Nandu Jubany i Anna Orte: "If I had set out to get three stars, I would have gotten them."

CalldetenesIn 2015, Nandu Jubany and Anna Orte welcomed the ARA team to their home in Calldetenes (Osona). To mark Can Jubany's 30th anniversary, we returned.

Ten years have passed.

— RheaWe've passed half our lives, both personal and professional. I'll be 55 this January, and it's all gone by too fast.

Thirty years ago he started sleeping on a mattress on the floor.

— AnnaYes, with the workers. I cried every day, but I believed in him wholeheartedly because I knew he would accomplish everything he set his mind to. Over the years he's mellowed out, and now he's not as intense as he was when he was younger.

So the dream was three Michelin stars?

— RheaI thought it would be nice to have three stars, but when I met Carme Ruscalleda, Carles Gaig, Santi Santamaria, and Ferran Adrià, I saw the dedication they had to put in. And now I see clearly that it's a place I never wanted to be. I mean, if I had set my mind to it... I don't mean to sound pretentious, though, but if I had set my mind to having three stars 10 years ago, I would have three stars today, for sure. Because I would have done what it takes to get three stars: a restaurant with 30 or 40 seats, and dedicated myself 100%, and always be on pins and needles when the guide inspectors come, and there you are, all dressed up... And anyone who tells you otherwise is lying. You have to experience it. I chose to be more entrepreneurial, to do different things, and not always repeat myself. During the first 10 years of Can Jubany, I hardly moved, but I couldn't see myself doing the same roast every day for the rest of my life. What I'm passionate about is doing. Sometimes things don't go well, like that rural tourism house that didn't do well. But let it be known that we haven't left many dead along the way, eh?

— AnnaI always tell him he tricked me when we were young, because he said, "I'll retire you young," and now I see I'm getting older and I'm still working. I still have drive, but my day-to-day life is always the same. I'm the queen of the castle, but the castle is a little bit looming over me sometimes.

And do we have a solution for that?

— RheaWe have three children. Eudald is 26 and has already taken the reins. Gil has his hat on the table, he hasn't put it on yet. When we were talking about these 30 years, we said we'd take Can Jubany and turn it into a Catalan restaurant. And if they take away our star, so be it, but we shouldn't have to be there every day. Gil could be the one to run Can Jubany. And if he sets his mind to getting three stars, he'll get them, because he's more stubborn than I am. Now, our children have many options and they have to choose. If they take too long to choose, we'll start making the decisions ourselves.

— AnnaWe'll put it all in a little package, with a little bird, and see who wants it.

— RheaWe've worked for two lifetimes. But I don't want to give up, okay?

— AnnaNo, nobody wants you to fold.

But how much time can you dedicate to cooking now?

— RheaThere are weeks of everything, but the thing is, we used to have a restaurant, and now we have a company. This summer we had 550 people. We have 14 restaurants up and running, plus the croquettes, the cannelloni, the consulting services, the hotel… And what we do is create teams, families… who run each restaurant. I understood it during the lockdown in 2020: those people who give me life, who run the restaurants, who were already earning a very good living, well, they would become the owners. I give them a very significant percentage of what they earn. And that way I don't have to go to Pur or Can Jubany to cook every week. And let me be clear, if I had the time I would go, because I'm still a very good cook, you know? I'm still not intimidated by anyone when it comes to cooking. But I have to be involved in everything: communication, marketing, accounting, human resources, being a father, a brother, an uncle, a psychologist…

— Anna: From husband.

— Rhea: From husband.

And do you enjoy all the work you do?

— RheaA lot. There's only one thing I don't like: having to play the bad guy. And I say to them, "Will you ever let me play the good guy?" Because if we do the Pastorets every year, and I always have to play Lucifer... I'd like to play Rovelló once in a while!

You need to find someone who will make your life easier.

— RheaWe are looking for a general manager with the experience of a headhunter [talent scout], who I thought was a football player, but the problem is that it's very difficult to put people on top of this team, because they are very good.

— Anna: Apart from the fact that people get a little scared of Nandu and say "I can't catch him, Nandu is too powerful."

— Rhea: After I had been with that person for an hour, I realized that that guy had already shrunk down and was under the chair.

During the pandemic, she had that explosion of croquettes and videos. That was a turning point in her story.

— AnnaWhen we were locked down, Nandu, of course, needed something to do, and he'd say, "Come on, let's all clean up the garage," and the boys would hide. So I grabbed him and said, "Nandu, think about it: we don't know how long we'll be locked up, and you can't stress us out like this, because we'll either jump out the window or we'll throw you out." Then he started thinking, and the daily recipes came about.

