Dani García arrives in Barcelona with his home delivery food service

Not even a year has passed, but what a year, since the Malaga chef Dani García lowered the blind of his restaurant, Dani García, thus saying goodbye ---without much sorrow and with quite a lot of glory--- to the Michelin universe in particular and to haute cuisine in general. Not 365 days later, while the world seems to spin slowly, the García universe has already made a few turns around the sun: Leña, in Marbella; Dani, the Four Seasons' brasserie in Madrid, and now La Gran Familia Mediterránea, a delivery project with which the chef finally reaches the palates of Barcelona residents to feed them with some of his most iconic dishes.

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The oxtail brioche is not missing from the options, but it also offers a wider range, suitable for all tastes. And judging by the reception it has had, it seems to be working. "I would have loved for my arrival in Barcelona to have been with a restaurant," says García in a conversation held amidst filming, projects, and meetings, "but this is not the time to land in a new city, with all the deployment that opening a restaurant entails, so we have found an intermediate solution."

And more or less, that is, effectively, what La Gran Familia Mediterránea proposes, a brand created under the umbrella of Dani García, with a variety of gastro options available only in take-away format. "The creation of this format was not a result of the lockdown, but the pandemic accelerated it," he clarifies. "We have a kind of virtual drawer with different types of concepts and brands and, among them, we had a delivery," explains García. He continues: "The story begins a couple of years ago, when a friend, Félix Ruiz (co-founder of Tuenti), dropped a term I had never heard of, dark kitchen or ghost kitchen, something I also heard months later in New York, but it stayed there."

Bravas, oxtail and even sushi

But for what for many a pandemic meant a professional and even vital halt, for the Malaga chef it was the definitive impulse: "When confinement arrived, the moment arrived. La Gran Familia Mediterránea, our delivery business line, emerged naturally as a mix of everything, of what they have told us about how they work the concept in the United States, of the experience of friends like Ruiz and of my own personal experience as a client and as a diner." And he adds: "For a delivery format like ours, examples like my daughter fighting with her sister because one wants to have pizza for dinner and the other Japanese were definitive, because that's how we thought of an umbrella brand from which different cuisines to choose from would hang." Indeed, the family is large and the selection generous, with dishes ranging from a Russian salad with tuna to a sushi platter or more personal dishes like his famous brioche or a Mac & Cheese with four Mediterranean cheeses

The family may not be chosen, but in this case García has left nothing to chance, despite the fact that, as he himself confesses, until a few years ago he had not even heard of the concept that is now bringing him so much joy. "A dark kitchen is an absolutely normal kitchen, but without a dining room, and it is located in strategic, but unimaginable places. In Madrid we have three, in Barcelona two and in Marbella one, and we are looking in more places," he indicates.

García continues to add: "Of course, the good thing about this type of project is that growing is easy and the risk and investment is ten times less than in a restaurant." He does not see himself as a pioneer in this business, considering that Paco Roncero and Ramon Freixa also took a separate kitchen and created something similar. For Dani García, "they also understood this concept well, with a differentiation between haute cuisine, as it should be."

For a delivery format like ours, examples like my daughter fighting with her sister because one wants to have pizza for dinner and the other Japanese were definitive, because that's how we thought of an umbrella brand from which different cuisines to choose from would hang

Despite being a confessed lover of Barcelona, García still does not have a firm project for it, but he does have "numerous proposals." He clarifies why Madrid, and in triplicate, and still nothing in the Catalan city, based on the differences between both capitals. "Barcelona and Madrid are very different gastronomically speaking and while Madrid tends more towards a larger format, where everything counts more, not just the cuisine, Barcelona is quite the opposite, more focus on the cuisine and a more intimate concept," he explains.

It is evident that the large family, Mediterranean or not, into which García has transformed his gastronomic empire does not contemplate, for the moment, a physical presence in Barcelona, something that the chef confirms, not without profusely explaining himself along the way. "In a way, we have resisted taking the step a bit and have opted first for Madrid because there, Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday is not the same as in Barcelona, for many reasons, including a cultural one. People go out much more in Madrid than in Barcelona and, to be honest, if I have two million euros and I ask myself where to put them, obviously I will prefer a restaurant that fills up every day," he reasons.

We have opted first for Madrid because there, Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday is not the same as in Barcelona, for many reasons, including a cultural one. People go out much more in Madrid than in Barcelona

And despite the chef affirming that he sleeps and even has free days, "freeing yourself from haute cuisine also leaves you more time," but the truth is that he is unstoppable. "What happens is that we have been working on all this for years and we have the inertia of everything we wanted to do, second brands... And everything is working well. In the end, I only dedicate myself to shaping it, I'm not frying croquettes because it's unfeasible," he illustrates. And he adds: "We are doing what we wanted to do." I can't imagine anything better in life to succeed. And García knows a thing or two about that.