In 2025, the Beso Beach brand, born in Formentera in 2012, plans to reach destinations such as Punta Cana (Dominican Republic), Bordrum (Turkey) and the ski resort of the famous and most famous in Spain, Baqueira Beret, as confirmed by Rafa Viar to La Voz de Ibiza. But what is the secret for the growth of what started as a beach bar in the smallest of the Pitiusas Islands?
Beyond its Basque or Mediterranean cuisine, Viar is clear that “the success of Beso Beach is not in the gastronomy”. “We have managed to make a global brand because what we give at Beso Beach, or so customers express it, is happiness,” Viar recently recounted in an extensive interview granted to the WORLDCAST podcast. “In the end, what fulfills me the most is seeing people happy. We all have problems, but what we have achieved with Beso is that the time they are there, whether it is two hours, four or six hours, they totally forget about those problems,” added the entrepreneur in the dialogue with Pedro Buerbaum, which lasts almost 3 hours. According to Viar, what they have created is “a magical atmosphere“, which is now replicated in the venues in Ibiza, Estepona, Sierra Nevada, Mallorca, Sitges and Barcelona.
Beso Beach: an intergenerational meeting place
Along the same lines, another of the reasons why the founder of Beso Beach has shown satisfaction is for having “managed to unite different generations”. According to Viar, what happens in his premises is not very common: “There is a group of people here who are 50-60 years old and after a while you see them at a table sharing a few drinks with people who are 25, 28, 30 years old”. In addition, Beso Beach is a place that, beyond its food, is characterized by the large number of celebrities who visit it. From Orlando Bloom, Alejandro Sanz or Mariano Rajoy to Lionel Messi or Paul McCartney, among others. “It’s not easy to bring together mature people with young people and celebrities. The hardest thing is for everyone to be comfortable. But at Beso Beach a special environment is created,” said Viar.
Human Resources
Precisely, for Viar, human resources are a cornerstone of its business. Along these lines, he has pointed out that “the best investment a businessman can make is to take care of his own team”, which reflects his work philosophy and how this translates into the customer experience. In fact, Viar considers it key to have a charismatic and attractive team. For him, customer service is fundamental, and each team member plays a crucial role in making each visit memorable. “Customers want to have their picture taken with the waiters, with the employees. And they dance with the waiters. And they feel valued. That’s why there are customers who tell me, ‘How you can tell you’re paying them, how happy they look’.” “I don’t look for super-top waiters, or waiters who know so much about the hotel business. I want them to have attitude, to transmit it to the client. I demand that they go to the table dancing,” he described.
Model waiters and handsome on the inside
In this sense, the founder considers it a great success and part of the success of Beso Beach to hire waiters who came from the world of fashion, so handsome that they had been models. The founder of Beso Beach told how, when he and his wife Angie L. Grijalbo were on vacation in Ibiza and noticed that “most of the businesses had exuberant, low-cut girls at their bars”. “With Angie we said: ‘No, we’re not going to fall into the same thing’. So we decided toput guys who had worked with her in the fashion industry. Beautiful people on the outside, but also beautiful on the inside,” she said. For Viar, this gave Beso Beach “a big difference with respect to all the businesses on the island.” “There were days when 80% of the people eating at Beso Beach were women. And when the women arrived, as a natural law, the men arrived,” added Viar. In any case, he has clarified that although he aspires to have male waiters in all his restaurants, this is not a 100% reality outside Formentera. And that, in turn, it has many female employees in other roles. “For example, in the Barcelona offices there are twenty-odd women and only one man.” “It helped us to attract the female public and we are proud of having done so, so much so that we continue with this policy, to the extent of our possibilities, in each store we open.”
The name, a key
For Viar, the other big decision they made in creating Beso Beach was the name. “It has given us and will give us a lot of rope.” According to Viar, the name came about “in a very simple way”. Viar was at a lunch where he and part of the founding team were tossing around name ideas. Inspired by the sunset they had from their location in Formentera, each one pointed out other places in the world where similar scenes were seen. Viar, on the other hand, proposed another alternative. “What is a couple doing at sunset?” he asked. “Kissing,” they replied. “It’s going to be called Beso Beach,” he decided. “It’s a Spanish word, super easy, that everyone will understand,” he thought then. Today he has 90 names registered from Beso Beach.
Beso Beach, precursor of late night
At the same time, Viar emphasizes that Beso Beach has been the precursor of a custom that has spread in the world of leisure: the tardeo. “Beso Beach has been the icon in this country of the tardeo. That is, the tardeo in Spain, and I’m not ashamed to say it, began 13 seasons ago in Formentera, in Beso Beach. Now many do it in Madrid, Barcelona or Valencia, a bit copying what we started. Which is not bad. If they copy you, you’re doing something good. In a similar vein, he points out that Beso Beach has imposed the use of tattoos among locals of its type. “When we brought out the famous B tattoo, many locals came out with their tattoos. They come in, but with less force, because people know that the original comes from Beso Beach.”
