Maria Canales
Updated Saturday, March 16, 2024-01:43
Pizza Jardín
is celebrating its anniversary.
The emblematic restaurant, which opened its doors in 1984, revolutionizing the gastronomic plans of Madrid families with a concept until then unknown in the capital, turns 40.
With a modern and original decoration, an agile service and menu and an innovative offer in which pizzas and pastas were the protagonists, the business, which four friends and partners had started after their holidays in Italy, managed to immediately become a great success. .
Parents, children, grandparents, grandchildren, as well as politicians, singers, athletes and other personalities of Spanish society packed the dining rooms of the different establishments that Pizza Jardín had at that time in Madrid.
For example, the dozens of paintings with drawings made and signed by renowned people that are kept as souvenirs in some of the current restaurants of the Spanish brand, among them, that of the former soccer player Emilio
Butragueño
, the comedians
Martes y Trece
, the magician Juan Tamariz, the former mayor of Madrid
Joaquín Leguina
, the presenter Cristina Tárrega or the members of musical groups such as Los Ronaldos,
Duncan Dhu
...
Interior of Cardenal Marcelo Spínola's Pizza Jardín.
Four decades later, Pizza Jardín is still going strong.
On weekends, the
five restaurants
that are now open in the Community (two in Madrid, and another three in Alcobendas, Pozuelo and Majadahonda) are still full of customers who were users then and now go with their families.
And all this thanks, especially, to the fact that the brand has known how to evolve and bet on renewal and new times.
In 2018,
the Guijarro family
entered the capital of Pizza Jardín (today with 90%), with the patriarch Luis at the helm, an industrial engineer who, after holding executive positions in several multinationals, landed in the world of hospitality for coincidence in the 80s (it was the one that brought the American firm Tony Roma's to Madrid, from which it separated years ago).
That's when the brand begins a renewal.
It started with changing the image of the logo and the premises and continued with the menu.
Fernando (left) and Luis Guijarro, owners of Pizza Jardín, in the restaurant on 1 Cardenal Marcelo Spínola Street
For six months, the big (and risky)
bet has been to
further "Italianize" the menu of all Pizza Jardín restaurants, offering "more Italian" dishes and removing those that were not.
To do this, they hired the advisory services of
Emmanuel Tripoli
, the former executive chef of the
Big Mamma group
, who renewed the menu and taught the brand's chefs how to make the dishes, including the pizza doughs, which are kneaded by hand. daily at the premises.
"It has been a great challenge and quite risky, because we have removed iconic dishes from the past, such as steamed mussels in sauce or cheese fondue, which were also the ones that sold the most. And there are still customers who ask us about them. , but they have nothing to do with Italian cuisine," says Fernando Guijarro, general director of Pizza Jardín.
The restaurant's signature dish, rigatoni carbonara.
In this new stage, the number of dishes has been considerably reduced, to the current thirty, to provide greater quality.
From 22 pizzas they have gone down to only 12. "What differentiates us from the competition is the quality of the products. We have a smaller variety of dishes, but we have increased the quality, and we maintain very competitive prices," says Fernando.
Of the dishes that are most successful today are
rigatone carbonara
(the best-selling pasta), chicken schnitzel, mozzarella sticks, chicken trash and burrata salad, all of them are homemade recipes and with the main ingredients coming from Italy.
Roman pizza continues to be the queen of the menu
, of which they serve about 200 on average a day in the five Pizza Jardín locations.
"Except for Margarita, they are all different from what was there before. Some are new and others we have converted," says Guijarro.
The best sellers are the Fiorentina, the Maialini (three little pigs) and the Margarita (prices: from 12.90 euros).
Trastevere chicken, one of the best-selling dishes.
The bet is having good acceptance among customers.
"The references we have are in the Google ratings, because we monitor it weekly and it is true that we are improving and we are very happy," says Fernando.
"We also know that we have been right because, speaking with one of our Italian suppliers, he told us that Pizza Jardín was previously the typical Italian restaurant for Spaniards, where transalpines went once and never returned. Now we do see more Italians enjoying themselves in our dining rooms. ", says.
Clientele
Another challenge that Pizza Jardín faces is
attracting new customers
beyond the family.
To do this, they are trying to enter strongly into social networks and carry out
aggressive promotions
, like the one on Wednesday nights.
"To
counter-program
football, on Wednesdays for dinner we have our entire menu at 50% of the price in all establishments. That is, whatever you order, it costs half," says owner Luis Guijarro.
"Thanks to that we hooked a young audience under 30 years old, because we fill all our venues every Wednesday night."
Your
menu of the day
is another strategic action.
At an unbeatable price of 11.90 euros, it consists of a starter, a main course, dessert and a drink of your choice.
"It is renewed every week and there is no price that beats it with quality products," says Luis.
The famous tiramisu of the house.
40th anniversary
Throughout this year, Pizza Jardín will carry out several
campaigns to celebrate its 40th anniversary
.
Soon there will be one in which, every 40 days, there will be one in which all the dishes on the menu will be with a 40% discount.
Another promotion will go to those in their forties.
"We will invite anyone who turns 40 to eat, along with his family, on his birthday," says Fernando.
Pizza Jardín: Cardenal Marcelo Spínola, 1. Tel. 915 48 54 63. Reservations are recommended.
www.pizzajardin.es
Average price: 20 euros.