Iceland review - 2013, Page 24

22 ICELAND REVIEW
No Sombreros
at Serrano
Young businessman Emil Helgi Lárusson talks the success story of his U.S.-Mexican-inspired fast food.
good avocado is expensive but it’s worth it,” smiles Emil
Helgi Lárusson, inviting me to nachos with freshly-
made guacamole when we meet at Serrano, the fast food
chain he runs with Einar Örn Einarsson. “We make all our sauces
from scratch.” Judging by the popularity of Serrano’s burritos, salads
and quesadillas—such as the favored Mission Burrito with pork,
rice, fried vegetables, fresh salsa, pinto beans, corn and chipotle
sauce—customers appreciate the effort.
HEALTHY FOOD ON THE GO
“We use top-quality ingredients, the food is prepared on location
and we don’t use any additives,” states Emil. The fusion of flavors
in Serrano’s fast food—Thai, Greek, South and North American—
results in the wide range of fresh ingredients used, explains Emil.
Their master chefs avoid using spices, salt and oils to excess when
coming up with new recipes. “To begin with we didn’t have any
fixed items on the menu,” says Emil. “But then we thought people
might always choose the same combination and eventually grow
tired of it.” The food served at Serrano has its roots in the U.S. but
not Mexico, as is sometimes assumed. “It’s an American version of
Mexican food originating in the Mission District in San Francisco,”
reveals Emil. “We haven’t marketed ourselves as a classic Mexican
restaurant. There are no sombreros here.”
The first Serrano restaurant opened in Kringlan shopping mall in
Reykjavík in 2002. But the idea came to Emil and Einar some years
earlier. “We were backpacking in South America for six months
in 1998-1999. After graduating from junior college we decided to
take a gap year to go traveling,” Emil recounts. He laughs at the
memory. “When you’re traveling with the same person for a long
time, eventually you run out of conversation topics. We were on
this long bus ride, in Bolivia, I think, when the idea of opening
up a business together after university came up.” Einar went on to
study economics in the U.S. and Emil enrolled in business studies at
home. Some months before graduation at Christmas 2001 they met
to discuss their idea. “After thinking about it for a while we decided
to opt for the restaurant business.” They had identified a gap in the
BY eygLó svaLa aRnaRsdóttiR PHOTO BY PÁLL stefÁnsson
market as the fast food available wasn’t particularly healthy. “In the
decade that has passed there has been an incredible change in the
way people think about their health. We arrived at the right time.”
LOOKING ABROAD
Following their initial success in Iceland—where Emil and Einar
now also run Asian-style fast food restaurant Nam—they started
thinking bigger. “It was always our ambition to become an interna-
tional fast food chain,” excites Emil. “We obtained a study compar-
ing the square meters reserved for Tex-Mex food in supermarkets
in Europe. Sweden ranked highest by far.” And so they set their
sights on Iceland’s Nordic neighbor. Einar moved to Stockholm
to follow up on the project. Then in autumn 2008 the Icelandic
economy collapsed. “Being a young and eager Icelandic business-
man wasn’t exactly in,” smiles Emil. “Fortunately, we had good
investors.” Serrano opened in Stockholm in early 2009 but first the
capital controls introduced by the Icelandic government following
the crash had to be dealt with. “If someone would have told me a
few years earlier that the biggest problem about opening a restaurant
in a foreign country would be to transfer the money I would have
laughed myself silly.” To their relief, suppliers were understanding.
Serrano has been well received in Sweden, where it’s now
known as Zocalo. In 2010 it was named ‘trendsetter of the year’ by
Restauranggalan, a respected award within the restaurant business,
and the following year dairy producer Arla Foods named it ‘best fast
food restaurant’ at the Arla Guldko Awards. “It’s the sort of award
you wallpaper your windows with,” states Emil proudly. And in
September 2013, Sweden’s Fastfood Magazine included Zocalo in its
selection of the country’s best fast food restaurants. Emil and Einar
now run seven restaurants in Sweden with the eighth opening this
autumn. “Our goal is to make the concept work in Sweden. If we
can manage that, we’ve proven that it works outside Iceland.” Emil
and Einar dream of expanding to the other Nordic countries and
Germany in the future. “It would be fun if in 20 years we would be
running 10,000 restaurants and could say: ‘This was my idea.’ But if
it’s 100 that would also be fantastic too.” 