Arnau París: “After 'MasterChef,' I earned a lot more money selling faucets than I did as a chef.”

BarcelonaChef and journalist Arnau París (Barcelona, ​​1988) was three years old and already had a taste for money. If they went to a restaurant, his parents had to make sure he didn't take the tip: "Did I see a hundred pesetas there? I'd take them and put them in my pocket."

París entered the working world working as an electrical installation technician at the age of 15. He put his first salary on a motorcycle: "It was a 49, Vicent Roja. My father made me pay 25%." And when the car arrived, they agreed to split the cost. "I've been lucky that we've never lacked anything at home. We've had a comfortable position, and therefore, I haven't had to work to pay for my studies," he explains. However, he combined his degree in business administration and management with work: "I worked for a company that made investments, and I saw it as a chance to learn outside of my studies." "They paid me shit. I look back on it now and say, 'What bastards!'" the chef recalls.

Paris was born into a family of entrepreneurs; his father owns a faucet company, and his mother is a teacher who set up a daycare center: "I was influenced by my father's family business. I trained in multinational companies and eventually took over." He was working there when his life took a 180-degree turn in 2021, when he became the winner of MasterChefSince then, he's dedicated himself to gastronomy: "It's not that I quit the kitchen to see that I could make a living from this; I quit because I wanted to work and wanted to take advantage of the opportunity." "In fact, for two years, I was earning much more money as a salesman than as a cook or communicator. And I said, 'Maybe I was wrong,'" he explains, but clarifies that things then fell into place. They offered him a job at TV3, he did the casting, and he started earning a better living again. And today, he makes a living from this.

The current presenter of the Kitchens He takes advantage of his stability on TV to invest in projects that seem sensible to him and that in the future, when he's no longer on the screen, will be a source of income. He's been self-employed for years now: "I'm obsessed with numbers. I keep my accounting down to the last minute. Every day I look at the monthly sales total, the expenses, the profit." And that allows him to make decisions: "Before investing money somewhere, I look at it carefully. And yes, I've put money in places where things haven't gone well, but at least I know why." One example is a spice brand he set up with two other partners: "To sustain the day-to-day running of the company, we have to keep injecting money. It's not a situation where I like to put money into a company that isn't doing well now. But I know it has done well in the past, and I see that there are large-scale projects that are about to close in the short term.

However, the best decision was to invest in social media, creating videos and content. Not only for advertising, but also to grow different projects: "We've done showcookings through the towns of Catalonia, television, radio, books. All of this magical experience is thanks to the investment I've made in the Arnau Paris brand."

As for personal finances, he's not a person with "great luxuries": "We have a great farmhouse in Lleida. I generally try not to waste, to control my spending." Although he does have "splendid moments": "When you least expect it, I'll give you a gift." And if he really wants something, he assures us he doesn't want to buy it: "I don't mind paying expensive bills if they're worth it. I'm more upset about paying 50 euros at a restaurant I didn't like than not paying 100 or 200 and leaving happy," he says.

Regarding housing, he has always lived in a rented apartment: "Now I say that I am insquatter Because the apartment belongs to my partner, but we have a financial agreement. And now we're trying to buy some property." Since he worked as a mortgage manager, he's gotten a sense of what he can aspire to: "I know what I have saved and what I can contribute. How much money I can borrow, but above all, how much I can take on myself if everything goes wrong."

On the other hand, Paris is clear that she will have a retirement: "There's a portion of what you're earning now that should help you sustain yourself long-term. Aside from investing in projects, there's a portion that's invested in assets, stocks, and capital. There has to be something that will help support me in the future."