Evaristo Garcia - The word of a maragato

Evaristo as a boy

Evaristo and his cousin
delivering fish around Madrid.

One of the telephones that
Evaristo used to place the orders.

The First Years

On the 9th of June 1933 Evaristo is born in Combarros (León).
Son of Norberto and María Rosa.
He has a happy childhood in his village.

Arrival in Madrid

In 1942 at the age of 9 he leaves for Madrid to work in the family’s fishmonger business (Pescadería La Astorgana). His work consists of delivering the fishmonger’s products to clients (among the most important are the restaurants Jockey, Horcher and L’Hardy and hotels such as the Palace and The Ritz, etc...).

To carry out these deliveries he had to walk all over Madrid carrying baskets of fish weighing a lot of kilos (up to 70 kilos). Sometimes he used public transport (during this period it was the tramway and the metro), but the majority of the way was done on foot. When wanting to rest, the basket was left on windowsills.

Normally the buildings did not have elevators and if they did they were not allowed to be used by those smelling of fish, so they were forced to climb the stairs.

It's anecdotal that a client once asked him
to weigh himself and then to weigh the fish basket
he was carrying, and the basket was heavier than him.

In those days Evaristo loved delivering the products to the kitchens of large restaurants, because he admired the work of the chefs. He received tips but what he liked most when he made the deliveries were the little cakes or sweets they would give him. At that time his wage was 2 pesetas.

At the age of 14 he changes activity and he tends to the telephone orders received at the fishmonger´s, a job that his brother Angel hands over to him. In this job he could talk to 200 or 300 people a day, literally shouting because in those days the communications were not that good and it was difficult to hear the conversation. He would often lose his voice. And he could have to wait 2 or 3 hours for a conference because in those days an operator had to authorise and make the connection manually.

Each day he had to learn the price of between 50 and 100 products, a task his children still do today.

At the age of 19, he talks to his family saying that he wanted to work with more independence, to be able to develop professionally.

Pescaderías Coruñesas

In 1956 Mr. Luis Fragío Babío proposes to Norberto García (Evaristo´s father) that he buys the Pescaderías Coruñesas branch of the calle Recoletos. This acquisition is a risky operation because sales are very low and they had to take on the establishment's whole workforce.

Finally Evaristo´s family buys Pescaderías Coruñesas.

At the age of 23, Evaristo takes charge of Pescaderías Coruñesas. The challenge is to keep afloat a company with only 4 clients. Thanks to the hard work of all the personnel in 3 months they make their first profit.

The shop window at
Pescaderías Recoletos store.

Our philosophy

For us the client that comes for sardines and horse mackerel is as important as the one that comes for eels and lobsters.
All clients must leave satisfied.
Remove the word “no” from the company’s vocabulary, that way we are forced to have all classes of products and keep the clients happy.
“We don’t ask anyone who they are, we only want to serve them”.

This is the kind of footwear we used at Pescaderías Coruñesas in those days.

How to turn a problem into an opportunity. The space they had was a problem. When Christmas arrived they would set up a long table in the street and place the products on it in the most attractive way.
And how an ingenious idea turns Pescaderías Coruñesas into a typical scene of Madrid. Pescaderías Coruñesas becomes a traditional Christmas scene of the Salamanca neighbourhood; people would visit just to see it. Pescaderías Coruñesas becomes the leading seller of fish and shellfish nationally. It sets the standards for exportations.

A worker that started at the age of 12
and is still with us today.

Pescaderías Coruñesas’
staff in 1960.

Workers: In 1956 there were 8 workers, in the 1980s there were 40 people and today the workforce is made up of 100 workers.

Expanding Pescaderías Coruñesas

In 1986 Pescaderías Coruñesas is forced to expand its installations and moves to Calle Juan Montalvo, 14. There it has a 2,500 m2 building. The company is still at this address.

The history of Pescaderías Coruñesas goes from not being allowed to use the elevators of buildings because of the fish to the recognition by all kinds of personalities and the opportunity of being supplier to the Royal Family.

In 2004, due in part to the continued increase in volume and in part to their effort to be able to attend to their clients with the same quality as always without turning their back on the service improvements that technological advances offer, the company expands and improves the installations, achieving the current space of more than 3.000 m2. Pescaderías Coruñesas installations are in a constant process of improvement and adaptation to meet clients’ needs.

A characteristic that has been part of the company from the start to that of training their own professionals, who from the moment they enter the company start to learn its internal culture, something that is necessary to be able to offer their clients maximum quality and the best service in a sector such as this. All this makes it possible that today its professionals are the best reference in the sector.

Other businesses

Fish stalls in Mercamadrid

At the end of the 60s Evaristo managed the stall at the Mercado de la Puerta de Toledo.

Constant innovation in our products: He started selling new products such as trout from fish farms as well as all the traditional products.
In the 1970s Evaristo manages the stall together with Lino. That is when they started selling eels. In a short time they become the leading point of sale for eels in Madrid.

Numbers to be highlighted:

In one year they sold between 80/90 tons of frozen eels.
Every weekend they sold between 800/100 kgs of fresh eels.

Later, in 1982 Evaristo buys the stall in Mercamadrid called "Esencia de mar".

Eels from Guipúzcoa

Evaristo becomes the representative of several eel fishermen from Aguinaga (Guipúzcoa). He advises all the eel sellers to join together. In 1974 the Society of Eels from Aguinaga is created. Evaristo is the distributor of this company in Madrid.

Tradition and Innovation

Pescaderías Coruñesas is an innovative company and one that is prepared for the future in as much that today its installations have the latest technology with computerised systems controlled by specialists. Its computer system has software exclusively designed for the company that allows a complete and thorough control of the products from their entrance into the installations to their exit and final delivery to the client.

The installations for the conservation and elaboration of the fish are made of machinery with the latest technology in the sector, which allows the maintenance and preparation of the fish and seafood in the best sanitary conditions and the highest quality. These innovative installations position Pescaderías Coruñesas as a point of reference in the sector and the company with the best future projection.

Restaurants

Our contribution

Maintain the same quality and service as the first day you opened your establishment
Offer the same as you would like to receive
Treat customers with respect, affection and cordiality

El Pescador

In the year 1975 the opportunity arose to buy the restaurant. The seller was the football player José Fidalgo Veloso (of Deportivo de la Coruña and Real Madrid). The restaurant is inaugurated the same year.

O´Pazo

In 1981 José Chas and José Fajardo owners of the O´Pazo restaurant, propose the sale to Evaristo.
Evaristo inaugurates it on the 10th of May of the same year.

Receiving the Medal of Tourism.

Recognition

Silver Insignia of Tourism Merit 1.976
1.985 Marqués de Desio Award to the Best Professional of the Year awarded by the National Academy of Gastronomy
2.004 Medal for the Merit of Work

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