From Balenciaga to Bersion

A few months ago, we stumbled upon a series on one of the platforms dedicated to the maestro Balenciaga, a Spanish haute couture designer who made his career in the 20th century in Paris, and the founder of a luxury brand well-known today. Watching the series made us reflect on the relationship between haute couture and the “prêt-à-porter” mentioned in the series, and how it parallels high-end cuisine in private service and fine dining restaurants.

It’s well-known that before the industrial age, craftsmen in various trades would create their products one by one for each client, offering a level of personalization far higher than what we see today. The advent of machinery and industrialization allowed for scalable production, where products, after going through a design process (often better than before but adapted for a more general clientele), could be replicated much faster, albeit with less variety. This shift drastically improved the general economy, creating wealth and the current model of capitalist economy.

Today, there aren’t many hospitality and restaurant businesses that are truly “scalable,” and that’s why the hospitality industry is known as a sector where, while it’s not difficult to start, it’s challenging to achieve high profit margins in the long run. You’ll probably agree that those hospitality businesses that are scalable (franchises and large restaurant groups) suffer from the symptoms of an industry “designed for many,” with very little personalization, or as we like to call it, without “that touch.”

These reflections led us to ponder how much we, the professionals in private service, relate to Balenciaga’s character in the series. Like the great designer, we offer a completely personalized service for each of our clients, adapting our menus, knowledge, and recipes exclusively for each client we work with, just as the great designer used his talent to personalize his designs for each of his clients.

This is where the significant difference lies between what you can expect from a private chef and what you’ll find in a restaurant. In the restaurant, you’ll likely find a much more elaborate service, better designed, and executed “by more hands.” What you won’t find in the restaurant, but will find at home, with your chef, is a service with an unparalleled level of personalization, tailored exclusively for you, like a bespoke suit, with the freshness in ingredients that only the immediacy of cooking at your home can achieve, and with ingredients chosen for their quality, without the intention of profit in their selection.

Yet, we are also aware that not all private chefs are prepared to deliver the high-level service that our clients expect, even if they have the potential to do so. That’s why, although we strive to avoid “depersonalization,” we recognize that many chefs need help to find “their style,” the one that gives their client “that touch.” This reflection gave birth to the idea of Bersion. A company that aims to offer both our high-level service and some of that scalability, providing chefs who work with us a work guide based on our experience, akin to “haute couture design,” so they can offer the same service we have been providing to our clients for years, while allowing them to express themselves in their own “language” and helping them find their path when they eventually stop working with us.