# New Businesses in Spain



## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

We often hear on forums about the difficulties of setting up new businesses in Spain and the fact that so many fail.

I was interested to see an article this morning about one new venture in my area (a micro-brewery based in Torre del Mar) which only started trading in February 2014 and has already sold all it's production up to 2015, and is about to start exporting to the Czech Repubic and Hungary and looking to expand their premises. That sounds very promising!

La primera cerveza artesanal con jugo de ca?a de az?car no da abasto. SUR.es

Do you know of any other start-ups which are doing well where you live?


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

There are several such micro breweries opening up around here and they all seem to be successful. However bad the economy, there's always beer!!!


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

thrax said:


> There are several such micro breweries opening up around here and they all seem to be successful. However bad the economy, there's always beer!!!


I was interested because my ex-husband set one up in the UK a few years ago which has done well, they now have a couple of shops selling their beers too. 

I like the artesan food and drinks movement, it's a welcome alternative to all the global enterprises intent on getting people to shove as much chemically adulterated junk down their throats as possible. Unfortunately what they produce tends to be expensive, but IMO it would be better for people to consume less but of a better quality.


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## webmarcos (Dec 25, 2012)

On a superficial level I tend to notice various franchise chains expanding here in Madrid. La sureña is doing well, with its 5 euro plato combinados, and Tommy Mels seem to be popular. One to watch in this area is TGB (the good burger) which aims to be a McDs killer - they do have good crinkle cut chips. 
American themed bars that offer brunch at weekends, have been doing very well. Not so sure they'll do so well in the hot summer to come..
Prestige bakeries are also doing well - one in particular organises various baking classes and seems to be a hit.
Lastly, an Argentinian exile seems to have hit upon the winning formula as regards budget second hand books. Article here (in Spanish) on his expanding Tikbooks chain

Negocio exitoso en momentos de crisis â€” Revista argentina Zona25 - Vivir Argentina en España


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

webmarcos said:


> On a superficial level I tend to notice various franchise chains expanding here in Madrid. La sureña is doing well, with its 5 euro plato combinados, and Tommy Mels seem to be popular. One to watch in this area is TGB (the good burger) which aims to be a McDs killer - they do have good crinkle cut chips.
> American themed bars that offer brunch at weekends, have been doing very well. Not so sure they'll do so well in the hot summer to come..
> Prestige bakeries are also doing well - one in particular organises various baking classes and seems to be a hit.
> Lastly, an Argentinian exile seems to have hit upon the winning formula as regards budget second hand books. Article here (in Spanish) on his expanding Tikbooks chain
> ...


I'll look out for TGB next time we come to Madrid - we normally go to New York Burger on C/Recoletos when we visit, I quite like the occasional burger when they are good ones, and they do a veggie burger option for the OH too which he says is good. They've always been packed at lunchtime whenever we've been, mostly with people working in offices etc. in the area.

Lots of new bakeries have opened up around here too, most with cafes incorporated. One called Di Carlo in Torre del Mar always seems to be pretty busy.


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

Lynn R said:


> We often hear on forums about the difficulties of setting up new businesses in Spain and the fact that so many fail.
> 
> I was interested to see an article this morning about one new venture in my area (a micro-brewery based in Torre del Mar) which only started trading in February 2014 and has already sold all it's production up to 2015, and is about to start exporting to the Czech Repubic and Hungary and looking to expand their premises. That sounds very promising!
> 
> ...


Yes cerveza artesanal is gaining a bit of momentum in Spain. In Madrid there's a brew called "Cibeles" appearing in quite a few places (Cervezas La Cibeles) as well as Rosita from Cataluña (ROSITA, LA CERVESA ARTESANAL DE TARRAGONA) and I like the beer this lot from Badajoz make as well:

Tres empresarios de Badajoz sacan al mercado una marca de cerveza artesana - Badajoz - El Periódico Extremadura

There are also a few micro breweries dotted around Madrid.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Lynn R said:


> I'll look out for TGB next time we come to Madrid - we normally go to New York Burger on C/Recoletos when we visit, I quite like the occasional burger when they are good ones, and they do a veggie burger option for the OH too which he says is good. They've always been packed at lunchtime whenever we've been, mostly with people working in offices etc. in the area.
> 
> Lots of new bakeries have opened up around here too, most with cafes incorporated. One called Di Carlo in Torre del Mar always seems to be pretty busy.


For burgers I'd recommend 
Home Burger Bar
because not only do they use ecological meat, but they are good too!

As for new businesses, well they're pretty slim pickings around here, but 2 bakeries with the same idea of home delivery bread have started within months of each other. They use the same method as well, by fixing a metal box outside your property to put the bread in, which of course is also publicity. The first to start was Mundo Pan and the other is TelePan and will also deliver newspapers, milk, eggs, ready prepared food from a well known local restaurant and goodness knows what else.


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## Madliz (Feb 4, 2011)

Pesky Wesky said:


> For burgers I'd recommend
> Home Burger Bar
> because not only do they use ecological meat, but they are good too!
> 
> As for new businesses, well they're pretty slim pickings around here, but 2 bakeries with the same idea of home delivery bread have started within months of each other. They use the same method as well, by fixing a metal box outside your property to put the bread in, which of course is also publicity. The first to start was Mundo Pan and the other is TelePan and will also deliver newspapers, milk, eggs, ready prepared food from a well known local restaurant and goodness knows what else.


I've been using Telepan for some time. They started by going door-to-door and offering a free sample loaf, the box is free and there's no minimum order. Yes, the prices are a few cents higher than one could find if one looked elsewhere, but it arrives fresh to one's door without me making any effort. They have a huge range of breads as well as many other provisions. Their roscón de reyes was sublime! I also reckon the box makes a statement that the house is occupied, rather than an empty holiday home waiting to be burgled. I think they get top marks for initiative and am happy to help the little guy over the huge supermarket chains.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Madliz said:


> I've been using Telepan for some time. They started by going door-to-door and offering a free sample loaf, the box is free and there's no minimum order. Yes, the prices are a few cents higher than one could find if one looked elsewhere, but it arrives fresh to one's door without me making any effort. They have a huge range of breads as well as many other provisions. Their roscón de reyes was sublime! I also reckon the box makes a statement that the house is occupied, rather than an empty holiday home waiting to be burgled. I think they get top marks for initiative and am happy to help the little guy over the huge supermarket chains.


So they're expanding their business, which is good, although I doubt that there's room for 2 to operate in this area. We already use a couple of "little guys" for bread, (and OH usually bakes a batch of bread a week) so we won't be using the bread service. I just hope they don't squeezed out by the door to door people.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

Pesky Wesky said:


> For burgers I'd recommend
> Home Burger Bar
> because not only do they use ecological meat, but they are good too!
> 
> As for new businesses, well they're pretty slim pickings around here, but 2 bakeries with the same idea of home delivery bread have started within months of each other. They use the same method as well, by fixing a metal box outside your property to put the bread in, which of course is also publicity. The first to start was Mundo Pan and the other is TelePan and will also deliver newspapers, milk, eggs, ready prepared food from a well known local restaurant and goodness knows what else.


Thanks for that, we'll check out a Home Burger Bar later in the year, sounds good.

Our local indoor market is due to relocate in a few months' time (which we're not too happy about as it'll be much further for us to carry stuff, but the stallholders like the idea as they think they'll get more custom). One stallholder, anticipating the move, opened a fruteria a while ago, only a few doors away from the market, which is already always busy, and they've now started a home delivery service using one of those little 3-wheeled vans. People who can think ahead like that deserve to do well. Someone else very recently opened a small pescaderia nearby, again anticipating the fact that once the market moves there won't be anywhere in the immediate area to buy fresh fish.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Lynn R said:


> I was interested because my ex-husband set one up in the UK a few years ago which has done well, they now have a couple of shops selling their beers too.
> 
> I like the artesan food and drinks movement, it's a welcome alternative to all the global enterprises intent on getting people to shove as much chemically adulterated junk down their throats as possible. Unfortunately what they produce tends to be expensive, but IMO it would be better for people to consume less but of a better quality.


