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By Natalia Otero
More than a million Colombians live in the United States, most of them in and near Miami. William Salamanca, consul general of Colombia, estimates that 800,000 Colombians live in South Florida. Naturally, this had led to a boom of Colombian cuisine in the area.
One thing that has contributed to the growth is Colombia's domestic situation. In 2016, the country signed a peace treaty with a guerrilla group after more than 50 years of war.
“The war robbed us of the countryside, many peasants and indigenous ethnic groups migrated to the cities looking for jobs of all kinds, and abandoned their recipes and ingredients,” explains Juan Manuel Barrientos, the chef and founder of elcielo, a Michelin star restaurant with locations in Miami and Washington DC.
During the armed conflict, the peasants were isolated, as the war was concentrated in their areas. Peace has brought Colombia a new look not only internally, but also to the world. The economy has improved since the war ended and Colombian cuisine has spread to the United States and other countries.
From traditional food to fine dining, Colombian restaurants such as elcielo, La Matriarca, La Verguería, Alegría, among others, have been very well received, offering authentic variety and quality. They have managed to create a loyal clientele, and have stood out for their original concepts and good service.
However, not everything has been easy for these restaurants. Leaving the country and opening a new location in Miami has brought them enormous benefits as well as challenges to overcome.
From the elegance and perfection of elcielo, to the home-style Colombian food of La Matriarca, to the revolutionary “erotic waffle” of La Verguería, all agree that the process of opening the business was one of the biggest challenges to conquer.
Miami Challenges
Vita and Pua Castellanos, creators of La Verguería, are enterprising sisters who united their talents (Vita is an audiovisual director and Pau is an administrator) to create a revolutionary concept with a lot of style: erotic waffles, with suggestive shapes. Today they have branches in Bogota, Medellin, Barranquilla and Miami.
The Castellanos sisters plan to launch new pop-ups in different parts of the world, to create a World Tour of La Verguería. This is because, after the last opening in Miami, they realized that it was best not to be tied to one place. In addition to the fact that their followers, who are in different parts of the world, have asked them to visit their cities.
“This restaurant-for-life model is wonderful, but people change their tastes very fast. This is not the strategy we are applying. For Miami, we recommend that the lease be as short as possible, and that you choose a second-generation location where it is not empty and you don't have to build from scratch,” Pua Castellanos explains.
Finding an ideal location and negotiating a lease were key challenges for La Verguería. Sofía Arias, manager of elcielo Miami, and César Holguin, co-founder of La Matriarca, agree.
“It has been a very enriching challenge,” says Holguin. “It is our first branch in the United States and, although we got very good advice from lawyers and real estate agents, because of the permits and inspections, it took us three times longer to open. As a Colombian, one believes that things work like the law over there, but it is not like that. You have to be advised from the very beginning,” he says about the restaurant located in Doral, which opened its first location in Medellín eight years ago.
An important problem with delays is that the restaurant needs to pay rent even when they’re not yet generating income.
Another aspect that has been a challenge for the owners of these restaurants is finding staff that can be trained and stay in the business.
“In the operation, at the beginning, we had a staffing problem, because Florida started an immigration regulation issue,” Holguin says. “We trained people, but many, since they did not have economic stability, changed jobs and that created a problem for us in stabilizing recipes and dishes. Although, little by little, we have managed to have a team that has been maintained.”
One way elcielo has overcome this challenge is by encouraging its employees to participate creatively and expand their talents. According to Arias, elcielo is a home, a family, in which every member is taken into account.
“This is an industry where you work with love and respect for each area,” Arias says. “We are focused on changing the mentality so that its permanence is long term. In Miami there is a lot of talent and we have to promote it. elcielo is a space for them to exploit their talents. For example, I have a chef who is also a photographer and he takes videos and photographs, and we give him all the equipment he needs.”
According to Pau and Vita Castellanos' observation, Colombian restaurants that have been in Miami for many years are very good entrepreneurs, but they need to modernize: use social networks more, innovate their marketing strategy and give a refreshing sense of aesthetics to their image.
Regarding ingredients, all agree that finding a wide variety is easy in Florida. In addition to the fact that there is a good and high quality supply, Miami is a focus for importing all kinds of ingredients.
“We have local suppliers such as Harper Family, which develops sprouts, 100 percent organic,” Arias explains. “As well as fresh fish three times a week, and we bring hamachi directly from Japan and caviar from France. The uchuva or some Colombian liquors, such as aguardiente, come from Colombia.”
For La Matriarca, the issue of ingredients has been a little tricky, because some ingredients simply do not taste the same in the United States as in Colombia. For example, cumin in the United States is very strong and cilantro has less taste.
“Also, there are the seasons and that changes the intensity of the ingredient. Paprika varies in intensity and color and you have to keep an eye on it because, as it turns out, after six months it changes its flavor,” Holguin explains.
Next Steps
The Colombian restaurants in Miami are growing beyond that location, and in some cases, beyond food.
“We always had a very clear vision: not to think of a restaurant, but of a brand,” Castellanos says. “We are not the company that sells waffles, but a concept, a revolution and the pioneers of a new market. What my sister and I say is that it's all in the attitude: you have to be very positive and realistic, knowing that things will work out for me or, if not, there are always 10,000 paths of opportunities.”
Castellanos says La Verguería is preparing to launch e-commerce products, such as penis-shaped lipsticks.
In August, elcielo opened a new restaurant: Cartagena by Juan Manuel Barrientos, a bistro inside the SLS Hotel in Miami Beach. The menu includes dishes such as Seafood Cazuela, made with coconut bisque, white wine, and parsley oil; and Yucca Gnocci, with plantain honey, manchego foam, and seasonal mushrooms.
“The biggest challenge is to make people curious and fall in love with our proposal,” Arias says. “We offer an experience, a memory, of excellence and rigor.”
The success of these restaurants has been due, in part, to the tenacity, perseverance and patience that the owners, chefs and managers of these restaurants have had to face the challenges of opening a restaurant far from their homeland.
“It is a race of endurance, not speed, and we will see the results,” concludes Holguin of La Matriarca.
Natalia Otero is a regular contributor to el Restaurante.
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