Ferran Adria announces El Bulli closure

[gavinhanly]

Breaking news from Madrid Fusion where Ferran Adria has been speaking today. He's just confirmed that El Bulli will not be opening in 2012 and 2013

http://www.hot-dinners.com/Gastroblog/Latest/ferran-adria-confirms-el-bullis-closure-for-two-years

[Rogelio]

Indeed!, I have just came back from the press conference where he has announced the closing for 2012 and 2013 and will be back in 2014. The format is jet to be developed but El Bulli will probably be opened the whole year from 2014 onwards, at least until 2020.

Only time will tell how will it be after these two years dedicated to creativity and reflexion.

[FoodMan]

Maybe it's because my three year old is completely obsessed with "Charlie and the Chcocolate Factory" movie these days, but this immediately brought to mind Willy Wonka and his closure of the chocolate factory for a period of time. Let's hope Adria does not return with Oompa Loompas .

[Tri2Cook]

Let's hope Adria does not return with Oompa Loompas .

I don't know... might be kinda cool if he did.

[Aloha Steve]

Must be nice not to have to worry about making a living. Unheard of really, to close a money maker like this.

Actors do it all the time, stopping a role when their show is on top but usually not in any other type of business.

I wonder what type of innovations for the making of food products he can or hopes to accomplish ?

What happens to all the people he employes in the the two years ?

Edited January 26, 2010 by Aloha Steve (log)

[Tim6]

The actual restaurant isn't a money maker at all

[Peter the eater]

Must be nice not to have to worry about making a living. Unheard of really, to close a money maker like this.

Actors do it all the time, stopping a role when their show is on top but usually not in any other type of business.

I wonder what type of innovations for the making of food products he can or hopes to accomplish ?

What happens to all the people he employes in the the two years ?

My reaction exactly. Surely there's more to the story.

[Lisa Shock]

I had a couple of fairly lengthy discussions with Albert Adria, and, he said that the restaurant itself doesn't really make money. They survive off the sale of books.

IMO, if he needs a break, he needs a break. After spending years living in a van trying to keep the place alive, and then a lot of intense years working hard running it, he deserves a sort of retirement. The toughest part of shorter vacations is knowing that you have to return to work soon. With a longer span of time ahead of him, perhaps he can fully relax and enjoy life a little.

[Reignking]

Must be nice not to have to worry about making a living.

My thoughts too...but then I read the other posts. Interesting. El Bulli sounds more like a college lab than a restaurant. BTW, they are opening a new college near San Sebastian dedicated to these food techniques.

[Chris Amirault]

All I can think is, "Why oh why did I give away my reservation two years ago?"

[thayes1c]

Here's more info from the NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/dining/27adria.html?ref=dining

The "comprehensive encyclopedia" mentioned at the end sounds intriguing. Better start saving for it.

[Timh]

I'd say this is just shrewed marketing, nothing more. Now he is in more demand and when he opens his sycophants will fall all over each other to get into his restaurant. While still popular, he had become a adjective for the gastro thing, his name and flame not so shocking anymore. I'm sure he'll come up with something interesting, at this point if he were to open a sub shop everyone would still flip out because of his brand. He's working is adoring public.

[Richard Kilgore]

I doubt that shrewd marketing has much to do with it. After all, el Bulli already receives more requests annually than they could fill in something like 50 years. While there will certainly be a great deal of anticipation as the re-opening approaches, if marketing were the whole story, why not simply keep the restaurant open all year long starting this year? There is certainly enough demand. I am sure there is a story here, but don't know what it is.

While I have never eaten at El Bulli, never applied for seating, and don't do any form of molecular gastronomy at home, I have considerable admiration for the creativity of Feran Adria and his team.

Edited January 29, 2010 by Richard Kilgore
tone (log)

[hapacooking]

From what I understand, it has nothing to do with marketing but clearly the fact that it has been harder and harder to come up with new concepts each and every year and he has decided that in order to continue to be innovative, they needed some time to reflect on what they have done and use that as a springboard for new creative ideas. Hence the 2-year hiatus. The restaurant has never made money and making money from El Bulli has never been a motivation for Ferran. His consulting for various food related companies along with his product sales keeps El Bulli running.

