Working for the future - ** Michelin star Chef Sastregener
Management gurus say ‘resilience’ and ‘composure’ are important skills in any crisis. In a professional kitchen many unplanned and potentially catastrophic things happen. A trained Chef stays calm and collected in situations that would crumble others. I had the pleasure to meet two Michelin star Chef and restaurant owner Albert Sastregener of Bo.tic, in Corça, Catalonia, and ask him how he builds resilience to get through the pandemic.
Chef Sastregener working with his team in the prep kitchen, March 2021. photo: Lluis Català
Last March, whilst doing research about the ‘composure of great Chefs’ I notice a wonderful ad campaign by Damm a famous Spanish beer. It is meant as support to the great restaurants of the Baix Emporia, the area of Catalonia where I spend part of my time. Of course, starring the famous Roca brothers of three Michelin star restaurant El Celler de Roca. But my eye is drawn to a calm and self-assured Chef in graphite coloured ‘whites’ embroidered with Bo.Tic. He gazes at the horizon, enjoying his beer with a concentrated determination. Last December, in the midst of the pandemic Chef Albert Sastregener and sommelier ánd partner Cristina Torrent received their second Michelin star. A accolade usually guaranteed to create a huge waiting list. So I am surprised that I can book a table. The restrictions have been lifted slightly, restaurants can reopen with service hours limited to 13.00 - 17.00. No dinner, most are therefore still closed.
A great meeting in an impressive decor between Sheila Struyck en Albert Sastregener. photo: Lluis Català
You can gaze into the kitchen from your table. photo: Lluis Català
Everybody receives feedback, including me. I am not God.
Lluis Català, a friend and talented photographer, is my lunch companion. Before our lunch, we are able to observe the preparation work in the kitchen, discuss with Chef Albert and sous Chef Jhean Phillip the quality of truffles and their Sunday afternoon meetings that ‘look like an AA-meeting, everybody gets feedback, me too. I am not God’. The menu del Xef is an unforgettable experience after a culinary barren winter. Read all about that in this long read, about the signature dishes and leadership style of Chef Sastregener.
How is this talented Chef coping with the difficulties and opportunities of the pandemic? To be honest, I was expecting to meet an entrepreneur with a level of stress and uncertainty, maybe even resentment that the second Michelin star has not resulted in a huge waiting list. Bo.tic employs over twenty five people from all corners of the world. Many young interns who join especially to be trained here. Surely as their employer and boss he will be worried? We find Chef Sastregener working at the middle station of an optimistic kitchen. He looks up and smiles, busy portioning ray, a local line-caught fish. We are welcomed like a long lost friend and hardly notice all the Corona safety measures in place.
The famous Palamos shrimps. photo: Lluis Català
Feedback on the job, Chef Sastregener with a chef de parti. photo: Lluis Català
Of course we opened already
‘After the usual winter break, we opened again in March. This is important for the team, they work and they learn rather than sitting at home and getting depressed. The strength of the team is the strength of the restaurant. By working together, we already prepare ourselves for the busy summer that is ahead of us. We create new dishes and improve the recipes. ‘In the Baix Empordà, restaurants only make money between May and October anyways. Last summer was excellent with the beach restrictions, a lunch in the countryside offered a good alternative. (Bo.tic is at 30 kilometers from the famous Costa Brava.). So I expect the same this year.
Chocolade, rum en koffie. photo: Bo.tic
photo: Lluis Català
We started in the previous crisis
Receiving a second Michelin star in the middle of a pandemic seems like bad timing for business. How did they cope? They moved into the monumental antique carriages workshop only recently after a renovation rumoured to be above a million Euro’s. I see only thirty seats. How does that all add up? Albert shrugs his shoulders. ‘We started Bo.Tic in 2007, amid the previous economic crisis, and we always gave 200% . We did all the work ourselves and got through the first few years by being sensible and always keeping an eye on what comes in and what goes out. I personally see every bill, the only way to have a healthy business’. ‘I am an optimist. I know we are strong enough to last and with the vaccine coming. We operate at our normal capacity. Our permit says 98, but we always only serve 30 guests, that is the type of kitchen we want to be. So, the 30% restriction rule does not change anything.’
Creative like a Chef, structured like a patissier
Chef Sastregener aan de kachel. foto: Lluis Català
Squared rice. photo: Bo.tic
The kitchen blackboard shows the names of the dishes in white or blue. ‘Blue means new on the menu, so pay extra attention. Twenty years ago, I attended a pastry and dessert development training course at Espaisucre Barcelona. They teach a methodology for creation and organisation. That put a chip in my head.’ (There is usually a lot of animosity between cuisiniers and patissiers).
Chef Sastregener is not just using pastry techniques for cooking, he also applies their approach to innovation and organisation. The ingredients, measurements and methods of every single dish are noted on technical fiches, plasticised and always kept in the kitchen. It is like a well-structured bookshelf. With lots of people in a small kitchen, it all needs to be organised to the millimetre. ‘We measure everything, every single day. No guessing or winging it. Not everyone likes to work to such precision. But if you do start your career here, you learn a creative system that can stay with you and help you to control the business side too’. With very strict menu control, the quality gets predictable and so is your costing. It also avoids a lot of food waste.
photo: Lluis Català
Costella d’escrita a la Donostiarra. Photo: Bo.tic
Working for the future
I wonder how Chef Sastregener maintains his focus and concentration. Piercingly he looks at me: ‘We never work for yesterday or today. Even in these times, every day we work for the future. That's a thought that's never depressing.’ For fourteen years Bo.tic has been situated in Corça, smack in the middle of the Baix Empordà. An area famous for its rice paddies, apples, mushrooms, fresh fish, sea-urchins, pine nuts, wild asparagus, Palamos shrimps and of course its wine. Chef Sastregener’s dishes are modern interpretations of classic methods. He is always looking forward, with an eye on the rearview mirror, looking for new ideas and inspiration.
Focused on the future photo: Lluis Català
Antidote
‘Working for the future’. By placing todays’ situation on a longer timescale, you change the impact of the pandemic on your psyche. Ever since I interviewed Chef Sastregener I use it as a mantra when the whims of the sanitary measures cancel my plans again. By asking myself: ‘If I would be working for the future today, how would I spend my time today?’, I manage to dampen the pessimism and lethargy lurking around the corner.
’Chefs are the real-life models of leadership, working in difficult situations.’ As a seasoned Board member and investor, Sheila Struyck (1965, Gouda, The Netherlands) is convinced that business can learn from the restaurants they love to visit. She visits fine dining Chefs to sample their menu and discusses leadership and innovation. 'The common belief is that working for Michelin Chefs is like entering a military hierarchy where large egos shout, swear and hurl food at you. In reality they lead teams in demanding, dangerous and stressful situations without any formal training in leadership. They are creative and commercial leaders working with tiny margins and to the high expectations of demanding customers.’ At 54, Struyck vacated her seat in the Boardroom of a French multinational and finished a 9-month French chef-training at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris.