How has your B2B experience helped you in your current business?

B2B experience in the foodservice industry

How does your B2B experience help you in your current work?

What helps me is not any specific experience in B2B,but rather my experience in management, leadership and administration.

Whether you're selling nails, potatoes, or food you need to lead a team, manage operations and negotiate with suppliers.

All of that is more or less the same.There are certain aspects in the restaurant industry, but in the end,it's quite easy when you have a supportive team that knows the restaurant industry.

It's quite easy to adapt.Whatever the sector, there are many similarities in what needs to be done: you have to lead a team solve problems and give instructions.

Negotiation with suppliers, whether for a B2B company or for a restaurant, is still negotiation.

Management is still management, and you need to keep clean accounts.

You have to pay suppliers on time and communicate with the accounting firm.

It's all the same.As for the suppliers, the work is shared with the chef,who takes care of the food suppliers.

We work with two market gardeners, one in the south of Madrid and another in the north, as well as many others.

For example, there's a supplier specialized in aromatic herbs,and others who provide more common products.

They are normally...both fresh products and those that are not really fresh,but packaged products.

The chef also deals with the meat supplier, the butcher,and the fishmonger.

The suppliers I'm in contact with are the wine ones.

To communicate, they usually get in touch with me.

First, we selected three wines and did a tasting with them.

When they have new wines, they offer them to me.At the moment, I have about ten wine suppliers.

I have three or four main ones.And then others who bring me one or two references.

It's a real pleasure to stay in contact with our wine suppliers,because we do tastings and talk about a noble product.

I also keep in touch with the suppliers I personally brought in.

For example, the cod supplier, or pollock,whichever you prefer, from the Michelin Guide also provides us with their product.

They reached out to us when we were included in the Michelin Guide.

I also have a friend who sells caviar, he's our supplier.

I send him the orders and I negotiated the prices with him.

Naturally, he gives me a friend's rate.The same goes for our champagne supplier,for the main one.

He's also a personal friend who's been importing champagne for many years, so communication is very smooth and easy.

Is the wine French or Spanish?We have French wine, Spanish wine, and also a few Italian, South African, and Californian wines.

But most customers ask for French wine.Around three-quarters French and one-quarter Spanish,because we're a French fine-dining restaurant in Madrid.

Consequently, people come to eat with us looking to try dishes from French cuisine, and they often pair them with a French wine.