The Dynamic Duo

Words: Abby Lowe

Christian and Merete Marstrander are the kind of couple who don’t mess around. In Merete’s words, Christian is the ‘visionist’; she is the ‘perfectionist’, and it’s this formidable formula that makes them a force to be reckoned with, and why Cotton Beach Club, their indelibly chic project on the cliff tops of Cala Tarida, was an unprecedented success within only months of opening last year. This summer they’re back with even bigger and better ideas, and not content with running one restaurant, they’ve launched FAY, an Asian fusion restaurant on the rooftop of Cotton Beach Club. It’s here they joined us for lunch, and sipping champagne – because why not, when you work this hard – they regaled the lessons they learn last year, why ignoring advice can sometimes be a good thing, and why the quest for success and happiness is always ongoing.

Was the winter just past the first you’ve spent on the island?
Christian: No, we’ve always been here for winter. We love it.
Merete: We have children and we can’t take them out of school.
C: But Winter was fabulous. Maybe that’s not the word, but it was very good to spend our first winter here at Cotton Beach Club. It was beautiful.

Were you busy over winter?
M: We had a fire inside and outside all the time. We had a New Year’s Eve party and we had a lot of people over the Christmas period. There was a good mix of locals and people who come here every holiday. We bought 30 blankets so people were staying longer because they were all warm with the fires going as well!

You’re one year in with Cotton Beach Club now, how has it been?
C: The first summer went above all our expectations, honestly. We’re humble and starting in Cala Tarida we know was a challenge – everybody told us so.
M: Yes, people were saying, ‘how do you expect people to go to Cala Tarida?’
C: Lots of people from the island who have places themselves, all of them told us it was a dangerous spot to go for. I think what they meant is that if we were starting an authentic Spanish restaurant it would be fine, but to start Cotton Beach Club, which is completely different – that could be challenging. The view is the view – this doesn’t go out of fashion.

But obviously you ignored that advice anyway – what gave you the conviction it would work?
C: Usually I listen very little. When people tell me I can’t do something, I just want to do it. So actually I think it was even better. If people told me it would be easy I wouldn’t do it, most likely.
M: He just can’t resist a challenge! But of course with the view and the location combined, we saw immediately we could do it.

Did you always have a clear vision for what you wanted Cotton Beach to be?
C: In a way. We talked about the beach club for 10 years, so it’s not something that came to life yesterday. We wanted people to come to a place where they could spend the day, which is different in Ibiza than most other places. If you go to St Tropez or Cannes or Monaco or the coast of Italy, you go in the morning with your kids and your day bag and you stay for the whole day. It’s just that in Ibiza 24 hours is turned upside down, so people come to the beach at 3pm instead of 10am. But we have a crowd now that comes to the beach at 10am – they come very early.
M: It’s busy here on the beach before 12pm.
C: We have a place where the music’s not too loud, you can bring your kids, and it’s for the people who aren’t always partying.
M: Or when they need a break from the partying.
C: They talk a lot about the ‘new Ibiza’, and it’s definitely coming. We have friends who’ve been coming here for five years and this year is the first time ever they’ve been to a club. They spent two hours at Pacha. These people don’t understand the concept of being 40 years old and going to a club until 6am. They like to party in the day – like they do in the South of France.
M: You have to remember that they have kids, like us. And now if you’re going to a club you have to take your kids with you!

Did you learn a lot of lessons with Cotton Beach Club last summer?
M: Last summer? Yes! It would be a lie to say no.
C: We learnt every day – about food, about people, about good and bad clients.
M: We learnt a lot about running our back office and our systems, so we can give people even better service.

Was it an enjoyable experience?
C: Everything has been extremely enjoyable, but it is a business that contains so many different things, and we hadn’t thought it would be so demanding, really. Because you need to understand music, décor, food and wine. People from 17 different countries work here and they’re coming from completely different cultures, some of which we don’t understand, and the other way around.

So it must have been enriching as well?
M: It was, and it still is.
C: Last year we were 38 people working here and now we’re 82.

You focused a lot on your staff selection process last year. Was it the same over winter?
C: It’s not that it’s a long process – you don’t have to go to 10 interviews. It’s more that we pick people more based on their social skills. There are people here who had never worked in a restaurant before starting here. And they have done extremely well. Many of these people we’ve taken for their personalities.
M: It’s very much about chemistry – when we like people we get a good feeling and that’s it – we hire them.
C: Some of the best staff we have aren’t restaurant people. Although I don’t think you should do that with the chefs…!

