Ferran Adrià: "Today there is so much 'INNOVATITIS' that it seems that if you don't innovate you don't work, and it's not true"
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"El Bulli never comes back, El Bulli never left", explained Ferran Adrià in the presentation of the now gastronomic research and experimentation center. After eight years of work, his internationally renowned restaurant became elBulli 1846. And he was very well accompanied.
ElBullifoundation and its pharaonic Bullipedia project, born to become the encyclopedia of gastronomic restoration, does not stop growing and offering SMEs and hospitality entrepreneurs the true tools of a business school. Because, for the chef who likes to create and innovate more than cook, knowledge is the key to success.
APD talks with the chef from L'Hospitalet and one of the star speakers at the XI Afterwork APD Barcelona about the genome of innovation to understand what DNA sequence the different business models share or not and why many are carried away by the current of the 'INNOVATITIS' to work. His experience as an advisor to more than 40 large multinationals and as manager of the emblematic restaurant, has helped him understand something that is still complex to explain: a business is always a business, but not all involve the same degree of innovation.
The difference between copying and adapting a new business model is that copying does not ask what
Whoever revolutionized the world of gastronomy and introduced it to a new era, remembers that it is not necessary to be disruptive but to have an innovative attitude and introduce changes based on learning and study. The question now is: how much, how and how much are we willing to learn?
P
What has been and what is innovation for Ferrán Adrià?
R
Innovation has been the engine of my professional career. In the end, what I like is creating and innovating more than cooking. I have always used cooking as an innovation.
In the last 7 or 8 years the truth is that innovation has become a certain tool for a new stage : elBullifoundation where I have been trying to understand what innovation is.
Now I know that the only way to do it is from diversity and complexity. It is not as simple as it seems. In fact, it is a very complex reality for a reason as simple as trying to apply a decalogue of ideas to the vast number of professions that exist in all the economic activities that exist. It is innumerable. It is then that you realize that trying to unify the concept of innovation for all is a big mistake.
The holistic and systemic concept is vital to understand it. We have tried to understand Steve Jobs and Picasso and I think that diversity is understood there. Within what were his legacies, there are parts that we can talk about all or almost all, but there are others that are too specialized.
In relation to innovation and innovative culture, for example in my sector, there are parts where I could understand myself with many people, but many others that are much more specific where I could not.
Under this idea the Bulli 1846 starts as a lighthouse , as a starting point.
We have been studying disruptive innovation, open innovation and the great minds of the sector from 2014 to today with the aim of understanding the complexity that exists.
P
Precisely attending to the Bulli's strategy of temporarily closing to focus on creativity and innovation and go from being a restaurant to a research and experimentation center where you can disclose everything studied during these 8 years, in your opinion, when does it have to stop? a business model to think about your strategy and objective and why?
R
We must promote the pleasure of study. The pleasure of knowledge. Today few people want to study. People do not want to understand innovation but go directly to the practical part. But the most important scientists in the world do not stop studying. In my opinion this is something fundamental that we have to understand: if you want success, if you want to win the 'Champions League', you must enter this dynamic and you must never stop studying and expanding your knowledge.
It may be that for a period of time with your own creative talent, but the time will come when that talent has to be intimately linked with increasing knowledge.
The teams must be motivated but with decent wages and conditions. We cannot expect them to have the same emotional and professional burden as leaders
P
Is creativity the key?
R
It is very different to create than to innovate. For example, understanding all the innovation within a large company like Telefónica, in each country, in each project, visualizing it is extremely complex. The creation in the end is easier , you do not have to take into account how it affects the rest of the departments, clients or strategies.
P
Is it then, the sum of innovation and creativity, the perfect equation to succeed?
R
The truth is that today there is a certain obsession for this to innovate. What I call INNOVATITIS. It seems that if you don't innovate you don't work, and it's not true.
Nothing happens. If there is no obligation to change like the one that exists in banking or in information technology, it is not necessary to be disruptive but to have that innovative attitude and introduce changes.
There are a lot of businesses, such as SMEs, that what they have to do is offer quality and have an innovative attitude. Most of the people or companies that say that they actually innovate what they do is adapt successful models, and nothing happens.
The difference between copying and adapting a new business model is that copying does not ask what. If a restaurant joins the new craze of offering beer menus in addition to the wine list and they copy it as is, they will learn nothing. However, if you ask yourself how to shape something already invented, how to mold it to your strategy, then you will be learning.
If the innovation is to introduce new changes that are successful in the market, this 'new' can be copied, adapted or created . It is not so much a matter of being imaginative as of understanding and knowing what and how your sector is changing. The culture of a person who has to adapt models of success is one: they must know above all to google and not stop learning and acquiring knowledge.
