The themed restaurant and bar decorated with the history of international rock adds branches and reveals his biography. It emerged in Córdoba, has been in Rosario for more than 25 years, settled a few years ago in Pilar, recently opened its doors in Unicenter, Martínez, and plans another headquarters on the modern Paseo Gigena in Palermo, thus entering the city of Buenos Aires.
Rock&Feller’s was born in Córdoba in 1996, with a name that alludes to a musical genre that spans several generations, and with a second word that, in a kind of lunfardo from the United States, refers to friends. Guillermo Fernández Christe, one of its founding partners, spoke with THE NATION and told how it was the step by step of this venture that today is positioned as Hard Rock made in Argentina.
Originally from La Falda, Córdoba, Guillermo was studying architecture. in the capital of the province, when he decided to start a business Parallel to the studies: He chose to open a bar with several friends. With the observant gaze typical of those who dedicate themselves to their profession, they detected elements and details that completely changed the consumer’s experience in a gastronomic establishment: “I noticed how achieving good lighting generated a feeling of pleasure in people; I detected that sound also plays a key role in the customer experience.”
Fernández Christe little by little combined food with architecture and over time he specialized in gastronomic operations. There came a time when I had entrepreneurship parallels of bars and restaurants, but with rhythms in which I warned that time was wasted: “The normal hours of a bar did not coincide with those of the restaurant. That forced you to have an infrastructure that was not optimized, which had a lot of idle time; So, I started thinking about the idea of bringing the two ventures together.”
Businessman He realized that in other countries this peculiarity already occurred: in the same place people had a drink, lunch or dinner. He had a special fondness for pubs English, where this model was used and “That did not happen in Córdoba in the 90s, so I thought about developing something that unifies both concepts: that of a bar and that of a restaurant.”. In the desire to achieve this, he set as a condition the particularity that it could have growth; he observed that the pubs They were more artisanal in their service and in the kitchen, and he was looking for something that was more standardized in their operations, which would allow him to replicate them and create a franchise with that venture.
The product that resulted from this research and the result of exhaustive consulting with Harvard experts, was the development of a bar and restaurant with six time slots (breakfast lunch snack, after officedinner and after hour (after dinner), all revolving around the musical theme. He Hard Rock Argentinian was playing his first chords.
A journey through the history of rock in different parts of the country
That is how In 1996 he opened the first Rock&Feller’s in Córdoba and two years later he landed in Rosario, where today he has three stores.. One of them located on the corner of Boulevard Oroño and Jujuy, another in Alto Rosario Shopping and a last one in the historic Savoy Hotel.
In Buenos Aires the brand landed in 2017 in Pilarand opened a branch in Unicenter last month. Besides, has a project in another thriving area of the City: On the corner of Avenida del Libertador and Dorrego, in front of the Hippodrome and the Polo Field, the work of the Gigena Walk. This mixed-use complex will house offices and a varied range of commercial offerings, including a new Rock&Feller’s branch.
In each of them, the history of rock is told, from its beginnings to the present. Through images, costumes, accessories and instruments, the different idols of this musical genre are represented with national and international bands and stars “In the beginning we asked national rock stars or those who visited Argentina to sign instruments or accessories linked to them,” details Fernández Christe. This is how they have guitars with the autograph of Luis Alberto Spinetta or Charly García, among others.
In addition, several of the decoration elements that are displayed in the premises are exact replicas of iconic clothing or accessories from famous people. Among them, a well-known Madonna mask which she uses in a video clip, which was made by the same designer who produced it for the queen of pop. There is imitations of an English guard suit worn by Mick Jagger at a recitalElton John shoes and Elvis Presley costumesmade by famous costume designers, who are dedicated to replicating these clothes.
By explaining the reason why They chose rock as the musical genre to decorate the spacespoints out that, at the genesis of the project, They sought to target a broad target. “For that to happen, music helped us. International rock covers many ages: kids in their 20s and adults in their 70s listen to the Rollings,” says the entrepreneur and adds: “It also allowed us a striking decoration, since the possibilities are inexhaustible. We were creating a true rock museum.”
The stores of the brand founded by Fernández Christe reached four in Córdoba, which later became a franchise, but after the operation did not convince the founders, they stopped being part of the brand. There was also an attempt to land in the United States (in 2003) and in Bolivia (2001), but they were sold to third parties, since it was difficult to manage them from a distance.
When asked why they chose Unicenter to open a new branch, Fernández Christe says that Pilar’s group had intended to open other locations in Buenos Aires for some time. Cencosud offered them a space in Rosario, but Guillermo asked them if there was the possibility of using a place in Unicenter, since they saw the area as having a potential audience for their brand.
The establishments of this brand are establishments that require a lot of space, approximately 2000 square meters, to be able to make the kitchen and diner facilities required by this restaurant model. To disembark at Unicenter and reach the meters they needed, a corner of Jumbo was moved and they were given a section of the supermarket. The area also met all the conditions that the brand needs to establish itself: ample space, parking, proximity to people from the ABC1 sector. Martínez’s establishment has capacity for 600 diners, as well as a VIP room for up to 60 people.
In the case of the premises located on Paseo Gigena, it reveals that it was a proposal to which they were summoned. “It is a very contemporary building, made by a foreign studio and I think it is going to be a very important sector, in a structure that was converted and in an area that has a lot of accessibility,” says Fernández Christe.
An innovative production model
The restaurant has a particular model of service, supply and production, which combines workstations, pre-production stations and a peculiarly personalized table service. “We drive around 2000 diners dailyso care could not be provided with a traditional system,” says Fernández Christe.
In a restaurant, the classic way of working is to order a dish, which is then cooked by the chef. In the case of these stores, we work with various operational positions, each one dealing with a different part of the product. Thus, the dishes end up being made by six or seven different people. In their work process, they include pre-production: once the merchandise arrives, it is pre-produced as much as possible, divided and stored, until the customer orders the product. Once there, what is left to finish the dish is activated and served to the customer.
The waiters in this chain are waiters who fulfill the role of hosts: they receive and serve the customer at all times. On the other hand, there are the runners who are in charge of searching for food from the kitchen and removing dirty dishes. A system that guarantees constant attention and a pleasant consumer experience, so sought after by its founder.
