We don’t want to sound doomsaying, but all you have to do is take a walk around any of the municipal markets in Madrid to confirm that the trend towards gastronomy It is becoming more and more evident. In fact, the concept of “supplies” has fallen excessively short if what we intend is to give an indicative idea about what one can find today in those renovated municipal markets which – it must be said – have also been proliferating for years beyond the capital.
Their activity these days goes far beyond trying meet basic needs of any ordinary citizen. Therefore, along with fishmongers, fruit shops, butcher shops, chicken shops, delicatessens or traditional pickle shops, the most normal thing is that you will now come across stalls run by national champions in the noble art of making hamburgers or Neapolitan pizzas, gourmet preserves shops or Japanese experts in sake or Japanese pastries.
As you may have imagined, we have plenty of reasons to visit the Chamberí Market. We are going to go through it from end to end with Juan Carlos Sevillathe lawyer by profession turned manager who since 2012 has been in charge of managing the different spaces: the food market stalls, the restaurants in the gastronomic area and the gym (a 2,600-meter facility that operates as “just another stall” of this central market).
Obviously, we have also taken advantage of the visit to get hold of a good arsenal of provisions: corn bread, muscat grapes, green beans, pink tomatoes from Almería, soft French cheese from the Rhône-Alpes area, organic jam, Galician PDO mussels,… Okay, we’ll stop.
The times they Are a changing
One of the first conclusions we reached after the first minutes of conversation with Seville is that the people of Madrid have been changing their eating and purchasing habits in recent years, and this has its consequences. “The normal thing is that they go to large stores one day a week to make a large purchase. That’s why the grocery customer has been lost neighborhood”.
It is something that we verify by taking a look at the queues at each of the stalls. And Juan Carlos confirms it to us: “Our typical client is of considerable age, although Young people from the area also come. This caused a lot of stalls to close (25 out of 70), which led us to relocate those who had been somewhat isolated upstairs, demolish that area and build a gastronomic space with eight establishments. In this way we have managed to energize the market, which is no longer just about supplies.”
One of the main obstacles that young people – and not so young people – in the neighborhood have to do with is the price of the products. “They have a stigma that they are expensive, but people should keep in mind that The quality and attention are usually extraordinary and that, in the case of Chamberí, it is located in an area of high purchasing power”, points out the manager before going into more detail.
“It is true that there is some difference in products such as fruit, but I think that meat or chicken is not much cheaper in other establishments”. In any case, those who go to the markets in 2023 do not only look at the ticket: “It is generated a very special trust between the merchant and the customer, is another of the things that is most valued. You are also paying for that,” concludes Juan Carlos.
See you at the market!: A guide to the food markets of Madrid
*Some prices may have changed since the last review
In any case, the truth is that they look younger and younger swarming the aisles of this market. We don’t know if they leave the gym or go straight for a Juancho’s BBQ burger or their Grosso Napoletano pizza, but the fact is that they are visible. And this, in part, is the merit of the new management: “It has been years since We take advantage of the pull of Ponzano Street to attract those young people who probably did not know the market. There are people who have lived in the neighborhood all their lives and have never entered it. “It’s pretty sad.”
Properly progress
Although this market enjoys fairly constant activity, especially during the fall and winter, the truth is that those in charge are always reviewing those things that could be improved. And one of them has to do with the synergies that are created between food stalls and those dedicated to catering. “There are, but not as many as we would have liked, since stall and restaurant hours They don’t usually coincide. “Some restaurants get their supplies from market stalls, but not all.”
Juan Carlos explains to us that Japanese, for example, does buy the fish inside the market, but it is almost a rare bird. But everything has its explanation: “Keep in mind that many They already have their suppliers from years ago for all their stores when they open here. This is the case of Juancho’s BBQ, Pepe Taco (Grupo Restalia) or Cachopo and Go (Grupo La Madreña). “They have everything centralized.”
Returning to the topic of the schedule danceswhich we mentioned above, it is important to clarify that this fact – about which little or nothing can be done – has the consequence that the “gastro” areas, in markets like Chamberí, at certain times give a somewhat sad image ( when everything is off) that ends up affecting the rest of operators (those at the supply stations).
“We have eight restaurants and bars we don’t want more. What’s more, if a food market stall decides to transfer it, they are not allowed to do so to another restaurant. In fact, right now we have an empty place (since December), which was a fishmonger in its day, and everyone who calls me wants to open a restaurant. And I have to tell them no because, since it is not compatible with the rest of the timetables, it would practically continue to be perceived as a closed place.”
With this last statement, Seville confirms that it was a success to separate the two areas and gives us a very clear clue about the growing trend in this type of municipal spaces. Although it is not new either. It is worth remembering that in markets like the one we visited today they opened their first store entrepreneurs like Juancho’s BBQ, which now has eight in Madrid. What’s more, here it won the award for the best burger in Madrid and Spain. And in others very close, such as Vallehermoso or Antón Martín, chefs of the stature of Roberto Martínez (Tripea) or Samy Ali Rando (Doppelgänger), respectively.
But it is in this culinary bastion of the Chamberí neighborhood where even traditional bakeries coexist, as is the case of Juan Sanzwell known for their workshop in Santo Tomé del Puerto (Segovia), with the rebels of Panicwho were pioneers in everything related to artisanal and ecological aspects of that Madrid baking revolution that is still in full swing.
As a final note, highlight that in other markets in Madrid this is being taken to the absolute extreme and, directly, in some of them the usual positions no longer exist. You just have to take a look around San Fernando or San Leopoldo, to name a few, to confirm it. In others, like La Paz, they seem bet on both formats with the same intensityhence everyone is subject to the same schedule, which makes many – tourists and locals – want to come in to see what’s going on inside.
Everything indicates that the future of food markets as we knew them (and know them) is – at the very least – in question. Above all because, to all of the above, we must add that the generational change In this type of business, right now, it is more than a chimera.
Young people, in general, They don’t want to dedicate themselves to the family business. And then there are those who, without family inheritances of any kind, could consider opening a stall in a market. But, of course, it seems that jumping into it without a client base It is too high a risk that almost no one wants to take.
That said, it seems that lovers of the markets (of their stalls and their people) have gastronomy for a while.
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