At the beginning of 2017, on General Álvarez de Castro street, near the Santa Caterina market, a very small place opened, with capacity for 16 people. But what surprised me most was what they served: it's a place specialized in cereals, El Flako. Every time I passed by, I couldn't believe it, how was it possible for someone to open a place with these characteristics? In fact, I didn't give it much hope of life, but it has been proven that I was completely wrong.
Now, when I pass by, I always see very long queues, in the neighborhood you see people walking around asking about El Flako, you see people from here, people from outside... My market vision, I suppose due to a generational issue, couldn't have been more wrong. So wrong that since the beginning of May 2018, its owners have opened a second, larger location that can accommodate 46 people. It is located in the middle of El Born on Canvis Nous Street.
The visionaries behind all this are Laia Rincón and Nico Castán, two young entrepreneurs (with more vision than me) aged 30 and 29, who on a visit to London ended up at the Cereal Killer Café, the pioneers of establishments of this type in Europe. The experience was so bad that they decided to open their cereal café in Barcelona. "We didn't like it at all, we found the prices exorbitant, the decoration childish, excessively bright, and that's when we decided we wanted to open something related to cereals, but radically different from that," Laia Rincón tells me. At that time, there was no establishment of these characteristics in the Catalan capital, and they decided to be the pioneers. "We did a bit of market research and immediately realized that a place like this could work. Well, I had no doubt."
Neither Nico nor Laia had experience in the hospitality industry, and this fact is one of the things Laia highlights to me: "This has worked out very well for us because we had no acquired vices and we have done everything according to what we like. We wanted the decoration of the place to be pleasant because of the type of light; we have been inspired by places from the 60s-70s in the United States, as organic as possible. In the new place, we have been able to put more plants, thanks especially to having more space. We wanted to get away from what we had seen at the Cereal Killer at all costs".
But it is clear that decoration alone is not enough to achieve success in a city like Barcelona. Perhaps one of the reasons is the wide variety of cereals they offer. They have 200 different brands (from Europe, the United States, and the rest of the world), and they combine them with 75 types of toppings (garnish, complements). And wait, to soak everything, they have 20 varieties of milks (cow's milk, plant-based, oat, rice, barley, lactose-free, colored…) "You have to let us guide you, we won't deceive you. According to your tastes, we are sure we can find the cereals that best suit you, and we also recommend the milks that best fit. We always look for balance and for the flavors to combine well".
If you are not a cereal expert, as is my case, who, apart from the most commercially common ones, doesn't know much more, it's easy to get lost. My recommendation is that if you visit El Flako, you let them advise you, as they know a lot and are incredibly friendly. "Three of our workers were previously customers. We believe it is important that the people who work with us know and like the product".
El Flako's customers are loyal and usually visit the place once a week or, at most, once every 10 days. "The ones that surprise us the most are the Americans; if they are in Barcelona for a few days, they are capable of coming to eat cereals every day".
In fact, among the selection of cereals, those from the United States could not be missing. Finding them is not difficult: "you can manage everything online. It was harder to find a place in Barcelona, that is complicated", Laia explains to me. But they have found that precisely those coming from North America are the most expensive to import. The fault: the high sugar levels that you then have to pay at customs.
During the visit to El Flako, I "rob," journalistically speaking, Ester and Clara, who are visiting the place for the first time. "We had wanted to try El Flako's cereals for a long time, but the other place was always packed to the flag and it was impossible to find a table. When we saw that they were opening the new place, we didn't think twice and the experience has been unbeatable". But I see that they haven't finished one of the two bowls they ordered. "It's just that there's a lot of food, we should have split one. But, really, they are delicious." They assure me they will return and give the experience a high notable.
The new generations are very demanding, I think, and that suits us well. Just like Laia and Nico, who have a very ambitious milestone. "We would like one of our chefs to prepare one of the cereal combinations from our menu for us. It would be absolutely amazing." Well, with the success that accompanies the friends of El Flako and their tenacity, we are very close to being able to try the spherification of cereals with chocolate shavings and candied fruit. And if not, time will tell!