The new FC Barcelona stadium has been under construction since last summer by the Turkish group Limak, but this is not the only bridge that the Catalan capital has built with the Ottoman country in the last year. In July 2023, another large Turkish family corporation, Doğuş Group, landed in Barcelona by opening a restaurant of the international chain Coya at the W Hotel, born twelve years ago in London and now also present in cities such as Paris, Monte Carlo, Riyadh, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Mykonos, and Marbella.
Specializing in Peruvian cuisine with chifa and nikkei (Chinese and Japanese) influence, Coya now has a total of eleven restaurants worldwide and plans to open three more locations in Athens, Milan, and Ibiza between 2025 and 2026. Last year, the brand focused on its entry into the Spanish market with a double opening in Marbella and Barcelona, hand in hand with the luxury hotels Puente Romano and W Barcelona, respectively. In this case, Coya settled in the space previously occupied by Carles Abellán's Bravo restaurant.
"We don't open just anywhere; we take great care of the spaces and look for the best place to settle in cities where we see an opportunity. We had been analyzing opening in Barcelona for a long time, and the opportunity came with the W Hotel. We really liked the space and the location, as it allowed us to do something cool, with a lot of meaning and at the level of a city like Barcelona," explains Jean-François Casanova, CEO of D.ream International, the group that brings together Doğuş Group's various restaurant brands. Among them, in addition to Coya, Zuma, Roka, and Amazonico stand out.
Thanks to the good progress of tourism and the strength of the Catalan capital in the trade fair and congress market, Casanova is satisfied with the first months of Coya Barcelona's opening, but now, his main hope is to get the local public to also discover the proposal. "We want Barcelonians to know us, to try our concept. We have brought Coya to Barcelona to be part of the city; we want to integrate and also be a reference for the local public, as we are in London, Dubai, or Monaco," emphasizes Casanova, originally from Corsica.
"First of all, I want to convey that we are a gastronomic brand. I worked fifteen years alongside chef Alain Ducasse and the entire focus of my management is on the high quality of food and on putting passion and heart into everything we do, it is something crucial," states the executive in an exclusive interview with The New Barcelona Post.
The executive highlights the fact that Coya established itself in Barcelona before Madrid ---where the Japanese Zuma is located---, although he also points out that it is logical given the strong presence that D.ream International has in the Spanish capital through the Grupo Paraguas, of which they acquired 40% of the capital in 2016. This company, founded by Sandro Silva and Marta Seco, in addition to El Paraguas, owns the restaurants Ten con Ten, Quintin, Aarde, Numa Pompilio and Amazonico, a brand they are now internationalizing with the Turkish group.
And are there more plans for Barcelona? Casanova does not rule out bringing other of its restaurant brands to the Catalan capital in the future, but states that first the commitment to Coya Barcelona must be consolidated. "We have many opportunities to grow all over the world. But our maxim is to go step by step. We are committed to a very controlled growth plan, we are not going to go crazy, because the key lies in ensuring quality and service and in investing a lot in staff training and in attention to detail," he reflects. Among D.ream International's next openings are an Amazonico restaurant in Miami and a Zuma Japanese restaurant in Cannes.
With a capacity for 120 diners and an average ticket of 70 euros per person, Coya Barcelona's menu offers a wide variety of ceviches and tiraditos and typical Peruvian dishes such as arroz chaufa, anticuchos or beef tenderloin. Nikkei rice, marinated octopus, grilled sea bream, short rib, grilled broccoli, chifa tuna, truffle sea bass or chicken chicharrones are other proposals of the establishment, which opens every night from Tuesday to Saturday.
One of Coya's strong points is its extensive wine list, which includes references from all over the world. Thus, the restaurant offers the possibility of choosing from more than twenty wines by the glass, and, if you opt for a bottle, the selection is very wide, with prices ranging from 40 euros to the 3,500 euros that a bottle of Pingus 2018 costs. The menu also includes the mythical wines Château Mouton-Rothschild, Romanée Conti, Château Margaux, Cheval Blanc, Hermitage, La Chapelle, or Único, from Vega Sicilia. In addition to wines from the different Spanish and French wine regions, the presence of wineries from the United States, Chile, Argentina and Italy stands out. Catalan designations of origin are also part of the menu, with wines from Priorat, Costers de Segre, Penedès, Montsant, Empordà, Pla de Bages, and sparkling wines such as Raventós and the Corpinnat from Llopart, Gramona and Recaredo.
"Coya is a concept that wants to offer a 360-degree experience aimed at making our clients feel good. We accompany our gastronomy with a very careful local design, which includes objects from Peru and photographs by Martín Chambi. Music is another protagonist, it is part of the DNA of our establishments," says Casanova, referring to the fact that a disc jockey accompanies all evenings playing a characteristic Latin music style of the brand, which has even created its own festival. Another of the attractions of the place is the possibility of enjoying the Pisco Bar before or after dinner, where, of course, authentic Pisco Sours are served, but also many other cocktails made with pisco, the typical Peruvian spirit.
A diversified family group
D.ream International was created eight years ago to group the different restaurant brands owned by the Turkish family group Doğuş, currently led by Ferit Şahenk, son of the founder. The company now has a total of 78 restaurants located in 16 cities in eleven countries. D.ream is organized around four verticals that operate completely independently: Azumi Group, Coya, Grupo Paraguas and Nusr-et Group.Specialized in Japanese gastronomy, Azumi is the division that gave rise to the group and from which the iconic Zuma restaurants ---founded in London in 2002---, and other brands such as Roka ---which on March 29 will reopen a five-month ephemeral restaurant at the Hotel Arts---, Inko Nito and Oblix depend. For its part, Nusr-et Group is a vertical dedicated to meat that has developed two restaurant brands: Nurs-et, specialized in steaks and with about 20 establishments in Turkey, the Middle East, the United States and London, and Salt Bae Burger, a premium burger brand with presence now in Istanbul, New York, Mykonos and Dubai.
"Each vertical is managed separately, so that each brand retains its DNA, its culture and its differentiated identity," says Casanova, who highlights the "family business vision" that Doğuş imbues in all its businesses and other elements such as "attention to detail" and the spirit of continuous improvement. According to the CEO of D.ream, who does not like to use concepts such as group or chain to refer to the different brands it operates, discipline and management control are necessary to achieve success, but this rigor "must be compatible with maintaining heart and passion." "Without discipline there is no success, but we must not lose our soul," he points out. He admits that the financial capacity of its shareholder would allow them to expand much faster, but he reaffirms that their strategy is to go "step by step." "It's not just about money, you also need to have the right people and be able to maintain the experience," he concludes.
Doğuş Group was founded 70 years ago by the Turkish businessman Ayhan Şahenk, a self-made man who built an empire that currently has more than 300 companies and 22,000 workers. It is a diversified corporation that operates in the industrial, energy, real estate and construction sectors, in addition to having technology and media businesses ---it has radio and television channels---, and managing luxury stores, a chain of hotels, and the restaurant brands grouped in D.ream International. Finally, Doğuş is one of the largest car distributors in Turkey, being the importer of a dozen international brands, including Seat and Cupra and the rest of the Volkswagen Group brands.
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