Grup Confiteria, lifelong friends who save emblematic bars and create avant -garde cocktails

You could say that Grup Confiteria has grown between two waters: saving emblematic premises of Barcelona to which he has maintained the spirit of his time and creating cocktails of the most avant -garde who have positioned the city on the podium of mixology. Two drifts that, in reality, were already present at the first bar that Lito Baldovinos and Enric Rebordosa opened together, childhood friends who ventured almost eleven years ago to take the transfer of the confectionery of the Raval and in a very short time they were hooked to open premises to eat and drink. In just over a decade they have reached the figure of 25 bars and open restaurants, with more than 300 workers and a turnover in 2024 of more than 22 million euros. But everything that shines is not gold. At this time, the five businesses have also lowered, while still measuring their beloved Barcelona, ​​always on the prowl of possible additions to their catalog. Nothing seemed to indicate that these two childhood friends, who met playing and swimming the summers on the Costa Brava, would end up riding a successful restoration group like Grup Confiteria. The name comes from the first place they fell in love with: the confectionery. A modernist bar of the Raval, with a pastry pastry, which in a very little time became a reference of the night, with an interesting cocktail letter served in an environment of yesteryear, between solid wood furniture, marble tables and tiles with a lot of history. It was the first stone, the origin of a trip that still has no final destination. So the two partners are counted in their newly released projects: the FONT of the GAT in Montjüic, the recovery of a picnic built by Josep Puig i Cadafalch in 1925, next to a popular source in a gardens of the Barcelona mountain; and Focacha, the most avant -garde cocktail bar of those that have created, with a retrophuturist design of vibrant colors. They have never had investors or await them. They want to continue doing things in their own way, with passion, both coincide, and putting the soul in each opening, implicating even in the last detail. Above all, they define themselves as lovers of Barcelona and their bars. «Philosophy has always been to do things that we are passionate about. We are very, very Barcelona, ​​and we love things here,» says Baldovinos. View of the new La Font del Gat restaurant, in a building by the modernist architect Puig i Cadafalch in Montjuïc, first open in 1925. Albert GarciaThe Font del Gat letter wants to be popular, more than a snack than a restaurant, like these grilled sardines. Albert GarciaThe spars of meat, fish and vegetables are the main dishes of the new font letter of the kit. Albert GarciaA 'scheitada' of cod, one of the dishes of the new font letter of the GAT. Albert GarciaThe Font del Gat building is small, it only serves as a bar and operator, and is eaten on the great terrace. Albert GarciaGrup Confiteria has also prepared a cocktail letter, more popular such as the Michelada or the Pamade, for the Font del Gat.albert GarciaThe Font del Gat is a space to eat outdoors, full of wooden tables and chairs. Albert GarciaThe FONT of the GAT is a bit hidden inside the Laribal Gardens of Montjuïc. Albert Garciasobre his way of working advances that is something peculiar. «We have mounted the group through WhatsApp,» jokes Baldovinos, referring to the messages that are constantly sent when they see a low -down blind, a place in transfer or a lifetime bar that closes. After a few years each on his side, they were around the trend when Baldovinos, who worked in marketing, and flanged, who lived in Paris where he already opened some bars, decided to do something together in his city. It was the era of the first vermuterías and imagined a bar of snacks, but confectionery crossed their way and both put themselves behind the bar. Rebordosa acknowledges that one of the keys has been not to believe the kings of the night and is proud to always have maintained a low public exposure profile. Three months after the first adventure came the second heart with the wonders, a bar with terrace in a central square of the Les Corts neighborhood. «From there we are already starting to mess,» Baldovinos acknowledges. Without being very aware, the wheel was launched and in just over a decade they have become a group they are looking for every time some emblematic place in the city closes. So it was with the very good, in the Raval, or its recent opening the Font of the GAT. In some cases, the owners had better offer, but they preferred that they stay the place for their commitment to maintain their idiosyncrasy, as happened with the Cafè of the Center, an 1873 bar in the Eixample that they have reformed without touching their unmistakable modernist style that makes it the meat of films of film and