[ray goud]

I may come under attack for this, but who the heck cares about E Bulli? I would be much more concerned if I learned that Harold McGee would cease researching and writing about food, or if Alton Brown retired from TV. For the first, he contributes to knowledge which I can relate to and benefit from in my home kitchen, and for the second, he is entertaining. Neither is a characteristic of Adria, who makes stuff which requires investments in equipment and materials far beyond 99% of the human population, and who costs to experience his personal achievements much more than almost any of us can pay for. The less I hear about ridiculous food manipulations, the better.

Ray

[Chris Amirault]

Hard for me to understand a post that both expresses concern if McGee disappeared but heaps derision on the "ridiculous food manipulations" of Adria, the practitioner often credited with finding ways to bring many of McGee's concepts into reality and sharing those methods freely.

[KD1191]

In a move that I don't find to be much of a surprise, Chef Adria has announced that the closure of El Bulli will in fact be permanent.

He has decided to open an academy, as a better way to spend the half-million Euro per year that El Bulli supposedly costs to operate.

Edited February 13, 2010 by KD1191 (log)

[Richard Kilgore]

In a move that I don't find too be much of a surprise, Chef Adria has announced that the closure of El Bulli will in fact be permanent.

He has decided to open an academy, as a better way to spend the half-million Euro per year that El Bulli supposedly costs to operate.

Should have tried to go. Oh well.

I think the article says they have been losing a half million Euros per year, not that it's the operating cost.

[KD1191]

In a move that I don't find too be much of a surprise, Chef Adria has announced that the closure of El Bulli will in fact be permanent.

He has decided to open an academy, as a better way to spend the half-million Euro per year that El Bulli supposedly costs to operate.

Should have tried to go. Oh well.

I think the article says they have been losing a half million Euros per year, not that it's the operating cost.

Yes, he says the restaurant operates at a net loss. Sorry if my choice of words wasn't clear.

[Aloha Steve]

In a move that I don't find too be much of a surprise, Chef Adria has announced that the closure of El Bulli will in fact be permanent.

He has decided to open an academy, as a better way to spend the half-million Euro per year that El Bulli supposedly costs to operate.

Should have tried to go. Oh well.

I think the article says they have been losing a half million Euros per year, not that it's the operating cost.

Yes, he says the restaurant operates at a net loss. Sorry if my choice of words wasn't clear.

Perhaps if the restaurant stayed open like a regular business does, all year long, maybe it would not loose money.

The rent, insurance other operating expenses go on all 12 months, I would imagine.

[Chris Amirault]

Oopsie.

Spanish celebrity chef Ferran Adrià has denied weekend reports that he is to permanently close his three-Michelin-starred restaurant El Bulli. ...

[A]n article in the New York Times over the weekend quoted the famous chef saying that he would close El Bulli for good replacing it with an academy for advanced culinary studies. ... However, Adrià has now denied the report in a Spanish newspaper saying the New York Times had misquoted him.

Phew and -- huh? "[m]isquoted"?

[jgm]

I may come under attack for this, but who the heck cares about E Bulli? I would be much more concerned if I learned that Harold McGee would cease researching and writing about food, or if Alton Brown retired from TV. For the first, he contributes to knowledge which I can relate to and benefit from in my home kitchen, and for the second, he is entertaining. Neither is a characteristic of Adria, who makes stuff which requires investments in equipment and materials far beyond 99% of the human population, and who costs to experience his personal achievements much more than almost any of us can pay for. The less I hear about ridiculous food manipulations, the better.

Ray

I share the general sentiment, and Frank Bruni of the New York Times had these comments that I also think are pertinent:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/dining/27adria.html?ref=dining

El Bulli hasn't been accessible to most of us, so it's hard for me to get too regretful about it.

However, I do recognize that Adria's at the forefront of some interesting techniques with food, some of which will sooner or later trickle down to a more accessible level. For me, it's a situation analogous to the money spent on space exploration, in that it's actually pushed the development of several new technologies that have found their way into my life, probably to a greater extent than I realize.

[janeer]

This in Sun NYT