"The winners of the best croissant contest don't even come to collect the €1,000 check they win."

BarcelonaThe Pastry School of the Barcelona Guild celebrated the 50th anniversary of the birth of the teachings intended to pass on the trade to the children of its members at Barcelona's Borne Market. "For 20 years, only children could enroll in the school, but it was later extended to active, unionized workers, and later, scholarships were created," explains Saray Ruiz, director of the Pastry School. It's difficult to summarize fifty years, but the goals the school emphasizes are some of the most important. There are many more that we reviewed at the school with her and also with Olivier Fernández, manager of the Pastry School.

"The School would not have been created if the guild, which has been around for 124 years, hadn't existed," says Ruiz, adding that the school and the Chocolate Museum were born from the guild. The years when the Pastry School was located on Comtal Street in Barcelona are long gone because, once they moved to Plaça Pons i Clerch, everything was brought together: the Chocolate Museum, the guild itself, and the school. Then, in the 2007-2008 academic year, a step forward was taken to modernize the studios. Olivier himself and José Romero, the great expert in fermented doughs, joined as teachers, and the school's facilities were also expanded, a residence was created, and a lecture hall was inaugurated. "Our school has produced well-known pastry chefs and cooks, whom we've recognized with awards, such as Oriol Castro, who completed five years of pastry training, and whom we wanted to recognize with an award," explains Olivier Fernández, referring to the awards given to prominent figures during the 50th anniversary celebration. Other winners include journalist Carme Gasull, who took home the Dulce de Comunicación Award.

There have been further advances in recent years, such as the international school project in the United States and Mexico, which will also expand to other Latin American countries. "Just days before the celebration gala, students from Mexico came to us to take pastry courses," says Saray Ruiz, who has been the school's director for a year after having worked her way through all the roles at Auca: student, who started in 2010; winner of the competition for best chocolatier in Spain in 2019; and recipient of a scholarship to study abroad.

Currently, the guild and the pastry school are enjoying a sweet moment, never better said. "Being part of it is prestigious; the profession values its studies, because it is more demanding with everything it does," agree Fernández and Ruiz. They have 302 member bakeries, and the number increases annually. "This is the first time in many years that it hasn't stopped growing, and if we compare it with other trades and other guilds, we would realize that the same isn't happening," says Saray Ruiz, referring to other artisan trades, such as carpentry. "Bakery shops and bakeries are the businesses that best survive the times, and I would also add pharmacies," explains Ruiz, who goes back to the pandemic to verify that the three establishments were probably the ones that worked the most. "Some members have even told us that the time they earned the most revenue was during the pandemic," affirms the director of the Pastry School.

The trade and business of pastry chefs are at their peak

Thus, the trade and the business are working, despite the growing intrusion. "The intrusion into the pastry industry has led us to believe that San Juan cakes from supermarkets are cheaper than artisan ones," says Olivier Fernández, who adds that the same is true of panellets and other sweets tied to calendar holidays sold in retail stores. "There are industrial businesses that dress up as artisans, seeking to confuse consumers because they have a Mediterranean aesthetic, but they are not bakeries; we are referring to establishments like 365, Levaduramadre, Santa Gloria, Vivari, or Granier," they explain.

For the school's manager and director, more knowledge is needed. "We know we can't eat baked goods every day because of the sugar content; the same bakery has already reduced many quantities in products that previously contained more. So why do we eat industrial pastries every day?" In this sense, Olivier also adds another factor, which is that there are towns where it's easier to find an industrial sweet shop than a bakery. "In Gavà, where I live, there used to be five bakeries; there was a time when that was possible, and now there's only one, which is doing very well. So sometimes what we need is a choice of bakeries," he comments.

To continue, among all the pastries offered by bakeries, the ones that are at their peak are the laminated doughs, pastries, and ice creams. "We know that the city of Barcelona has seen a 34% increase in the creation of artisanal ice creams in the last ten years, often linked to the sale of pastries, such as croissants," says Saray Ruiz. In fact, there are bakeries like Morreig, from the Gracia neighborhood of Barcelona, ​​​​which prepares almost exclusively the two preparations, croissants, chocolate croissants and ice creamNow, in general, in our country all sweets linked to traditions work very well.

And at this point, we turn our conversation with Saray Ruiz and Olivier Fernández to the competitions promoted by the Pastry Guild, which have probably influenced the huge boom in croissants, sweets, crème brulee nougat, and panettones. They haven't ruled out ice cream, but they're not doing so for now. "The competitions have gone very well, but we're also finding that there's intrusion from commercial companies, journalists, influencers and other organizations that organize it with their own lucrative objective, and this fact is very misleading," says the manager of the Pastry Guild, who adds that the competitions they organize only seek to promote the product and the pastry chefs. Furthermore, they are very strict with the regulations; those who arrive later than those who cannot deliver a sample can also arrive later than the appointed time because we don't let them in," says Fernández. They are strict, they have a notary hired, but it is the only possible way in which they believe a competition should be held.

Regarding the croissant competition, perhaps one of the best-known of all those organized by the Pastry Guild, the manager reveals that the winners have sometimes suggested never entering again. "We don't agree. We don't let them enter the following year because they participate as judges who score but can't speak so as not to influence the rest of the jury, but we believe we should let them participate in subsequent years," they comment. They know that what happens is that there are Pastry shops that win twice, as in 2020 and 2024 In the case of Brunells, or up to three times (2016, 2019 and 2022) in the Canal pastry shop, with Toni Vera at the helmThe organizers of the contest think that they should not do a restrictive regulation for the winners, as has happened with other competitions, such as the 50 Best Restaurants"Motorcycle racer Marc Márquez continues to participate and win, and no one says he shouldn't compete more," says Saray Ruiz, comparing the pastry competition to that of elite athletes. This is the view they maintain despite knowing that the moment the winners are announced, when the name of a bakery that has already won other editions appears, words like "cheating" are often heard.

Finally, a curious fact: the winner of the croissant competition wins a check for 1,000 euros. But, lo and behold, the success in the pastry shop is so overwhelming, sales increase so much due to the visibility provided by the prize, that "in recent years we've had to call them ourselves to come and collect the check for the thousand euros; they don't even come to collect it unless we remind them," concludes the director of the Escola de Pastis.