The confinement in the capital transformed hobbies into businesses. Sergio Arjona went from being a consultant to a pastry chef, Daniela Camino left her job in advertising to open her own book store, Isabel Cabanas was fired during the pandemic and became a pizza maker, Cristina López resigned from her position in investment banking and decided start a cosmetic medicine shop and Juan López-Guerrero changed from financial manager to making cheesecakes. These are just some of the examples of entrepreneurs who, these days four years ago, forced to stop because the world stopped, chose to change their lives. The decision of all of them has changed the x-ray of business in Madrid. They have completed a metamorphosis that began in 2020 with the closure of many businesses due to the crisis and that now, in the middle of 2024, has promoted other ventures that began in the kitchens of their homes and that, today, are trendy for their products. These entrepreneurs have allowed this newspaper to continue its evolution throughout these years. Their stories are a vivid portrait of the evolution of the crisis caused by covid-19.
Juan López-Guerrero
29 years old, he is the founder of the cheesecake company Antojos Gallery and still keeps a video he made with his sister that March 2020 when, in an attempt to kill the free hours he had locked up at home, he decided to make a cheesecake. cheese. It suited him so well that, later, every time there was an event or celebration, he was in charge of making the cake. Finally, he was so successful among his family and friends that one day they decided to start selling them on Instagram. At that time, López-Guerrero worked as a financial manager at the NGO Acción Contra el Hambre. Because of his job, he had to travel a lot but, when the lockdown came, he was finally able to stop and reflect on the quality of his life. “Confinement made me realize that work was becoming very monotonous. I stopped being passionate about it,” he says. He resigned and, although it took him a few years to come up with the concept of his business and find the perfect formula for the cake he wanted to sell, since September it has been a reality: an art gallery dedicated exclusively to cheesecakes.
Sergio Arjona
What affects the most is what happens closest. To not miss anything, subscribe.Subscribe A few streets away, Sergio Arjona, 30, was sent home by his company on March 14, the same day the Government approved the state of alarm in Spain to face the health emergency situation caused by covid-19. “If they didn't confine us, my company would never have sent me home and I would never have started looking for cooking tutorials on the internet,” says Arjona, who worked for a multinational as a consultant. He remembers that he didn't know anything about the world of gastronomy, but he started by making a stew, then some lentils and, finally, a cheesecake. “Don't ask me to make you a carrot cake because I have no idea how to make it,” he says, laughing.Sergio Arjona went from being a consultant to a pastry chef for Luna and Wanda. During those days of March, with the entire country at home, countless trends began to be created on social networks. Many joined them or, at least, tried. From tutorial videos for making sourdough bread in the home kitchen to pizzas, including, of course, the usual cheesecakes: everything was worth it to chase away the tedium of idle hours at home. Although many of these hobbies fell on deaf ears for the majority, the pandemic became a school of skills for a few. “In confinement, I lost the sense of belonging to the company I worked for and, with so much free time, I ended up disengaging from projects, colleagues and even bosses. Furthermore, all those dead hours gave me a lot of time to think about my life,” Arjona confesses. For Arjona, that cheesecake that he made with his roommate by mixing recipes that he was seeing on the internet was so delicious that he started making it more often. When the restrictions were passing and he was finally able to meet his friends, he started bringing them cakes too. Having received countless compliments, she was plagued by the same question as López-Guerrero: could she sell them? With more savings than normal and plenty of free time, the perfect moment arose to encourage him to start a business. From there the idea of creating Luna y Wanda was born, which now sells more than 7,000 cakes a month and has won third prize for the best cheesecake in Madrid.
Victor Naranjo
After the rise of cheesecakes on social networks came the rise of potato omelettes. Víctor Naranjo, 34 years old, joined this trend. Although he has always worked in the restaurant world, it was during confinement when he decided to found his own business. One day, while cooking, he found one of his 94-year-old grandmother Martina's potato omelette recipes, the best he had ever tasted. After reproducing it with notable critical success, Naranjo thought it would be a great business idea to start selling them on Glovo.
Víctor Naranjo, who went from being a business manager to selling potato tortillas at home, in front of his store, La Martinuca.La MartinucaIn less than a year, what had been a simple idea became a reality: the first sale of potato tortilla potato at home in Madrid. Currently, La Martinuca has a store in the Justicia neighborhood that they opened last May after selling more than 80,000 tortillas in less than 20 months at home.
Isabel Cabanas
For Isabel Cabanas, 27, her life change was forced by being laid off from her job when the pandemic began. Not knowing what she was going to do when she returned to normal, she started cooking at her house for her friends. Of all the recipes she made for them, they always asked her to make pizza again. By that time, Ella Cabanas was already obsessed with the idea of being able to eat pizza in a healthy way, so she began to learn about healthy and gluten-free doughs. She spent hours and hours in the kitchen perfecting the recipe and, finally, she managed to find the formula to create a chicken-based dough to which she added tomato sauce and whatever ingredients she had at home. There she was born Kilda food, a restaurant in Chamberí where its star dish is pizzas made with a chicken base.
Daniela Camino
In the case of Daniela Camino, 50, it was not food that saved her during confinement, but her love of writing. After spending her entire life working in advertising agencies as a creative director, she decided to change her life and open a small store called PequeStory, in Ópera. There she teaches creative writing workshops, organizes birthday parties and sells books, demonstration agendas and handmade bracelets. “I was exhausted and needed a change in my life. I wanted to do something that would fulfill me and I decided to open my own business, I wanted it to be a magical place designed by me,” she says.
Daniela Camino left her job in advertising to open her own book store. Camino had been living in Spain for 20 years, but she went to Argentina to spend the pandemic to be with her parents. Soon, both of them died of covid. It was then that she realized how quickly her life was ending. “My crisis was very deep because I lost them both, and at that moment something clicked in my head. I needed to change my life. It was very hard, but it helped me realize what is really important. “Something good always comes out of everything bad.”
Cristina Lopez
Daniela Camino agrees with Cristina López, 31 years old, in this. She studied Business Administration and Management and, immediately afterwards, began working at JP Morgan, in the area of investment banking, although the idea of entrepreneurship was always in her head. Her confinement led her to take the step: “I began to see that spending my entire life in an office made no sense. Between grieving the loss of my loved ones due to Covid and the slowdown that the world had hit, I knew I had to make a change.” Several months later, she was presented with an opportunity in the aesthetic medicine sector. “It was a sector dominated by doctors and beauticians, but there was a lack of a strong business mind that offered an affordable option for the market,” says López. Templa was born there, on Génova Street, the first clinic in Spain to establish a subscription in aesthetic medicine.
Cristina López quit her job in investment banking and decided to start an aesthetic medicine shop. Four years ago, these days, the phrase that was heard the most was that Madrid didn't look like Madrid. The world stopped and it seemed like life would never be the same. There were even those who dared to predict that the world would emerge better from the coronavirus. Months later, normality returned and many forgot those promises they made during those hours they spent locked up in their homes. Others, however, used that moment to turn her hobby into her way of life in a decision that has changed them and that, four years later, has transformed the capital.
A pandemic that changed even the reserves
The list of businesses that have opened motivated by a thought they had in the pandemic is endless, but some brands as recognizable as the new trendy bar in Malasaña, Gilda Hous, the art auction company for young people Maza Art or Good News takeaway coffee kiosks. The pandemic also changed the way reserves are managed in the capital. “The restaurant sector has undergone a great change because hospitality entrepreneurs have been forced to digitalize and change their work methodologies to adapt to a new ecosystem,” explains the booking platform TheFork. Subscribe here to our daily newsletter about Madrid .