« I don’t have a restaurant, but I earn the fifth of a bank manager »: Roberto Conti, the chef who treats the kitchen as a company

Roberto Conti He understood it before others: in Italy the figure of the chef who is only in the kitchen is no longer enough. Serve The operator cook, manager, strategist. Pavese, 42 years oldAccounts He lives in Cernusco sul Navigliowith wife and three daughters. After an impeccable path in the author’s cuisine – Leemann, Cracco, Berton, Trussardi alla Scala – has set aside the idea of ​​opening a restaurant with its name and chosen mobility. It turns, builds, organizes. Everything is charged: dishes, food cost, staff, numbers. It is a new figure in the gastronomic panorama, not easily labelable. He does not have a place, but he directs dozens; It’s not a showman, but it’s everywhere. And above all, it makes the accounts gather (nomen omen, it would be said …). At a time when high cuisine staggers, Conti works as a company and reasoning like an investor.

As a boy his dream was to be a footballer. How did he end up in the stove?
«I didn’t want to study, but I was good on the field. At 16, Borgosesia Calcio offered me a C2 contract, as long as I enrolled in a not too demanding school. So I chose the hotel of Varallo Sesia, I liked the kitchen. My mother says that at seven years of age I prepared a meat for pizzaiola for the whole family. I had talent, but I was a hot head. They put me in the college, but they hunted me: I had dressed the statue of the Madonna with an Inter shirt. Even at the hotel I went bad in everything, except in the kitchen ».

The guiding thread of his life seems to be: great ability, little discipline. The opposite of hour.
«It’s like that, as a student I was unmanageable. But my parents, entrepreneurs, have taught me the sense of duty: you have to work, you have to pay the debts. So I started in small clubs in Vigevano, such as the Trattoria da Maria. Then came the true jump ».

The most important meeting?
«Maybe Carlo Cracco. It was he who trusted me, who sent me to Trussardi to Scala, with Andrea Berton. Which is my opposite: precise, rigorous. In fact, we sparked, but today we are friends. Before there was also Leemann, too philosophical for my taste. With Trussardi in 2014 we lose the star, in 2015 doubled the turnover – from 1.9 to over 4 million – and in 2017 the star returns ».

Then instead of opening one of his restaurant, he chose the path of consultancy. Why?
“I didn’t want to tie myself. I never had time to stop and think. Today, at 42, I start thinking about it. But the truth is that I prefer to build projects. I worked with Barilla, then with the Cascina in Mortara. Now they are chefs several entrepreneurial brands, the first is Glamor Group, second group in Italy by number of clubs between restaurants and discos ».

Let’s make a summary. Where do you work today?
« Ready? For Glamoro I have in custody terrace Duomo 21, in the center of Milan: before he had fixed times, today, on my idea, it is open 24 hours a day, from 7 in the morning to 6.59 the next day. It is the only one with similar hours in the city. Today, after my idea of ​​expanding the times, invoice 14 million a year. Then there is the Podere Castel Merlo, between Franciacorta and Val Calepio. I am a consultant for the Saint George Premier in Monza, inside Villa Reale: there we make classical cuisine, game, 80s dishes, as a champagne risotto, Wellington duck, Royale di Fagiano. Sunday we set up 17 banquets in one day ».

It has never been easy to make the catering work inside the royal villa.
«No, it seemed there was a curse. But after two years we had the reassignment for another 18. Now we are solid, we have resources to renovate ».

Then there is all the activity inside the Plein Hotel in Milan. There he deals with three kitchens, right?
« Yes. Jungle De Plein is both bistro and vegan. But I call it Dirty Vegan: no abstract tubers. I make vegan hamburger, vegan Bolognese cuttella. I work with Martino Rossi of Cremona, use the pea proteins transformed into ragù. If it comes to lunch and orders the Tagliatella, it will struggle to understand that it is vegan ».

Then?
«Always at the jungle there is the classic bistrot part: Milanese cutlet, lasagna, tomato spaghetto, Milanese risotto. Then there is Philipp’s, open only in the evening, six days a week. It is impactful Italian: linguine to the lobster, mixed fried, plateau royale. Langosteria style. From October 27th to today we have exceeded 7 million. And the wine list is crazy: we have bottles of Romanée-conci and Antinori Solaia of 12 liters. Tables of 100 thousand euros in one evening, only by Dom Pérignon. People who spend, before and after. Then there is sushi, the real one, of a high level. His name is Sukaru Ba, it means « skull bar » in Japanese « .