You brought a smile to many people's homes every day, at a time when we were all quite scared.

— AnnaHe thinks that there are still people who come to the restaurant, start crying, and hug him.

— RheaAnd people don't know this, but it was very hard for me too. We had 200 employees. I owed the bank 7 million, you know? Thank goodness for government loans. It seemed like we'd never do weddings again. But in the end, we built trust among the employees. They saw me as calm, but I was thinking, "Do you think I know the solution to this?"

— Anna: This is the person who always sees the glass half full.

— RheaI'm not pessimistic. I think that if it's up to us, we'll do it. And Carme Ruscalleda told me something I haven't forgotten: "A chef can't tell people that things are going badly for them." If you go to a restaurant, you want to be made happy, not have them tell you about their problems. We have to convey that.

From the interview 10 years ago, I've been left with a phrase from one of your sons: "Why is this house made so big if you're never here?"

— AnnaThis phrase hurt us a lot, but in the long run it did us a lot of good, because it was absolutely right, and because when we analyzed what it would mean to have Sunday parties we immediately said "We're closing." And we decided at Carmen's house, one day when we went out for lunch.

You all love her a lot, Carme Ruscalleda, don't you?

— RheaAbsolutely, we have great respect for her. The way she fought and refused to be fooled by that "You'll be the best cook in the world" nonsense. No, no, she wanted to compete with the cooks and be the best, men and women. And it's not enough to be a good cook. You have to communicate; people have to find what they expect in relation to what they pay. You can never fail.

Your ready-made cannelloni and croquettes align with what architects and developers are saying now: that the houses of the future won't have kitchens, but rather a room with a refrigerator and microwave. And supermarkets are increasingly dedicating more space to prepared food.

— RheaCulture and families are changing. We Catalans will change too. But we're losing a lot, aren't we? And I don't know if we're even aware of it. I'll try not to give up. Right now I'm making cannelloni and croquettes, and a line of sauces, and soon I'll be making a line of sofritos. I want you to be able to make rice on Sunday, and when you take a can of Nandu, open it, and pour it in, watch a video and let Nandu show you whether to add some vine shoots or artichokes. I'm making it easy for you, but keep cooking.

And if you want a spherification, you go to the restaurant.

— RheaDo you know what I realized? Twenty years ago, what I couldn't do with spherification, a somersault, and three flips, I could already do with folding. And, of course, I came from the world of cannelloni, roasts, and fricandó. I made spherical shapes, but it wasn't my style of cooking, was it? And one day I decided to stick to what I could stand behind: that when people put that cannelloni in their mouths, it would remind them of their grandmother's and transport them back. I haven't been creative, I'm hardworking. When people talk about being creative, I burst out laughing. You know why? Because everyone copies. People aren't that creative. And we shouldn't hide under the sofa to avoid being creative. There are other things: being stubborn, enterprising, persistent, that desire to please... And that leads you to do really good things.

So creative, Ferran Adrià.

— RheaEvery town should have a street named after him, paid for by the town's restaurants. Ferran gave us life. There's hardly a menu that doesn't feature a foam or one of the techniques he taught us. Techniques, mind you. I'm not talking about dishes. And it seems the current generation has almost forgotten Ferran. Cuisine is like a pendulum, sometimes very modern and sometimes very classic, and it changes every 10 or 15 years. And now this kind of creative cuisine, with tasting menus and 40-course meals, we only want it one or two days a year. We're not here anymore. And we're going back to the product, to Catalan cuisine, to grilling, to eating natural foods, to simply pan-frying.

What do you think you'll be doing in 10 years?

— AnnaI don't know, what do I know? One of my children will be at Can Jubany and I won't be there anymore; I'll be doing other things. Now, in our country, we can't just sit still.

— RheaI would really like to be able to help the boys, for one of them to become a chef. I'd like the youngest, Lluc, to be a chef. I lost my father very young and I've always missed him terribly. I think he's helped me from heaven, but he wasn't there to help me. And I'd like to be healthy enough to be able to support my children through this transition and for us to be able to do many things together. And don't worry, I'll never be idle! If I lose one job, I'll do another. And I don't want to lose that vitality, because when I'm on the sofa, people ask me if I'm sick.

Perhaps in 10 years there will be some small child running around.

— RheaI don't know, at the moment we don't have any women hanging around. Well, sometimes one comes in, but she leaves again in the morning...