用意大利菜引誘“法國(guó)胃”

It is a Sunday evening in early August and while most of Paris has decamped to the beach, outside Pizzeria Popolare in the city’s trendy 2nd arrondissement, millennials are queueing up waiting for the Italian restaurant to open.

8月初一個(gè)周日的晚上，大多數(shù)巴黎人已經(jīng)去了海灘，而在這座城市時(shí)髦的第二區(qū)的Pizzeria Popolare門外，千禧一代們?cè)谂抨?duì)等著這家意大利餐館開門營(yíng)業(yè)。

The establishment does not take bookings so they have come early to be sure of getting their hands on its trademark €5 Neapolitan margherita pizzas. It opened in April and each day 1,300 diners pass through its doors. Pizzeria Popolare is part of the Big Mamma food group, and since it opened its first restaurant in Paris two years ago it has shaken up the French capital’s restaurant scene — typically associated with haute cuisine and bistronomie rather than homemade Italian street food.

這家店不接受預(yù)訂，所以他們?cè)缭缇瓦^(guò)來(lái)了，這樣才能買到該店標(biāo)志性的5歐元那不勒斯瑪格麗塔披薩。這家店在4月份開張，每天服務(wù)的食客達(dá)1300人。Pizzeria Popolare是比格•馬馬(Big Mamma)食品集團(tuán)的一部分，自兩年前在巴黎開張第一家餐館以來(lái)，已攪動(dòng)了巴黎餐館業(yè)——后者以高級(jí)烹飪和小餐館(而不是家常的意大利街頭食品)見(jiàn)長(zhǎng)。

The group has grown to six restaurants, employs more than 400 people, and this year will close a €20m fundraising round at a valuation of just over €100m, according to investors, to fund a European expansion. Last year it recorded revenues of €15m, which it expects to more than double this year.

這家集團(tuán)已發(fā)展到擁有6家餐館，聘用逾400名員工，據(jù)投資人介紹，今年將完成一輪2000萬(wàn)歐元的籌資(使估值達(dá)到略高于1億歐元)，以便在歐洲各國(guó)擴(kuò)張。去年，該集團(tuán)錄得營(yíng)收1500萬(wàn)歐元，預(yù)計(jì)今年增幅將超過(guò)100%。

Behind the Big Mamma group is Victor Lugger and Tigrane Seydoux, a pair of entrepreneurs in their early thirties who have been friends since they met at HEC Paris business school. Over rare beef and burrata (made 36 hours ago in Puglia) at Pink Mamma, their latest venture that opened in June, Mr Lugger reflects on how Big Mamma became the fastest-growing restaurant group in Paris.

比格•馬馬食品集團(tuán)的老板是維克托•盧格爾(Victor Lugger)(見(jiàn)題圖)和提格蘭•塞杜(Tigrane Seydoux)。這對(duì)創(chuàng)業(yè)家剛剛年過(guò)30歲，自從在巴黎高等商學(xué)院(HEC Paris)結(jié)識(shí)后一直是朋友。盧格爾一邊在Pink Mamma享用著三成熟牛肉和布拉塔乳酪(burrata)——36小時(shí)之前在普利亞(Puglia)烹飪而成——一邊思索Big Mamma是如何成為巴黎增長(zhǎng)最快的餐飲集團(tuán)的。Pink Mamma是他倆在6月開張的新生意。

“Our number-one obsession at the start was how can we have the best value for money,” he says. “The restaurant industry is not about margin, it’s about volume. In France, no one seems to understand that.”

“一開始我們關(guān)心的頭號(hào)問(wèn)題是，我們?nèi)绾文茏屽X花得最值，”他說(shuō)，“餐館業(yè)的關(guān)鍵不是利潤(rùn)率，而是規(guī)模。在法國(guó)，似乎誰(shuí)也不明白這一點(diǎn)。”

Mr Lugger likens Big Mamma’s approach to fast fashion brands such as Zara and Uniqlo, which — by operating vast stores in prime locations and producing enormous quantities of products — are able to offer items like cashmere jumpers, once deemed luxury items, at mass market prices.

盧格爾認(rèn)為，Big Mamma的戰(zhàn)略類似于Zara和優(yōu)衣庫(kù)(Uniqlo)等快時(shí)尚品牌。這些品牌在黃金地段經(jīng)營(yíng)大型門店并生產(chǎn)巨量產(chǎn)品，從而有能力以大眾市場(chǎng)價(jià)格出售開司米毛衫等曾被視為奢侈品的商品。

Big Mamma is seeking to do the same with Italian food. The restaurant world is a notoriously fickle business and the sheer size of its six Paris-based restaurants — a key asset — could easily turn into a liability if the brand falls out of favour and millennials opt to queue elsewhere.

