Audacious Report with Lucía Lagarroiti, who has 3 ‘Maritxu’ stores in London where she sells Basque cheesecakes.Manuel VázquezPerhaps the secret is in the figurine of Saint Pancras that discreetly presides over each of the stores that La Maritxu has in London. Lucía Larragoiti Fischer’s mother (Bilbao, 31 years old) told her that it was essential to embrace the saint for a hospitality business to be successful. His has been overwhelming. Every day he sells about 400 cheesecakes. On weekends, 500. Known as the Basque cheese cake in half the world, few can resist the flavor and creaminess of the legendary cake created in 1990 by the La Viña bar in San Sebastián. Purists continue to refer to it as the “La Viña cake.” And its recipe is not that of Coca-Cola. It is available to anyone on the internet. The success of a business like this is choosing the city, the moment and the social media strategy. Create the need that customers did not yet know they had. «We had made the cake at home, with my family, a lot of times. We are not great cooks, but we are good eaters. But it is such a simple cake… You can look up the recipe online. And I’m telling you that ours has no secret. Cream cheese, cream (the fatter the cream, the better), sugar and eggs. We don’t mind sharing the recipe, it’s very simple. But it’s true that there are tricks that you only acquire with the time and experience. A good kitchen, a good oven, good preparation, the necessary rest are essential…” explains Larragoiti first thing in the morning in the store in Connaught Village, north of Hyde Park.
La Maritxu London workshop on Connaught Street. Manuel Vázquez It was the first one that she and her husband, Ignacio Gómez-Escalonilla, opened at the end of 2023. On the ground floor they set up the original workshop. It was on that chic street in London where the first queue of customers formed, eager to try their cakes, which left Lucía with her mouth open. The story of that success, however, was forged long before, based on tenacity, intelligence, strategy and courage. And perhaps with the luck brought by Saint Pancras. After studying Architecture in Pamplona and spending a year in Mexico City, Lucía wanted to stay on that continent. It was the mother, again, who interceded for him to return. He already had another daughter, María (the original Maritxu), in Quito, Ecuador. At least, he asked, don’t leave Europe. She chose London, where she moved with her husband. He immediately began working in an architecture studio. His sister told him how he was a success at friends’ gatherings, on the other side of the Atlantic, with his Basque cheesecake. To the point of starting to accept orders and start a small business: La Maritxu.
An employee serves customers at the establishment on Connaught Street. Manuel VázquezLucía and Ignacio had already seen for themselves, in different restaurants in the British capital, how popular a dessert that was so familiar to them was. They decided to try. The United Kingdom makes things much easier when starting a small business. They would sell cheesecakes upon request. Everything would be done in the kitchen of their small apartment. They were advertised by word of mouth, among the Spanish community in London. Through WhatsApp groups. With a small Instagram account, with just 1,000 followers. And with the sale on the street. «We saw people’s faces when they tried it, which is the best way to find out if the product is going to be successful or not. And everyone told us that it was very good. At first it was very slow. I continued in the architecture studio, I received the orders and prepared them at night. The next day, between five and nine, I delivered them. This was the case for two years. There came a time when we reached the figure of 100 cakes a week. That was the critical moment,” Lucía recalls.
Terrace and façade of the store, the first that La Maritxu opened in London. Manuel Vázquez «There is a market in the Chiswick neighborhood that specializes in all types of cheese, although it also has a mac & cheese stall (macaroni with cheese sauce) and grilled cheese sandwiches. They invited us to participate on a Sunday, with a stall. We brought 16 cakes. They were gone in an hour and a half. They insisted that we go for the weekend. next week, and my husband, who is a little crazy, already said that for that occasion we should bring 60 cakes,» she explains, without losing her smile but without hiding the vertigo that remembering it makes her feel. By the time they decided to open the first store, a bakery with direct sales to the public in Connaught Village, they didn’t have everything with them. There are many who have gone through the experience of opening the doors of a business and waiting, with accumulated anxiety and frustration, for someone to come in. Until a platform that managed gastronomic influencers on Instagram offered their services. I would send them to the store, so that in exchange for a piece of cake and a coffee they would post something on their accounts. The first month, free. Then a small subscription. One of those posts, about a girl who travels around the world to visit restaurants and hotels, got three million views.
Cheesecakes prepared in tubs designed to be baked and sold to the public.Manuel VázquezOn Three Kings Day 2024, more than 40 people lined up on the street to buy their piece of Basque cheesecake. «After the first publication that was so viral, they wrote to me from Secret London. Then the red-haired guy from eatingwithtod, very famous here in London and very funny, contacted me. Organically, influencers began to write to us. Now we have 50 employees, with four stores. And logically, we have someone dedicated only to social networks,» Lucía admits without embarrassment. Maritxu London (as her sister decided to call the business) today sells to individuals, large stores and restaurants. In its main workshop it has the capacity to make up to 1,500 cakes a day. They have done some successful tests, such as the tiramisu cake, the cheese and pistachio cake or the manchego cheese cake in collaboration with García Baquero. But Lucía Larragoiti understands that the key to their adventure has been in giving a product that was already universal heritage with its own seal, and in not getting lost: «We saw from the beginning that businesses that only have one product are a success. When people enter the store, it is a guaranteed purchase. When you have many products, it happens as with Netflix, you can spend 15 minutes watching all the series and movies they offer and in the end you don’t choose anything,” he explains.
