Somos Esencia grows with three new locations and adds six restaurants in Barcelona

Restaurants with personality in premium locations that offer a local gastronomic proposal in attractive environments that invite enjoyment. This is the formula with which the Somos Esencia group seeks to imbue its establishments, including the three new ones it has opened so far this year. With the reopening of consolidated proposals such as Bar Bauma and Barraca restaurant, and the official inauguration of Fauna Café in June, the group will double its establishments this year to reach six in the Catalan capital, in a year also marked by the good prospects that the America's Cup awakens in the city.

The portfolio of the six restaurants that now make up the group has its seed three decades ago, with the first steps in the field of restoration by Xavier Mitats, founding partner of Somos Esencia. In a career that began as an economist and auditor, Mitats was a partner in the beginnings of what is now the Tragaluz Group. When the Catalan private equity firm Miura acquired most of the group in 2019, Mitats began to manage the Agua restaurant, which was left out of the operation.

Thus, starting from Agua, Mitats set out to build a new restaurant group together with his son Guillem, to whom he then entrusted the management of the group. After an investment of 4.5 million and the halt due to the pandemic, they opened Tierra Brava, in the Mercat del Ninot, and Brisa, in the Palau de Mar, in the following months, as explained to The New Barcelona Post by the founder's other son and now executive director of the group, Alex Mitats.

After managing other establishments that are no longer part of the group, Somos Esencia now adds to Agua, Tierra Brava and Brisa the three new establishments it has opened this year, which have involved a "significant investment" that they decline to detail. The first opening of 2024 was that of the iconic Bar Bauma, which reopened its doors in February after announcing its closure in September. Located on Roger de Llúria with Rosselló, the establishment consolidated itself as key in the Barcelona gastronomic scene through a trajectory that began in the 1940s, with a gastronomic proposal and an atmosphere that Somos Esencia has set out to maintain, with tapas as protagonists.

Then came the reopening of Barraca, located on the beach in Barceloneta and with the aspiration of being one of the gastronomic viewpoints of the America's Cup. Specialized in rice dishes and seafood for two decades, Somos Esencia began managing it in January. After adapting its design and menu to the group, the restaurant reopened maintaining its character and with a novelty: an on demand service specialized in market and fish market fish: "With 24 hours' notice, the client can request that we cook any type of fish in the style they desire."

With this proposal, the group reinforces the maritime essence of Barraca, also key in Agua and Brisa. Although all the group's restaurants anticipate a large influx with the America's Cup, especially the three located facing the sea look at the competition with good forecasts: "We already have requests for information for important reservations, and we are guaranteed to have full restaurants."

Apart from the private public that the regatta will bring between August and October, the group's restaurants are aimed at locals, although they may also attract tourists. "Our formula is to open a place that we like. If it's designed for local people, their friends and family, tourists will also come," comments Mitats. Their establishments present themselves to diners with a gastronomic concept that features Catalan cuisine combined with avant-garde techniques to offer new ranges of flavors and textures, without breaking with tradition.

After closing 2023 with a turnover of 17 million —18% more than the previous year—, the company expects to bill almost double this year: after the opening of the new premises, it expects to reach 30 million in 2024. The growing figures will also be reflected in its workforce, which is expected to reach 300 employees by the end of the year, taking into account both office and premises workers.

Given this growth forecast, the group is now focused on consolidating its six restaurants. "We opened three at once, and we don't want to die of success: we have to make sure they work as we intend. After that, we are not closing any doors to continue investing," says Mitats. Although it is not in an active search phase, the group does not rule out anything regarding expanding beyond Barcelona, to export its model forged in the Catalan capital to other cities.