Big Mamma尋求對(duì)意大利菜如法炮制。餐館是一門變幻無(wú)常的生意，如果品牌不再流行，千禧一代們選擇去其他餐館排隊(duì)，那么Big Mamma在巴黎擁有6家餐館(這是核心資產(chǎn))的這種規(guī)模，很容易變成一種負(fù)擔(dān)。

For now this obsession with achieving volume seems to be paying off. The group feeds 3,600 people a day across its six eateries, which have a total of 850 seats between them. On average this means that each restaurant is receiving at least two sittings of guests a day for both lunch and dinner.

就目前而言，這種對(duì)擴(kuò)大規(guī)模的執(zhí)著似乎正在見(jiàn)效。Big Mamma旗下6家餐館共有850個(gè)座位，每天來(lái)消費(fèi)的食客有3600人。平均來(lái)說(shuō)，這意味著每家餐館在每天的中午和晚上兩個(gè)就餐時(shí)段都至少接待兩批食客。

Each establishment is different in its design and speciality; the only dishes that are consistent across all six menus are San Daniele ham, pizza margherita, truffle pasta and tiramisu. There’s East Mamma (a trattoria), Ober Mamma (cocktail bar and wood-fired oven), Mamma Primi (handmade fresh pasta), Biglove (gluten-free pizza and Italian brunch), Pink Mamma (meat) and Popolare (pizza). The drinks menu offers a twist on traditional classics including a timely “Vladimir Poutine matches Brigitte” cocktail: tequila, ginger beer, lime and absinthe, which is — somewhat bizarrely — garnished with crushed nacho chips.

每家店的設(shè)計(jì)和特色有所不同;唯一在6家店都相同的是圣丹尼爾火腿、瑪格麗特披薩、松露意大利面和提拉米蘇(一種意大利甜品——譯者注)。這些店分別是East Mamma(意大利便餐店)、Ober Mamma(雞尾酒吧和木炭烤箱)、Mamma Primi(手工制作新鮮意大利面)、Biglove(不含面筋的披薩和意大利早午餐)、Pink Mamma(肉類)和Popolare(披薩)。飲料菜單提供傳統(tǒng)經(jīng)典的改良品種，包括適時(shí)推出的“Vladimir Poutine matches Brigitte”雞尾酒：其中包含特奎拉酒、姜汁啤酒、青檸和苦艾酒，然后有點(diǎn)兒奇怪地用碎的玉米片點(diǎn)綴。

“One reason why we have succeeded so far is that we always made the ambitious choice,” says Mr Lugger. This meant persuading Martin Brudnizki, an interior designer known for creating the interiors of top London establishments such as The Ivy, Scott’s and Annabel’s, to design the inside of its first Big Mamma restaurant, and two subsequent ones. Well-priced food, the founders thought, did not have to be at the expense of a high-end dining experience. All of the plates and bowls, for example, are hand-painted ceramics from Deruta in Italy — a deliberate choice since the bright colours Deruta is known for are perfect for Instagram (the group has 52,300 followers on the social-networking site).

“我們迄今取得成功的一個(gè)原因是，我們總是做出雄心勃勃的選擇，”盧格爾說(shuō)。這包括說(shuō)服知名室內(nèi)設(shè)計(jì)師馬丁•布魯?shù)履岽幕?Martin Brudnizki)來(lái)設(shè)計(jì)Big Mamma第一家餐館、以及之后兩家餐館的內(nèi)飾;布魯?shù)履岽幕騽?chuàng)建倫敦頂級(jí)餐廳如常春藤(The Ivy)、Scott’s和Annabel’s的內(nèi)飾而聞名。兩位創(chuàng)始人認(rèn)為，享用價(jià)格合理的美食，不一定要以犧牲高端就餐體驗(yàn)為代價(jià)。比如說(shuō)，所有的盤和碗都是來(lái)自意大利德魯塔(Deruta)的手繪陶瓷，這是一個(gè)精心的選擇，因?yàn)槭沟卖斔劽拿骺焐释昝肋m合Instagram(該集團(tuán)在這一社交平臺(tái)上擁有5.23萬(wàn)名粉絲)。

Mr Lugger believes another important reason for Big Mamma’s success is that the group always had access to capital. “There is no market for financing the food market in France,” he says. “Restaurants are a real business in France but until recently, very few people were willing to invest capital in [them]. Bistronomie is very linked to the fact that no one finances big restaurants.”

