They began in the hospitality business with an Italian restaurant in 1998. They had little idea and eager to succeed. The brothers of León, Pedro (Madrid, 56 years old) and Fernando (Madrid, 58 years old) had just returned from the United States, where they both formed: the smallest for commercial pilot in Houston, and the elderly, in economic and business in New York, and wanted to put into practice some ideas that they brought in mind. “My father, when we set up the Italian, told us that we were going to crash. We did well, after several years we sold it for four times more than the place we had bought. We cheated everyone, we seduced them, we did everything without putting a hard, even the bank that gave us the loan without having anything and helped us. We mortgage to the tie, ”explains Fernando, proud because» in the end we have not hit it. » They remember these beginnings sitting at a table of the Kō By 99 Sushi Bar restaurant, the new and ambitious 600 square meters, which they have in filming and will open in a few days at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium, in Madrid, after an investment of more than three million euros. Two decades have passed since they decided to invest the money earned with the Italian business and make their real dream come true: open a Japanese restaurant. Kitchen that Fernando was fond of, after living six years in Manhattan and sharing a flat with a Japanese partner. «He taught me to make recipes.» Pedro also, after a triennium living in New York, had given himself to the phenomenon of this type of Asian cuisine. It was the germ of what is today the bamboo group, with a recognized brand such as 99 Sushi Bar, a turnover of more than 20 million euros and a workfor In Rabat (Morocco) -. “When we go out of Spain we do it with Spanish brands. We want them to accompany us and help them expand. When we land at Abu Dabi we carry the tuna of Balfegó. We made a rum to know the product and achieved distributors to sell it there. We have also taken the Café de Baqué, ”says the brothers, who from the first moment have had the knowledge of Mónica Fernández, sommelier and head of Sala, from the Kabuki restaurant, and current director of the Bamboo Group. All their premises, they add, are profitable. “If the first year does not work it is better to close it. We have been lucky because we have always had them a week, ”says Pedro. At the end of last year they closed the restaurant they had opened in Pandemia in Bilbao.Kō by 99 Sushi Bar table, overlooking the field of Santiago Bernabéu.Inma Flores2025 have started strong: in addition to the imminent opening of Kō By 99 Sushi Bar in Madrid, they just carried the concept of 99 sushi bar to Monaco, which another will be added after summer in the exclusive London neighborhood of Mayfair. And for the following year they prepare the launch of another Kō, in Dubai. The company's internationalization strategy, they affirm, has always been prudent and very chosen, looking for enclaves in cities with a consolidated offer of leisure and haute cuisine. “We do not open restaurants in which the quality of the product is not guaranteed. No one can sell better raw material than us. The same, but better, no, ”says Fernando. Because if there is something sacred, Pedro emphasizes, «it is the constancy in the dishes, since we serve the same in all places, and we give the client what we would like to give us.» They clarify that, in part, they have noticed the example of McDonald's. «In all its premises you eat the same, and in our case it had to be the same.» For this they only need an iPad, with the entire repertoire of recipes, the photographs of the assembly and all the information necessary to treat each ingredient and present it to the diner. “In all the restaurants we have open, the cook has to nail the recipe. We have no central kitchens, that is something that differentiates us from other groups. Everything is prepared in each restaurant, although we also let each cook have their margin of creativity. ”
Mandatory dishes
They confess that they design the dishes themselves. Including the most famous of all: the Temporado Tigre Tigre Tigre and bathed in a creamy spicy sauce, whose original idea is attributed to the chef Nobu Matsuhitsa, although in Madrid in the first stores in which it was served it was in those of the bamboo group. “That tempura has been covered by many restaurants. The recipes are not protected, and in the end a dish consists of many other recipes, which make it different. Many have also stopped doing it because it is difficult to get the quality of the shrimp with which we work, ”says Fernando, proud of the success that they have had mandatory dishes in a letter, which cannot eliminate, such as the black cod of Alaska gratin with two layers of red miso, or the macerated tuna tartar. In that same iPad in which the recipes keep, they write daily a critique of the restaurant in which they have eaten. “We are our own customers, every day we transcribe the experience we have had, and the whole team is obliged to read it. It's about improving. Also when something is perfect it is said without problem, ”confesses Pedro.
A key number: 736. 631.14
They are in a good time, although they do not forget the most painful episode they have suffered in this business, such as having to close 99 Kō Sushi Bar, the exclusive bar they opened in 2019, on Marqués de Villa Magna Street, for only 16 diners, in which David Arauz cooked, and with which they got their first recognition by Michelin. “It was a whim. We set out to have a star, although it took two more years than expected, and we got the goal of making it profitable, ”recalls Fernando, which is excited when he recalls what happened just four months of getting the aforementioned achievement, in November 2019.“ The pandemic arrived. Being a bar we had distance restrictions. We asked to renegotiate the rent, but we did not get it, so we had to collect things and leave. In the end it was a favor because the bars reopened two years later, ”he adds. “It was an experience. We don't regret anything, ”Pedro corroborates. Of all this is something else in the firing of the older brother: a marble sculpture with the Michelin doll and a tape with an amount: 736,631.14 euros. “What we lost. That was what the star cost us. ” Now he smiles: «It was nice to see how people enjoyed and spent in the restaurant, although we were conservatives in the price of wines.» «There were times that we had groups of 16 people and left 20,000 euros,» says Pedro.
99 Jewel, a 'maki' stuffed with bull and truffle sauce with tuna, caviar Kaluga y Oro, of Kō by 99 sushi bar.
THE NEW JEWEL OF THE GROUP
Now there is a new crown jewel in the group: Kō By 99 Sushi Bar, located in one of the boxes of the Real Madrid stadium, with a rental contract for 10 years. A space of 600 square meters, distributed on two floors, with a capacity for 120 guests, which will open every day of the year in food and dinner service, except for the days in which the white team plays, in which it will become a hospitality area for VIP guests. 80% of the letter will be different from the one in 99 sushi bar, although they will maintain some of the iconic dishes. There will be dishes such as the royal crab sauteed with garlic and cayena accompanied by eggs of quail, ikura and truffle; The 99 Jewel, a maki stuffed with bull and truffle sauce with tuna, caviar kaluga and gold, or the okonomiyaki, a version of the known as Japanese pizza, with a tortilla base, tare sauce, granted – chorte of the especially sweet ventresca – topped with an emulsion of jalapeño and avocado, a light mayonna Tomato emulsion and dehydrated kalamata olive powder. The Robata or Japanese grill, which is not used in the other stores, will have a great prominence here. The premises is also focused on high -end nightlife, since it will feature Prémona drinks, such as a select letter of Japanese whiskeys of up to 6,000 euros the bottle. And the views of one of the most visited stadiums in the world, the only one who keeps 15 Europe's glasses in its showcases.