The world of gastronomy is advancing and gradually modernizing, also in Lanzarote. The Canarian chef Lolo Román, responsible for 'Brutal Coolinary', a gastronomic consultancy, in which a group of experts dedicate themselves to "advising their clients with the cuisine and the numbers", says in a recent interview on Radio Lanzarote-Onda Cero, a service that helps the client to start their business and guides them for that new business adventure.
- What does your advisory service stand out for?
"We advise various clients, such as those who start from scratch setting up an establishment", he explains. "We started ten years ago in Donostia, together with professors from the 'Basque Culinary Center'", he adds. The one named Best Canarian Chef in the world in 2018, recognizes that his work methodology is always "to try to advise the client, with the good and the bad."
Regarding his clients, he highlights that "the entrepreneurs who usually hire us to advise them are not chefs". When setting up a hospitality business, "it is important to know how to reach the public and how we are going to sell the product to them", he reveals. We also focus on "studying the target, the public to whom the service is aimed", he adds.
"It is important to know how to reach the public and how we are going to sell the product to them"
- Is marketing and communication important when starting a new gastronomic project?
For a gastronomic project to work, "you have to stand out communicatively to tell the client that you are there", explains the chef. Therefore, in his consultancy, they have a strategic director in image and communication. When starting a restaurant, it is necessary to "bet on marketing and communication", it is part of the entire project, "it goes hand in hand with the choice of the establishment, the staff, etc.", he makes clear.
As a novelty in his consultancy, they are working on the importance of the decoration and style of the space in which they are going to work. "We are doing a new project with the reconceptualization of the space, with marketing and decoration experts", adds Román.
- What has been the biggest challenge they have had to overcome since they started the consultancy?
The biggest challenge we have had to face was when "we went to Equatorial Guinea." It was a "quite intense service, but a complete success", he comments. What they really noticed was "the change of culture and the workers", he adds.
"The biggest challenge we have had to face was when we went to Equatorial Guinea"
The most complicated part of his work is "dealing with the ego that exists in some establishments." "It is quite uncomfortable, sometimes there are people you can deal with and others you can't, but you can find rejection", he adds. On occasions, "we have had to leave some advisory projects due to disagreements with the staff", he confesses.
- What is the most remarkable thing about Lanzarote gastronomically?
Regarding the advances in cuisine on the island, the chef points out that "you can breathe more gastronomy, you can see that it has evolved". Although he makes a small criticism of the people of Lanzarote, "when someone from Lanzarote goes abroad, they are more willing to invest in gastronomy, but when they are here it is more difficult for them", he adds from his point of view.
"You can breathe more gastronomy, you can see that it has evolved"
But with initiatives such as the 'Volvo Golf Experience', which took place last Saturday, September 9 on the island, they wanted to reach not only the residents of Lanzarote, but also people from all over Spain. "So that people who come from outside can see what we do gastronomically", he includes.
- How have they encouraged the public to attend the 'Volvo Golf Experience'?
In the event that was held last weekend in Puerto del Carmen, with the participation of "ten restaurants on the island" and the preparation of "more than 500 tapas", which were tasted by the "more than 500 people that we managed to gather" and did not "want to miss" this great culinary event.
In addition, there were "shows, four tents, among many other novelties", he says. An initiative that "arises from Cristóbal's desire to do things on the island", he assures. Our main objective was "to generate that people wanted to go, fought for it and it was difficult for them to get the ticket", concludes the chef.
