It is very difficult to be innovative at the highest level in any discipline. For some chefs, it’s simply a matter of combining ingredients, but that’s something you can do with your eyes closed.
Ferran Adrià Acosta was born in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona (Spain), and completed his basic studies in Barcelona where he lived with his parents, Ginés and Josefa, and his brother Albert. His passion was football and, as is normal for a child of his age, his relationship with cooking was virtually non-existent at this point.
In 1977, he entered the Instituto Politécnico de la Merced to take Administrative Studies, the first step towards a degree in Business Studies.
In 1980, he took a personal turn and began a period in which he left his former studies behind and progressively entered the professional world of cooking, starting as a dishwasher at the Playafels Hotel and ending up in the Admiral’s kitchen team during his military service in the Navy from 1982 to 1983. This allowed him to gain experience in taking on responsibilities, as for the first time he was in charge of a kitchen.
Following the suggestion of another Catalan recruit working at elBulli, Fermí Puig, in the summer of 1983 he spent his month’s leave at the restaurant in Cala Montjoi. At the end of this stage, and since the experience had been satisfactory, Ferran decided to join the team as soon as he finished his military service.
In April 1984, he joined elBulli as chef de partie, until November 1, when, after the departure of chef Jean-Paul Vinay, the director, Juli Soler, appointed him and Christian Lutaud as tandem chefs.
In October 1986, following the departure of Christian Lutaud, Ferran Adrià became sole chef at elBulli.
Albert Adrià, who had joined the team in 1985, completed the triplet of leaders along with Ferran and Juli Soler. Without these three figures, it would not be possible to understand the legacy of elBullirestaurante.
In 1987, Ferran made the decision to set aside the reproduction of Nouvelle Cuisine recipes, the movement setting the creative standard at the time, and chose to dedicate himself to following his own understanding of cuisine.
In 1990, Restaurante elBulli S.L. was born, a company formed by Juli Soler and Ferran Adrià, in which they developed a business model based on a small business group undertaking different lines of endeavour: consulting and advisory services with companies in the food industry, hotel and catering, their own publishing house and a catering company, among other projects. This model established a new mission for elBullirestaurante, which became the R&D and marketing department of this galaxy of projects, although its commitment to the avant-garde always came before the business. The radical, groundbreaking nature of elBulli was maintained thanks to this model.
From the early nineties, a change began to take place in Ferran’s cuisine and elBullirestaurante, and together with the “Mediterranean” dishes, a series of new concepts, elaborations, techniques and service formats began to appear, paving the way for the change which, incontestably, took place in 1994, developing its own style of cuisine that changed the paradigm of gastronomy and was the genesis of the techno-emotional movement.
In 2000, elBullitaller was created in Portaferrissa street in Barcelona, where creative work was concentrated in the months when the restaurant was closed and a model of creativity was established that was gradually perfected. In addition, all the variables and resources of the process were subjected to a creative audit that provided a high level of efficiency and effectiveness. This is what, in the end, has determined elBulli’s creative longevity.
Ferran has been married to Isabel Pérez since 2002 and they have no children.
On July 30, 2011, elBullirestaurante closed its doors to become elBullifoundation, a private foundation with a family structure promoted by Ferran Adrià and Juli Soler, that was established on 7 February 2013 and has its headquarters at elBulli1846 in Cala Montjoi, the location of the former restaurant. With a vision for the future based on the legacy and spirit of elBulli, the foundation has a threefold mission:
In the fine dining sector
In the food industry
In product design
In education
In the dialogue between Japanese gastronomy and Western Haute Cuisine
In the publishing and audiovisual world
In the art world
In the field of management
In the field of innovation
The Galaxy is the business model of Juli Soler, Ferran Adrià and Albert Adrià concerning elBullirestaurante. In 1998, a key decision was taken as to how the business model should be, making a conceptual change based on the following premise: keeping elBullirestaurante at the cutting-edge. To give us the necessary freedom to do this, a business model for elBullirestaurante was created, based on consultancy and image work, and the formation of our own business lines.
1997 – Collaboration with the creative team of Chocovic in ventures related to chocolate.
1999 – R & D, and creation of vinaigrettes, sauces and aromatic olive oils in partnership with Borges
2000 – Study and creation of soups and dairy products for Kaiku, together with Juan Mari Arzak, Karlos Arguiñano and Pedro Subijana.
2001 – Collaboration with Caprabo in several publishing and consultancy projects.
2002 – Collaboration with Lavazza, for the creation of products and concepts related to coffee.
2004 – Innovations in the world of cocktails, with Diageo
2005 – Texturas, a line of products selected by elBullitaller, to bring new elaborations to the kitchen.
2005 – Working on new creations in chocolate with the architect Jean Nouvel and the team of Cailler, a company in the Nestlé group.
2005 – A new range of potato crisps, and other ideas for aperitif concepts in collaboration with the R & D department of Frito Lays, of the Pepsico company.
2007 – R & D in fruit juices and cookies, with United Biscuits.
2008 – Creation of Inedit, in collaboration with the team of Damm master brewers. A ground-breaking new line of beer that, for its elegance and ability to accompany the great variety of flavours existing in modern gastronomy, offers an alternative to wine.
1986 – ElBulli Bistrot opens in the Pasarela nightclub in Empuriabrava (Roses).
1989 – Consultancy work for Bel-Air, Chévere, Network and Samoa restaurants (Barcelona), along with Can Bosch (Cambrils).
1990 – Consultancy work for Reina de España restaurant (Puerto Rico).
1992 – Consultancy work for the Bernat II Hotel (Calella).
1993 – The Ñam-Ñam self-service restaurant opens at the same time as Dim-Sum, a European dim-sum concept restaurant. Both at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) in Barcelona.
1993 – A collaboration with Semon begins, which lasts one year.
1994 – Mas Pau restaurant opens, in Avinyonet de Puigventós (Figueres), run by Xavier Sagristà and Toni Gerez.
1995 – ElBullicatering is born, in which the cuisine, philosophy and service of elBulli is transferred to the world of catering.
1999 – Creation of elBullihotel, whose first project is the Hacienda Benazuza hotel, where consultancy work is also undertaken for the gastronomic offer of the hotel.
2001 – Commencing a collaboration with NH Hoteles, which bears fruit with two projects: Nhube and Fast Good.
2010 – Tickets. In collaboration with Albert Adrià; a re-imagining of the concept of contemporary tapas.
From 2011 on…
2015 – Heart Ibiza. In collaboration with Albert Adrià and the founder of Cirque du Soleil; a multidisciplinary project which allows us to explore the limits of what a restaurant is.
1998 –With ICC company, state-of-the-art kitchen utensils and appliances, including the siphon, are manufactured and commercialised.
2001 – Creation of Ola dishware with designer Gemma Bernal, produced by CIM, which became a success in the restaurant business.
2004 – Agreement with Armand Basi to create tablecloths and textile tableware products related to the world of cooking.
2004 – Creation of Faces, producing cutlery, kitchenware and utensils for table service, in a joint collaboration with some great names in Spanish design.
35 books
More than 15,000 pages of content
More than 8,000 images
6 CDs with 1,846 recipes
Self-published
2009 – General Audio-visual Catalogue in 9 episodes, in collaboration with Televisión Española
2009 – A Day at elBulli
2011 – Documenting Documenta
In close collaboration
2009 – elBulli – Cooking in progress
2011 – elBulli, Last Waltz
…in addition to a large number of documentaries broadcasted on television channels throughout the world.