Connecting Companies through Haute Cuisine

Marrying the concepts of food and networking can be the perfect match for companies looking to do business, says Manuel Quintanero, Director General of Millesime México, but making it a unique experience can guarantee a higher level of success. “Networking and business are done over food. However, for us it is not just about providing a meal but generating a unique experience that includes not only the food but also decoration, illumination, service and details,” says Quintanero. 
Millesime, whose objective is to create links between different companies through haute cuisine, began in Spain in 2007 as a networking tool for companies, using hospitality and gastronomy to bring all these elements together. Entering Mexico has opened a plethora of opportunities, according to Quintanero. “I do not think there is a country better than Mexico for Millesime’s concepts,” he says. The company has been able to develop three business lines in the country that are not found anywhere else: Millesime México, Estudio Millesime and Millesime Xperience. Although Millesime’s target audience is concentrated in the corporate sector, each business line offers a different concept aimed at various niches but they remain perfectly intertwined by three key factors: haute cuisine, exclusivity and unique experiences. 
Quintanero says when Millesime began in Mexico eight years ago, it was a highly corporate product, since most of its clients were companies. However, a boom in Mexican gastronomy and a worldwide focus on Mexican chefs allowed Millesime to expand its market niche. “At first, only corporate directors knew us, but we have evolved toward a more social business, with a recurrent clientele who value and are attracted to the gastronomic world.”
Millesime first ventured into the Mexican market in 2010 with Millesime México, the first of its business lines and now an annual event in Mexico City combining unique culinary experiences with renowned Mexican and international chefs and mixology. Millesime México is not only the company’s oldest concept in the country but also the most recognized, as Quintanero explains: “Millesime México is our most massive event and the one that has given us the greatest notoriety.”
The other two business lines are more discreet but also maintain the concept of haute cuisine at heart. Estudio Millesime, which is a private club, was inaugurated in Mexico City in 2013. Taking the concept of exclusivity to a different level, Quintanero says memberships to Estudio Millesime are capped at 80 members; it already has 69 and any prospective member must first receive an invitation from an existing member. “It is a very exclusive and small concept that we do not like to promote,” he says. The third business line is Millesime Xperience, which Quintanero describes as a catering company that has been operating for less than a year but that follows Millesime’s gastronomic philosophy.
Quintanero says Mexico complies with a series of conditions that make it the ideal market for his company. Top of the list is the understanding of and passion for food. “Mexico has a gastronomic history that few countries have. Some of its recipes are 500 years old.” In addition to its strong gastronomic lineage, Quintanero points out that the country’s relationship with food also encompasses the present. “There are Mexican chefs in almost all the best restaurants in the world. Mexican cuisine has become among the most important globally.” The other element of Millesime’s successful model in Mexico is the Mexican business community. “The country clearly has a very strong business sector. Almost every major corporation has an office in the country,” says Quintanero. 
The gastronomic boom the country has experienced in the last decade has also contributed to Millesime’s expansion and success. “Millesime arrived at a moment when Mexican gastronomy was just taking off. The boom was not associated with Millesime but we have played an interesting role in bringing people closer to Mexican cuisine,” says Quintanero. Among the company’s most important accomplishments has been to help put the spotlight on Mexican gastronomy. “For us, it has been very important to see how people have started to value their own chefs and their own products. This was not the case 10 years ago.”