Let’s talk about FAY. Where did the idea come from?
C: It’s a little bit like Cotton Beach Club. We wanted a place where we could eat Asian food and there wasn’t anywhere doing the kind of Asian we like. So we thought, ‘can we do something with the roof?’ It’s a very interesting spot but the structure was tricky, so we levelled the floor and made it so that you don’t have to go up and down the stairs all the time.
M: And also last year we had a different concept up here – we had gazebos and some sun beds. And it worked on some days but basically it was too hot, and there was no pool or Jacuzzi so it didn’t work.
C: It’s also about maximising what we already had – the roof was here so how could we get people here and what concept would they come for? We took a chance on doing Asian because we thought it was needed here on the island and it’s proven already that it’s worked. Especially at night – during the heatwave when it was 40 degrees we were all sitting up here. At night it’s completely packed.

So when did you decide you were going to do it and how did you turn it around in time?
C: September last year. I was annoyed by the roof all last summer to be honest. Every time I came up here I knew we could do more.
M: Yeah, but also in high season last year we were full almost every day, and we’d put tables up here and serve them up here – we had waiters running up and downstairs with the food. We really tried to accommodate people if they came. And combined with that we thought, we’d be able to accommodate even more people if we opened up the roof.

How did you put your chef’s team together?
C: We started very early. Evert was the sushi chef for downstairs and the beach last year, so he and another Mediterranean chef with great interest in Asian food started to develop dishes that we suggested, and together the four of us started the process. They then selected a team in autumn / early winter and we started doing testing – for endless hours – and eventually got to the menu we have now.

Why did you decide to make it an Asian fusion restaurant?
C: We didn’t want to do a sushi restaurant – everybody does sushi. We want to do sushi extremely well but we also want to do crispy duck and orange chicken and all the other dishes we think are interesting.
M: It’s a bit like downstairs also, we don’t have a purely Mediterranean menu. We include elements from all over the world.

Have there been changes to the Cotton Club Beach menu as well?
C: Yes, quite a lot. We have kept the winners and taken out the losers.
M: We have a better dessert and kids’ menu.
C: We were good last year but now we are even better. You can always improve in this business.

Have you been able to strike a balance between working and enjoying living on the island?
C: I can tell you that we don’t have that balance. Yesterday we had our first day off this season.
M: A whole day!
C: And now it’s two months until next time – we’re not going to have many of them. But you really need to be here at the restaurant.
M: I guess after last season I was thinking, ‘now it’s winter, it’s going to be quiet’. But of course then we decided to be open at weekends and we opened FAY, and it wasn’t quiet at all. We were working here every day, or working at home in order to open FAY, there were so many things going on.

Does it make it easier because you’re passionate about what you’re doing?
M: I think so. Our eldest daughter works in reception and since we’re both here all the time, it feels like our whole life. Everything we talk about – in the morning, when we go home, when we’re in the car with a coffee – it’s all about here. Sometimes that can be a lot.

What events will there be over the rest of summer?
C: We’re doing our Hippie Hammocks every second Sunday. We redecorate downstairs and play hippie style music on vinyl. It’s a nice little break for the venue.
M: During the winter our carpenter made some hammocks and they were really popular, and Christian came up with the idea so we thought we’d extend it.
C: We’re very focused on the quality of everything we serve, so at our new Oysters and Champagne bar, the oysters are from Bretagne in France – they’re the best in the world. You can have them fresh with just pepper and lemon or with our own special garnish.

And do you have a lot of weddings this year?
M: We have a lot of weddings this year, and we’re still doing agreements for September and October. It’s amazing how many people don’t plan their weddings!
C: It’s incredible, people are calling us and saying ‘do you have space in 17 days from now? We’re getting married.’ And we say ‘So you’re 10 people then?’ And they say ‘No, 75! How do they fly in and do that?! But if we’re hosting a wedding then let’s make it the most incredible wedding for our clients. It’s so rewarding when you see what they write back to you. It’s phenomenal.

Are you ever content with what you’ve achieved?
C: No, I’m not that type. I think I’m not doing well enough, usually. We are not finished here.
M: Maybe Christian is more about the future vision and I’m more of a perfectionist, so one is in the moment and the other one is forward. It doesn’t mean we don’t think we don’t already have a good product but we like to have something to aim for.
C: I think it’s the small things in life that make us tick. I come here on my bike in the morning and I’m hot and I can dive in the sea and take my morning looking at this. It’s more than enough. That the business is running well is very important, but I think we’re blessed just being on this island and having this job. That people like what we do on top of that is fantastic, but the goal isn’t money and how money beach clubs we can have – it’s really not.