Switzerland), and before the group, owner of his brand, decided to start the adventure in Spain, a country where the chef spent long periods of time, among other things. reasons to enjoy Spanish gastronomy.

But in which he never wanted to open a restaurant.

His argument: “There are many exceptional restaurants here.”

Now his name is looking for a space between them.

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