I'm lucky where I live because it is easy and cheap to get handmade organic cheeses, locally raised meats and artesan breads and pastries. It's what people here regard as "normal", what they've always eaten.

However visiting the UK recently I got a strong feeling that artisan-produced Spanish food is very popular at the moment. I was only there for a few days but noticed it referenced on TV shows like Masterchef, produce sold at farmers markets, and on the menu in all kinds of eating establishments. Perhaps Spain is the new Italy? 

The Andalucians were certainly pushing our produce at the recent tourism fair in Madrid, so presumably other ACs were too. Gastro-tourism would be a fantastic boost for rural areas - provided they improve the standard of cooking and presentation, which can be pretty dismal.


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## V-Dog (May 10, 2012)

Lynn R said:


> I'll look out for TGB next time we come to Madrid - we normally go to New York Burger on C/Recoletos when we visit, I quite like the occasional burger when they are good ones, and they do a veggie burger option for the OH too which he says is good.


You are likely to be very, very disappointed imo + they don't offer a veggie burger on their menu making for further disappointment


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

Alcalaina said:


> I
> The Andalucians were certainly pushing our produce at the recent tourism fair in Madrid, so presumably other ACs were too. Gastro-tourism would be a fantastic boost for rural areas - provided they improve the standard of cooking and presentation, which can be pretty dismal.


You are so right - sometimes it's almost a criminal waste of good ingredients!

Even some of the newer establishments calling themselves "gastrobars" (a term I hate) and the like fall woefully short of being anything of the kind. We had a disastrous meal at one such place which opened not far from us last year - they make a huge thing of presentation with 3 chefs faffing about dressing the plates in view of the diners. One of the dishes I had featured some kind of "foam" which by the time the plate reached my table, all of 3 strides away, had dissolved into a murky puddle. If they're going to do it, they have to do it right. Hasn't stopped a lot of people giving them rave reviews and saying the place deserves a Michelin star, though. No accounting for taste, I suppose.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Like most people from poorer rural families, I grew up on plain, home- cooked food the ingredients for which came mainly from our garden or my grandmother's fishmonger and butcher nephews. I didn't eat a tinned vegetable or 'shop pie' until I left home and went to University aged eighteen. Even then I used to regularly get sent gran's pies or cooked chickens.
It amuses me that this kind of basic cooking has now become a fashionable middle- class interest, hopefully one such fad that will last. I guess my equivalent young person nowadays would be growing up on Big Macs, Kentucky Fried Chicken and other such culinary horrors.
Same with alcoholic beverages...I'm cider drinker and have fond memories of trips to neighbouring Somerset with every empty receptacle in the house to fill with local home- made. There were so many local breweries, most long gone or swallowed up by giants.....John Groves of Weymouth, Brickells, Mew and Langton, Hall and Woodhouse, the latter still going strong.
I share Lynn's view about these self- consciously 'gastronomic ' restaurants...pseud's corner supreme. There are thankfully many non- pretentious restaurants and ventas around that serve good food prepared and cooked on site and served without all the fuss that often goes with the more painfully trendy places.
We ate well last week in our local and will do so again this week. And the next....


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Mind you, thinking about it, some of the things I ate regularly and enjoyed as a child and teenager I'd recoil from now...lights, kidneys, stuffed hearts, tripe in onion and tomato sauce, tongue, pigs' trotters, chitlins, black pudding..Don't know why but I just couldn't face a plate of any of those things now.


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