Mauri Pastry Shop: an abundant paradise of sweet and savory treats

BarcelonaIt's a stately corner of Barcelona's Rambla de Catalunya. We're in Mauri Pastry Shop: a paradise of sweet and savory treats. If we look up at the ceiling, we see some original paintings. We find Amalthea, surrounded by cherubs, toppling the cornucopia from which fruit overflows. If we look ahead, we see that what once rained from the cornucopia has been transformed before our very eyes into a sea of tea biscuits, cakes, cristinas, diplomates, secalls, cream-filled rolls, croissants—here, they still sell more shortbread than butter—croquettes, and sandwiches—we could go on forever. "We have more than a thousand products," explains the manager, Marc Mauri. Everything is fresh, without additives or preservatives. "It's a little ocean liner in the middle of Barcelona," he says. I would say it's also a small work of art. Every day, Marc dedicates more than an hour to placing the order for what will need to be made the following day. A necessary document of great complexity. How many Three Kings' Day cakes should they produce, for example? To make these decisions, he uses data from previous years. But he also needs to consult the data from the year in which the same day of the week fell. Quite a puzzle, and to solve it, he draws on his past as an IT consultant. Marc is the fourth generation of Mauri. The shop was opened by his great-grandfather, Francesc Mauri. Then his grandfather, Francesc Mauri, continued the business, and later his father, Francesc Mauri, expanded it and left it in a state of grace for the current generation. It's worth mentioning that Marc has a brother 11 months older who goes by the name, of course, Francisco.

His great-grandfather came from Manresa. He was young, enterprising, and knew the pastry chef's trade. He opened a pastry shop in Hostafrancs. In 1926, he went to sea and opened a restaurant with some partners on the Rambla de les Flors. The historic Nuria. Business went well, and Francesc Mauri decided to leave the restaurant to open his own business. He stumbled upon the perfect location, where we are now. His wife said to him, "Mauri, where have we ended up so far away?" The shop, initially focused on selling groceries, opened in 1929, the year of the Universal Exposition. They set up a bakery in the basement and began introducing bread and pastries. Marc's great-aunt, who died at 99, was able to tell him everything, as she was born in 1915 and had a good memory. During the Civil War, for example, they hid people downstairs in the bakery while they made bread. "If walls could talk..." says Marc. Marc never knew his grandfather, who died young at 55, and his father left architecture to run the family business. The same thing happened to him; he joined the business after his father's health problems. He works side by side with his sister, Ariadna. They're not alone; some of his father's uncles and a cousin also help out. Things have changed somewhat, though. "I thought the hardest part was IT consulting. But running a family business has shown me that's not the case," says Marc Mauri, laughing. He's passionate about his demanding work. Can Mauri is open 365 days a year, never closing. Sixty-five people work there. All meals are available: breakfast, snacks, lunch, afternoon tea, and dinner. They offer a lunch menu and a tapas menu designed for the terrace, which they opened in 2012. The trays are constantly being refilled. It's not that they're fresh daily, it's just that some items are only available at the moment. They also offer catering services, like the kind provided on private planes.

Regular clientele

"One day I was at the till and a man asked me if I was related. 'Don't even think about locking this up, it's part of Barcelona's heritage,' he told me. And I replied, 'I have no intention of doing so, but please keep coming,'" recounts Marc, who also remembers the case of Eugeni, who used to walk past Mauri on the other side of the street. He thought the pastry shop was too fancy. But one day he decided to go in. He ordered a café con leche and an ensaimada. The difference was enormous, and the price wasn't that different. From then on, Eugeni went to Mauri for breakfast every day as long as he could.

"We make our panellets with the best almonds and pine nuts. There are no shortcuts here. In other places, they'll put potato in them. My father always said, 'Don't be afraid to set prices if the ingredients are high quality.' You get what you pay for. Many customers see that we've managed to keep our prices down, we've managed to keep our prices down, without hesitating to introduce new products, like our line of vegan croquettes and sandwiches.

"We're lucky that Can Mauri is so popular. Everyone knows it. And we sell a product that people like, a sweet treat," he explains, although he acknowledges that having an iconic and protected establishment also comes with its challenges. "It's not easy to run this kind of business, and you'd often appreciate having more support. Right now, it's a great business, with a future, and it's a family business."