And underneath there is also the club.
«Opens at midnight, until five. Music is of the genus Boom Boom Boom. Pettinato people, parking for 20 euros, wardrobe for 20 euros. Tomato spaghetto costs 25 euros. I don’t do more evenings like twenty years, but I know that until five in the morning you drink and dance. It is an experience, not just a dinner ».

But it’s not over. For lunch you can see her at Camperio, a new place that is successful.
« Yes. I am also a consultant for the Fly group, of the Lascatti family. His son Andrea worked on London’s connaught. Today Camperio is at home, a place with 70s atmosphere, contemporary cuisine, New York atmosphere, with original touches and full of contamination, high -level cocktail list. In Peschiera Borromeo instead I follow Columbus, a 250 -covered grill. Maybe he will make the nose turn up to gourmet, but we do 2.5 million turnover. Excuse me if it is little ».

His secret is the perfect organization. Your typical day?
«I wake up around 6 in the morning, I go to the gym and I train every day, on Thursday play in Tennis. I care a lot about physical fitness and I have the love for sport, I follow a special diet of six meals a day. From 9.30 to 17 I dedicate myself completely to consultancy, from 17 to midnight I am fixed from Philipp’s. I know, I’m drug addicted. Sunday is my only leisure: lunch outside with the family and I allow myself a good bottle of champagne ».

And the family?
«Always on Sunday. But in the morning I accompany the oldest daughter at school. In this moment of my life I am focused on these goals, but it will not be so forever ».

She does not only deal with the kitchen. How is your role structured today, concretely?
«I don’t only decide together with the brigade. I make real advice. To date I have hired almost 350 people. When I come to you, if you want my consultancy contract, I bring you the staff, check the food cost, I make the line-up of the dishes and I guarantee you for monthly or weekly passages. It is a complete package ».

Is the end dining in crisis?
«I ask a question: have you ever seen the accounts of the most well -known fine dining restaurants in Milan? None of the best known chefs works with their own money, almost everyone has financiers. A Berton does not risk the name for a loss activity. It takes 20 people in the kitchen to end up. I cut eight at the Trussardi as soon as I became chef. « 

Is the crisis a matter of costs?
«Costs and staff, of course. Do you want to do numbers? You must be readable. Do you need three people? Keep one. The reasons, you pay it better. But the accounts must return ».

What does it mean legible? What is the cuisine you like today?
«It means that the kitchen must be good and understandable. You can have all the stars in the world, but if the restaurant is empty you are a genius that has failed. People got tired of the 12 gaps of rubber, air and jelly. It must be minimal, clean, concentrated in flavors. You save everything, but never cut the product. First the chefs are cut. Shrimp of 120 euros per kilo? First they syringe them in four, they transformed them with a thousand techniques and expenditure of time, now they serve them raw with oil and lemon. Do you like it? Optimal. Don’t you like it? Go ahead ».

And the theoretical consultants who promise the star?
«They are not needed. If you are not with me at 7.30 in the morning in the kitchen, you don’t count anything. The journalist tastes and tells, makes sense. But does the consultant who arrives for lunch eats and makes promises, with the presumption of letting you enter the guides? No, you don’t need it ».

Have you ever thought about opening something of his?
«Yes, in Cernusco sul Naviglio. A high -level trattoria. Boiled trolley, lasagna, relaxed environment, all cooked impeccablely with an average receipt of 70 euros. In Cernusco there is no place like this. And the prices are growing: for 100sqm they ask for 700 thousand euros. There are many altospenders and it is only twenty minutes from Milan. Maybe the time has come ».

They say that his talent is to be able to make any model work. Do you find ourselves?
« Yes. I can speak to the CEO and the Customer. First I get the accounts back, then we talk about the menu ».

How did you learn to become an entrepreneur?
«There is one thing we didn’t say before, now I say it: they did not promote me, I bought myself the diploma. But since I understood what I wanted to do, I have studied more than the others. I did a thousand courses: of cooking, technology, menu engineering. All at my expense. Training cost me over 50 thousand euros. I also studied in London, leaning on my sister: we have a family home there, two in Montecarlo, one in Milan. When I wanted to do courses, I organized myself. Today I believe my father is proud of me ».

On what does it never settle?
«Drugs and alcohol during the service. If it happens with any of mine, I have 250 collaborators, I would hunt it instantly ».

With all these consultations, he will earn a lot.
«I earn the right. I refused a proposal from Switzerland that would make many pale. Let’s say that today I earn about five times what a bank manager takes ».

Is Milan the center of his world?
«It is the only Italian city capable of aligning itself with the level of European capitals, for circulation of money and opening to novelty. But it hasn’t succeeded yet. « 

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