P
What does leading today mean? Has the figure of the leader been transformed?
R
It is not the same as a leader who has changed a paradigm to which professionals in his sector have brutal respect for a leader who goes where he comes by training. There is no truth .
What is true is that a true leader does not have to be afraid of having good leaders. And this is vital, because if you are afraid you will never have good leaders and that shows in the results and the way the teams work. In my case, Albert Adrià and Oriol Castro were as good as me, but I never had the slightest concern or fear that they would take my place.
I was lucky to meet Steve Jobs who was said to have a strong character. In fact, it would probably last 10 minutes in a leadership manual, even being the world icon of innovation. But I also know Amancio Ortega or José María Álvarez-Pallete . For me the three have something in common: the three have been and are kind and the three have done well, right? There are many types of leaders. Normality should be one of the characteristics that define a leader, but there is no perfect formula and they are not all and will not be the same. It is that complex.
A true leader does not have to be afraid of having good leaders
P
In the business world, the mantra of the people at the center has become increasingly important. How to involve teams in the passion for the project?
R
It reminds me of INNOVATITIS ... You will have a passion if it is your business or if you are the CEO, with some exceptions. In the end the agreement between an employee and the company is a contract, and we have to be professionals. I often get to work at 04:00 in the morning, but I cannot ask the rest of my team to make my schedule because it is still my personal project or at most other co-leaders who consider it something more. than a job.
I am from Barça. If my team plays I watch football but if not, chances are I won't see it. The same thing happens in companies: when it comes to your company you always get involved, if it belongs to others, no. The teams must be motivated but with decent wages and conditions . We cannot expect them to have the same emotional and professional burden as leaders.
Today it seems that if you don't innovate and you don't have 'passion' you won't get anything. Make no mistake: if you are a professional and you know how to adapt successful business models, it is quite likely that the business will go well for you.
P
Does the kitchen also attend an increasing demand from the consumer, in this case, from the diner? Do we know and know how to adapt to your new demands?
R
Things as they are: not even God knows what is happening. If we talk about changes in advertising, messages or products, the reality is that it is all very complex. We are in a moment of transition
Will the concept of premium work in the media? Well not at all.
I am in permanent contact with Telefónica, Grifols, Caixabank and Lavazza , who are the angels of elBullifoundation, and everyone agrees on the same thing: it is not clear what the future is, in fact or the present.
What interests, who cares, why they are interested ... There is a project called ArchDaily, the world's most visited website on architecture, to which any professional - be it a builder, draftsman or rigger - who has an interest in any The ambit of the architecture sector finds the answer. It is a tool where subscribed users have access to the most information about their sector at a global level, already categorized and organized. I believe that in projects like this like this is the future. Access to the knowledge that users need but already refined .
P
What role does elBullifoundation play for SMEs and small companies in gastronomic restoration?
R
In an SME, a leader has to be responsible for communication, purchasing, financial ... They have to know everything.
50% of SMEs close after five years and 22% after two years. ElBullifoundation's concern is for these SMEs to get ahead but taking into account that if the project is failed from the start it will be almost impossible to get it ahead. We offer you the tools of an authentic business school.
In gastronomic restoration it is very difficult to grow because it is very artisanal and here innovation plays a small role because the important thing is to manage. However, whether it is a microenterprise or an SME, they must always be very clear about what the mission is and understand which genes in that genome of innovation need and which do not for each phase. The profit margin is very small, or you manage well or you can give yourself a stumble.
You have to find the balance between supporting dreamers and making people understand that if there is no good management there are no dreams
P
Could you tell us about the second volume promoted together with Bacardi Innovation Lab Cocktails, cocktail bars and bartenders: How does a cocktail bar work?
R
It is a very beautiful project that translates into knowledge for the new generations. We have just presented the second and we are already working on the third, and when we finish the project it will be a wonderful content for all professionals who want to continue training and expand their knowledge and education.
One of elBullifoundation's missions is to create quality content for our sector. La Bullipedia , the pharaonic project to create the Encyclopedia of gastronomic restoration, is 35 volumes of which we have already 11.
In our sector there are no quality content or teaching materials. Without going any further than cocktails, it was missing, despite the millions and millions of euros that martinis, mojitos or caipirinhas move.
In a business that moves food and represents 33% of GDP, we cannot allow this lack of knowledge . There is a reason for being: up until 15 years ago, our sector was not university and it is now when all that necessary knowledge is being generated.
