The Escola d’Hostaleria i Turisme de Girona and the Salt City Council have teamed up to resume and give new impetus to the ‘Salt Xef’ project.
The idea is that a fully equipped premises that exists in the municipal market becomes a nursery for entrepreneurs.
The proposals will be chosen from the business ideas of the hospitality students and, from this space, they will be able to test the project for a year and receive advice to make it viable.
The double objective is to give a hand to students leaving school to start their business and, if it works, to find a place in Salt, in Gironès (Girona) to materialize it later.
A Moroccan dessert bakery or a takeaway business serving elaborate Catalan cuisine. These are some of the business ideas from students at the Escola d’Hostaleria i Turisme de Girona that could be put into practice within the framework of the Salt Xef project.’ “And there will be more, the students are making the proposals now,” explained the school director, Jordi Garcia.
The agreement between the City Council and the Escola d’Hostaleria i Turisme de Girona foresees that the premises, of 39 square meters and located in the Salt market, will host each year an entrepreneurship project by the students of the higher management degree cycles cooking, management in restaurant services or intermediate degree in baking, pastry and confectionery.
Salt Xef started in 2018 but was interrupted due to the lack of relief. For this reason, the mayor of the town, Jordi Viñas, has stated that they wanted to give it a new boost with the help of the Hospitality School. The premises are fully equipped for businesses in this area. The most “ambitious” objective, Viñas detailed, is that, once the entrepreneurs have been able to test their project and it has prospects for viability, to accompany them in the search for suitable premises for the population so that they can establish their business projects. .
The City Council will prepare a catalog of empty premises and carry out the necessary support so that it can materialize. Thus, they also want to promote employment and renew the commercial fabric.
Garcia has also stressed that the store is located in an optimal space because it is located in the market and, therefore, entrepreneurs will have a privileged “warehouse” of products and food because they will be able to buy fresh products and create synergies with the stops.
The premises have an industrial kitchen, two sinks, oven, iron, stove, hood, counter, dishwasher, refrigerated table, vacuum sealer and professional mixer, among other appliances and equipment necessary to offer takeaway food, which is the license of the space. Students will pay a nominal rent and take care of supplies.
The director of the Escola de Turisme has assured that Salt Xef will act as a “springboard” among those students who finish and want to start developing their professional and life project.