advertising. Sometimes the economic reduction of rent has not reached the agreement with the property, as it happened with the property. Ferran, in full tourist epicenter, which ended up finally in the hands of the Taco Bell chain. «My romanticism is worth 5,000 euros, the owner told us and I got excited. But it was 23,000 euros (the amount offered by another interested in rent) less 5,000,» he recalls with humor. Even with this reduction, the numbers did not come out because they had maintained the spirit of the premises and bet on another quality of service and food. Ferran Street is one of the most suffered by pandemic closures and right now it is a mines field for Barcelona, ​​full of business designed only for tourists.The confectioneria, the first bar in Barcelona opened by the Group Confiteria. most celebrated restaurants in recent years, a few weeks ago that has opened very close to Marín, a snack bar with homemade breads and sausages. If there was a golden moment it went after the pandemic, when they opened 17 stores in a very short time. They was missing. one its peculiarities. Cafè del Center, another classic reopened by the group confiteria in Barcelona. They are a totally independent restoration group, they sing satisfied with this decision, which is at the base of all its operations. But of the 25 stores that currently have open, nine are managed with the participation of a partner, such as chef Borja García in overseas or the bartender Giacomo Giannotti in Paradiso. So financially they do not look anything like other groups in the sector. This whole empire has grown to hair, «without investors and never distributed dividends,» they say. They also ensure that their payrolls are not very abundant. They have always reinvested the capital won and are firm in not deviating from this path. «We will not play the departure to revalue to sell,» he says very convinced. In the check -up section they are currently seven. In the Born neighborhood are the best known. Paradiso, which is entered through the refrigerator of a pastrami bar, reached number one on the list The World's 50 Best Bars in 2022. DR Stravinsky is a more classic headquarters, but with an surprising cocktail letter that explores flavors such as cheese or vinegar. Monk, dedicated to the jazz musician Theolonius Monk, surprises customers hidden after a super 24 hours. But there are also Balius, Mudanzas and the new Focacha. «We want Focacha to be the new promoter of Tuset Street, which was Il Giardinetto in his time,» says Refordosa, but the start has not been the best. They ensure that this historic street does not go through its best moment, but they trust to overcome it. «We have suffered the ravages of the years of Colau, so most restoration groups are in Madrid,» says Foldosa. «It is very difficult to open business in Barcelona, ​​there is a persecution of the hospitality,» Baldovinos complains. The Focacha cocktail bar is its most recent opening in Bars at night, is on Tuset Street in Barcelona.Gianluca BattistaThe Focacha cocktails pays tribute to the 'Gauche Divine', a Barcelona cultural movement of the seventies. Gianluca BattistaEnric Foldosa and Lito Baldovinos in the Focacha cocktail bar, inspired by the Visiona II installation that the architect and designer Verner Panton carried out for Bayer in 1970.Gianluca BattistaFocacha cocktails are entered through the fridge of a bar where they serve focaccias to eat. Gianluca Battistaa their repertoire of bars at night, soon they will join Stravinsky's Parfumerie, a new place in the Born, next to Dr. Stravinsky, with which they will take another twist to the Speakeasy bars because here the cocktail bar will be hidden behind a perfumery museum. The person in charge of the imaginary of this whole project is rebord, a restless spirit that dumps his literary and artistic passions in the bars he believes with his friend of the soul. On this occasion, there is a long story around the figure of Igor Stravinsky, which plays with fiction in a very real environment. And it is better to stop here so that everyone lives the experience. This 2025 are on a roll. In the same Born, another opening is already announced, the recovery of the World Bar, another tapas classic of the neighborhood that had been accumulating dust for years. As a nail and meat, they have managed to be in permanent contact without invading their land. While the new concepts create them together, Baldovinos handles the day -to -day life of Grup Confiteria and flange releases their other ideas, such as the Flâneur publishing house or the Volga producer. In the age of forty, they say they no longer have the energy of the thirties and their intention is to lower their rhythm, but their eyes make chiribitas when they hear about the zurich or the Marseille. If the opportunity to maintain a bar with a soul comes out, surely they are liking again. They are romantic.