Hi Johan! Tell us about yourself and your background.
I started in the restaurant business in 1999 and worked at Eriks Bakficka, Villa Källhagen and Divino. Then I joined the Brasserie group at Il Tempo and eventually Café Milano. Six years ago, Filip and Daniel (the owners of the Brasserie Group) decided to buy Trattorian and that's when I ended up here, first as a chef, but then I took the step to become the operations manager for all three restaurants here.
You rotate three locations and we see you cooking in the kitchen, talking to guests, painting floors, fixing guests' heels and a hundred other things. Tell us about your role!
Ultimately, I am financially responsible for these three restaurants. And it is my responsibility that we continue to develop the product we have inherited. My focus is to keep many people's wills together - so that we stay within the framework of what is Trattorian. But if it is cleaning toilets, sitting in negotiations with suppliers or washing dishes that is needed - then that is also part of my job!
You run this place like you own it - the way you wish all employees did at their jobs. What is the driving force?
I have never dreamed of opening my own restaurant. However, I've always had a lot of trust from my owners. For me, freedom is important, it should be fun! I would rather have fun and feel freedom in my context - than earn lots of money. I go in with my person, being here, working, caring. I want my waiters to see this as their living room and everyone who comes in here is their guest. My image of Trattorian is very clear.
If you weren't working at the pub, what would you be doing?
Wow... I can't do anything else. But something creative where you got to work with your body and hands, maybe gardening?
You often talk about Trattorian's heritage and how important it is that we manage it.
What is the heritage?
In the beginning when the Brasserie Group took over, we had a lot of different thoughts and ideas - it was going to be a Tuscan farmhouse and many other things. But then we backed off. How did Melker Andersson think and create Trattorian from the beginning? He had created an exciting and broad menu. There were some dishes in the higher price range, but also really good pasta dishes for 140 SEK, which created a unique mix of guests. You should feel at home both on the date and at a big family dinner for twenty people. Everything belongs together. There should be something for everyone, be popular, easily accessible and the guest should want to come here often.
What do you like best about the pub?
From the beginning it was all life around the restaurants - the pub life is like a big youth centre. This whole life is incredibly fun. You're a team and you work as a team going forward. I love the community.
Which dish on the menu do you cook best?
It would have to be maccheroini with hand-cut macaroni, truffles, lemon and parmesan. It's actually one of the few dishes I've come up with - and I've picked it around in every restaurant I've worked in. The funny thing is that most of them still have it on the menu.
How much fun do you have at work?
If I work six days, at least four of them should be fun - otherwise you should probably think about moving on. I'm always at least four fun days a week, usually more!
What are your summer plans?
It will be a trip to the West Coast and maybe a trip in the forests of Värmland. I'll be fishing, cooking good food and taking it easy.
What are you drinking this summer?
A lot of rosé wine. Then it's Negroni and the occasional Hugo or Aperol Spritz.
What do you want your guests to feel when they leave one of your establishments?
That they have experienced a pleasant ambience and feel looked after. I don't think guests remember exactly what they ate or drank or that a waiter was standing straight in the back.... But I believe in the overall feeling - that they feel they want to come back.
Last week when we were here, Zlatan was sitting at one of the tables at Orangeriet. Honestly, were you starstruck?
Haha, absolutely not. He is an ordinary person and he was here to eat well and have a good time. Not for a chef to come out and take a picture. However, I told the football team I coach, a bunch of 15-year-old boys, in the evening. They wanted to know what he ate, haha!
