"Studying Tourism has allowed me to
run the restaurant founded by my grandparents"
LAIA BALADA FIBLA. Owner of the Casa Ramon restaurant in Les Cases d'Alcanar
I finished my Tourism studies in 2015 at Campus Vila-seca of the URV. We were the first promotion to come out as graduates, and I specialized in tourist accommodation, as the tourism and restaurant sectors have always been interesting for me. My grandparents were very entrepreneurial in their day, and they opened a small restaurant in the main square of my town, which was named after my grandfather, Casa Ramon. Ever since I can remember, I have seen my mother and grandparents in front of the stove, making delicious dishes for the clients who came to visit them. When my grandparents could no longer run the business, it was my mother who kept up the family business.
As I got older, it became increasingly clear that I wanted to dedicate myself to the tourism industry and continue in my grandparents' footsteps with the business they started 65 years ago.
At the end of my degree in Tourism, I did my internship at the SB Express Tarragona Hotel and then worked for a year and a half at the Ciutat de Tarragona Hotel as a receptionist, where I met great people who trained me. These experiences made me grow as a person and I found out what it was like to work in a large hotel chain outside my comfort zone.
After these experiences, I decided to go home and continue with the third generation of my grandparents' restaurant. I did some cooking and baking courses, and I currently run the restaurant with my mother, although it has been renovated and relocated.
It is an intimate, modern and elegant space, where the essence of my grandparents' cuisine is preserved but is now adapted to current tastes. It is in a privileged location on the Les Cases d'Alcanar promenade in front of the fish market, where we get our fresh produce of unbeatable quality every day.
I am sure that if my grandparents saw what their small kitchen and restaurant have become they would be very proud that I decided to study this degree so I could continue what they started.
Doing this degree has given me a lot of knowledge that I can now pass on to all the people who come to our restaurant. I can advise and guide them in their gastronomic, cultural and leisure holiday activities. I can also convey the passion and energy that my grandparents passed on to my mother, and she to me. We are three generations.