Client Relations – Gastro Marca España

Hospitality and personal service are one of the hallmarks of the Spanish catering culture

Hospitality

Hospitality is a hallmark of the Spanish catering culture, where everyone is accepted regardless of his/her origins. Furthermore, the Mediterranean Diet is not only a way of eating but also, more importantly, a way of life. On one hand, it can acknowledge the roots of our common cultural background whilst preserving and maintaining the coexistence of plurality and particularities. ()

Mediterranean foods are not only nutrients. Although they serve a nutritional function, they largely satisfy pleasures whilst delivering a speech and they are passionately incorporated into the area in which they are produced. In the Mediterranean Basin, people live and chat around food and language, origin or religious barriers do not exist. Everyone is welcome around the table. And dialogue revolves around gastronomy. The same chef, with the same products and the same recipe comes up with different results each day or each evening. It is curious how the same dish in the same restaurant prepared by the same person tastes different each time. In this case, it is because the products are not the same. Two tomatoes are not the same even though they come from the same plant. Likewise, a fish or a shellfish from the same species and of the same size is usually very different in each case.

We must all be committed to a cult and healthy approach to the culinary universe, which is an essential step to build the art of eating well. This, like culture and art, represents an interaction between the giver and the receiver, and this is where its success lies. In other words, it would be suicidal to forget that the client is always supreme. In short, gastronomy is an important form of cultural expression for people. And particularly in the case of Spain, this has historically been so. The different villages and the different regions offer extremely expressive culinary varieties of the culture and way of living. It is certainly one of the jewels of the Spain Brand.

Personal Service

The underlying rule when it comes to delving into the culinary area is curiosity, which will lead us to try everything, to become interested in everything and discuss our culinary sensations with others. That’s why a close relationship is naturally established between the restaurateur and the diner at Spanish restaurants. As this contact develops over time, the interaction turns into friendship and the restaurateur, who gets to know what his/her client likes, ventures to present food proposals that may be more seductive. This is how a close relationship is forged.

In fine dining, like in so many other areas of life, psychology is an essential weapon. It is particularly helpful in the first encounter, because the restaurateur and the diner have sufficient information in successive meetings to ensure that the culinary experience is more satisfactory on each occasion. Many tourists quickly capture these interaction flows and appreciate that a culinary meeting in Spain goes far beyond the cuisine itself. Eating well has always contributed to building bridges between people rather than destroying them. Spanish and Mediterranean style is characterised by its luminosity colour and warmth, elements which bring human beings closer to each other and facilitate their co-existence. Genuinely Mediterranean colours are white, ochre, olive green and aquamarine, which usually form part of the decor at eating houses and they all provide luminosity.

Tourists appreciate the good service received on their culinary trips throughout Spain, a country whose way of life is natural, fresh and simple, with enormous capacity to relax in spite of the difficulties.