盧格爾認(rèn)為，Big Mamma取得成功的另一原因在于，該集團(tuán)始終能獲得融資。“在法國(guó)，沒(méi)有為餐飲企業(yè)提供融資的市場(chǎng)，”他說(shuō)，“餐館在法國(guó)是一門真正的生意，但直到不久以前，很少有人愿意投資于(餐館)。小餐館盛行跟沒(méi)人投資于大餐館有很大關(guān)系。”

Mr Lugger and Mr Seydoux initially raised €1.5m in cash at the start of 2014 from several prominent French entrepreneurs. In a second round they received investment from telecoms billionaire Xavier Niel. In June Big Mamma did the catering for the launch party of Station F, Mr Niel’s new campus, in a former railway depot, that will house 1,000 start-ups. There are plans to open a 1,000-cover Big Mamma restaurant there in the coming months, which would make it the largest restaurant in France.

2014年初，盧格爾和塞杜從法國(guó)幾位知名企業(yè)家那里籌到150萬(wàn)歐元資金。在第二輪融資時(shí)，他們獲得了電信業(yè)億萬(wàn)富豪沙維爾•尼爾(Xavier Niel)的投資。今年6月，Big Mamma為尼爾的新園區(qū)Station F的發(fā)布會(huì)承辦了酒宴。該園區(qū)設(shè)在一個(gè)前火車站里，將可以容納1000家初創(chuàng)企業(yè)。目前還計(jì)劃在未來(lái)幾個(gè)月內(nèi)開張一家有1000個(gè)座位的Big Mamma餐館，它將成為法國(guó)最大的餐館。

French nouvelle cuisine emerged in the 1960s to rebel against the complexity of the haute cuisine that preceded it, only to be followed in the 1990s by the bistronomie movement that aimed to democratise gastronomie by making it cheaper and more accessible. Now there is a next wave of restaurateurs who want to make high-quality food available to everyone. “I believe that Big Mamma along with a few others are initiating a real change in the game. There are huge business opportunities in France for doing what we’re doing with Italian food, but with other cuisines like Asian,” Mr Lugger says.

新派法式料理運(yùn)動(dòng)發(fā)端于1960年代，是對(duì)此前復(fù)雜的高級(jí)烹飪的反叛，但在1990年代又出現(xiàn)了小餐館運(yùn)動(dòng)，力求讓美食民主化，使其更便宜和更容易獲得。目前出現(xiàn)了又一波想讓每個(gè)人享用到高質(zhì)量餐飲的餐館老板。“我認(rèn)為，Big Mamma和其他幾個(gè)商家開始真正改變游戲。眼下，法國(guó)存在類似于我們推廣意大利食品這樣的巨大商機(jī)，比如亞洲菜等其他菜肴，”盧格爾說(shuō)。

For Big Mamma, the focus is distinctly Italian. “Big Mamma is a place where you open the door and you’re in Italy. We work very hard to make you feel like you’re in Italy,” Mr Lugger adds.

Big Mamma專注于鮮明的意大利風(fēng)味。“Big Mamma是一個(gè)你就打開門，就感覺(jué)自己來(lái)到意大利的地方。我們努力讓你感覺(jué)自己置身于意大利，”盧格爾接著說(shuō)。

The next stage for the group is to recreate Italy in the UK, Spain, and Italy itself. It has already started to scout potential sites in London, Madrid and Milan, and plans to open restaurants in at least one of these cities next year.

Big Mamma的下一步是在英國(guó)、西班牙甚至意大利國(guó)內(nèi)“再造”意大利。該集團(tuán)已開始在倫敦、馬德里和米蘭物色潛在店址，計(jì)劃明年至少在上述城市之一開設(shè)餐館。

“Every time we make a restaurant it’s all about breaking new ground,” Mr Lugger says. “But we must not forget why it’s working. It’s working because we’re having fun.”

“我們每開張一家餐館，都會(huì)有所突破，”盧格爾說(shuō)，“但我們絕不能忘記業(yè)務(wù)為什么成功。業(yè)務(wù)成功是因?yàn)槲覀儚闹蝎@得了樂(lè)趣。”