"The restaurant sector is agile and will be able to adapt to the changing model to come"
Everything has changed so quickly and the first thing we have to do is deal with the health emergency and help people who are giving everything: the health workers. This was the first thing that occurred to Ada Parellada, when, on that fateful Friday 13th March, the last day she opened her restaurant, her fridges were full of food.
23-04-2020 | Interviews
Ada Parellada
Chef patron of the restaurant Semproniana
As someone who has been at the forefront in the fight against food waste, she didn’t think twice. “Since the first day of lockdown, we’ve wanted to remain active and help to the best of our abilities,” she explains. Requests from a nurse, and a woman who asked the restaurant to deliver lunch every day to her elderly father who lives alone, made Ada decide to organise home deliveries of healthy, tasty, affordable and varied menus. “This isn’t the time for flourishes, but for providing a large number of people with food,” she adds. The menu costs 6 euros and is delivered to the doors of hospitals and pharmacies to help people who don’t have time to cook.
Closing her iconic restaurant Semproniana and starting deliveries has been a difficult and tough learning curve. “We’ve never done home deliveries and we don’t have the infrastructure or the experience,” she explains. “The lesson we’ve learned is that where there’s a will, there’s a way. Although we’ve worked non-stop, because the sector is used to being snowed under with work,” she acknowledges.
“Restaurateurs have always been able to adapt quickly. We adapt quickly to new models and take advantage of new circumstances. That’s why I’m convinced that if any sector can get through this, it will be the restaurant and tourism sector,” she assures us.
She thinks that the #BarcelonaVisitsYou campaign is “a wonderful idea” to tempt people back to the city once the health authorities have lifted restrictions.” “I’m amazed at Turisme de Barcelona’s ability to react. In just a few days it’s addressed the concerns of restaurateurs, travel agencies and hoteliers, and run a positive, optimistic campaign that has also looked for a way to attract new visitor segments.”
“We don’t know if we’ll be stronger when we come out of this situation, but we will have a change of values, and I really hope that the things we’ve learned from the lockdown will endure for years to come”, she concludes.