Billy Brunch: "Why do pizza and ramen not have the same problems as 'brunch'?"

BarcelonaDreta de l'Eixample. We are on Bailèn street, between Mallorca and València. Here a chick is the sheriff of the corner. It is the yellow and recognizable logo of Billy Brunch, which has three locations at numbers 113, 115, and 129. In addition, its vehicles can be seen parked, red and with the chick superimposed. Between the three locations, they serve 900 people on weekends, and about 500 during the week. The one in the middle of the corner, the one at 115, is the first one that opened, out of the six in Barcelona (then two more opened in Madrid and two in Seville). This first location, which was a resounding success, has just been expanded by adding a slide and a ball pit, red and yellow, which can be seen from the street. The pool was installed after the one in Madrid in the center of the restaurant was a great attraction. This one is more discreet, though. "Adults can go in, right?", the owner tells me, inviting me to try it. In Barcelona, it seems we don't dare as much and leave it for the kids and the influencers.

As its name indicates, behind the chick is a Billy. This is Billy Thorens (Saint-Blaise, Neuchâtel, Switzerland, 1988). He was born between the lake, the vineyards, and the mountain, he says. That's why, when he opened the Billy Brunch on Muntaner street, he became obsessed with having chickens in the yard. The law does not allow it and when the City Council detected it, three years later, he had to remove them. Thorens speaks French, Spanish, German, he specifies that also the Swiss German dialect, English, and Portuguese, and understands Italian and Catalan. He states that he understands Catalan 90%. I ask him the questions in Catalan and he answers in Spanish. The menu, like the website, is in four languages, also in Catalan, and according to him, more than half of the staff speak it.

He came to Barcelona to work at the W Hotel, popularly known as Hotel Vela. He came from Dubai, and before that he had worked in a Michelin-starred restaurant in Switzerland, under a French chef. He decided to start a business here because the initial investment was better, the market is strong, and people go out to consume more than in Switzerland, where he assures that everything has become too expensive. The price, in fact, will be one of the factors he uses to defend his establishments when we suggest that the brunch did not live its moment of maximum popularity among many Catalans. "I experience it as an injustice. Why don't pizza and ramen have the same problems as brunch? I always say that I have a restaurant that serves breakfast all day. I named it Billy Brunch because it's an international name. And besides, I wanted to call it Galliner d'en Blai. Because my dream is to reach New York and I wanted people there to understand that I came from Barcelona. But my surroundings told me that it couldn't be, that I needed an international term that sounded better. I did the whole business plan with the name Galliner d'en Blai out of respect for Barcelona, which was giving me the opportunity", he explains.

Finally, however, it was the brunch it was imposed. "Look, I have the coffee with milk at 2.10 euros and the toast with scrambled eggs at 6.50," he says. He argues that he has adjusted prices so that locals come, that he maintains very tight margins without sacrificing quality, that he can do it because of the volume he does, but that the reason is that he wants local clientele to come. "We have had many Catalan customers coming here, now it's true that fewer. On the weekend you'll see many," he assures. He states that there is a lot of hate on social media, "but the hate does not represent people. Normal people don't comment on posts". Thorens moves like a fish in water in managing social networks.

Cruises, large holders and taxes

For him the problem is not the brunch, but it is more complex. He rails against cruise ships "that bring 5,000 tourists who at most buy a magnet". And then against property owners. "We are the target. And I understand, when there is hatred it is because there is suffering. But I hire 200 people, I pay a lot of taxes. When you see the tram, I contribute to paying for these things. But we are very identifiable. You see an expensive drink consumed by an expat and you say it's our fault. But what they don't see is that there are thousands of closed apartments belonging to large holders who intentionally leave them closed to speculate," he states. And he recalls clients he has lost. "It is true that I had Catalan families who have left. Also because they want to be in places where they feel more at home. I understand that in Switzerland, if I leave my mother's house and of the 20 people I meet, none are from here, you don't feel at home. This is the case in Switzerland and everywhere. It's not gentrification, it's globalization".

Whether called globalization or gentrification, we ask him if it doesn't hurt your eyes to have three establishments so close to each other. "I totally agree with that," says Billy Thorens surprisingly. And he explains the history of each establishment: “Before, the Julien was here. They served a daily menu with a French touch and in the afternoon French cheese and charcuterie boards. He came from El Raval, where he was doing very well, and it didn't work out here”. Then we have Alessandro's paninis and beer. "People didn't go there," he says. The extension where the pool is had been a shower shop, what irony. Finally, the most controversial establishment, the one next to Mallorca street. "Rafa used to make traditional tapas, combo plates... We used to go there a lot and he was the one who wanted to transfer it to us". The employees he had and his sister now work at Billy Brunch.

"If you want places with Catalan essence to remain, you have to go there. We used to go to Rafa's, and when he was doing renovations and neighbors would come and tell me: 'What a shame Rafa is closing and you're opening.' I would tell them: 'But did you go there?' And they didn't go," he recalls. Sometimes they have found graffiti on the shutter, their cars have been vandalized, and they have found voodoo dolls, candles, and coins. "Witchcraft," the owner calls it. "We do a lot for the neighborhood and for Barcelona. If I leave and a Xampanyet opens, they will open at night and there will be noise at night. Besides, I have more Catalan clientele than Xampanyet. Go and see, it's a fact," he assures. What is a fact is that at Billy Brunch establishments there are usually queues of customers looking for this cuisine, and probably, as Zoo sang, all they were missing was a slide.