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El Bulli Case Study
Advanced Media Sales (MDIA 370)
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elBulli Case Study
The restaurant, elBulli, was an experience like no other. elBulli was opened in 1961 as a mini golf course. However, within the year, the golf course became a beach bar, and later, a restaurant. Within less than 15 years, elBulli transformed from a gold course to a high-end restaurant. In August of 1983, Chef Ferran Adrià joined the elBulli family as a chef. By 1987, Adrià was the only chef at elBulli. Because of him, the restaurant has three Michelin stars and is almost impossible to dine at because they only serve 50 guests per night and are only open for half of the year. The success of elBulli is all because Adrià and his creativity. He has very unique cuisine, never repeating a meal, but he also makes sure to meet every one of his guests to give them the full experience of elBulli. The meals given to these guests consists of three appetizers and 35 different entrees, so they can experience all kinds of different tastes and textures made by Adrià. However, besides the incredible experience they give to their guests, elBulli had some struggles within their business.
Although elBulli was successful in pleasing their guests, they struggled to break even each year. This is because it is expensive to run an entire restaurant, especially if you are only open for half of the year. They also had no advertising plan for their business, meaning they had no marketing team to help them. Therefore, the only way people heard about elBulli was by word of mouth from past guests or employees. In addition to these issues, competing restaurants also began to catch on to Adrià’s methods. Therefore, these other restaurants were beginning to implement some of Adrià’s methods in their own restaurants. This began to make elBulli look less unique which was their main priority. I believe there are a few solutions that could help elBulli become successful again.
First, I think that elBulli could cut down the time that each guest is there for. In the case study, it mentioned that all guests were there for six hours each. If they could cut that time even in half, they could get double the customers and double the income. In addition, I think it would be helpful if elBulli came up with a marketing plan. Even just a little effort into a marketing plan could go a long way. By advertising their restaurant, they could get way more customers to make reservations. Some customers struggled with finding the restaurant since they have no marketing for their company and that is a major inconvenience for customers. If elBulli even just advertised around the area of the restaurant and created a website, that could help make the restaurant much more accessible to the public. Lastly, I think it’s important for Adrià to become a little less food centric and become more customer centric. If he evened out the two, customers would be more pleased and the food could still be very unique and different. The food will still be great if not fantastic quality and the restaurant will be more profitable with happy customers. I think by putting these solutions into action, elBulli could become very successful and well-known.
I believe that elBulli is a great quality restaurant that gives its customers an experience they will never forget. However, there are some things they would have to change in order to be successful with their income since they have struggled to breakeven with their income each year. By creating a marketing plan, more people will know about elBulli and therefore, they will get more customers, meaning more money. In addition, it’ll please their customers to be more accessible. If elBulli could make these few changes, I think they can be a very successful restaurant in the future, while still being unique.
El Bulli Case Study
Course: Advanced Media Sales (MDIA 370)
University: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
