On 27 October, Business People published an interview by Ernesto Páez with Asunción Pertierra, co-founder and director of sales, marketing and communication at Grupo Life Gourmet. She explains how a catering company founded in 2014 has become a hospitality group, and what we want to achieve over the next three years. These are her main points.

The Teatro Real came before our first anniversary

The change was gradual and has no single date. Asunción points to a first turning point: the food and beverage management of the Teatro Real, which we won when the company was less than a year old. Then came the partnership with Ramón Freixa, our kosher offer and the first one-of-a-kind venues.

Today the group brings together restaurants, events, venue management, culture and entertainment. Getting here, she says, meant taking on projects that pushed us out of our comfort zone, professionalising our teams and investing in a structure able to deliver complex events. Good ideas still matter, but they now rest on clear processes, coordination between departments and teams with autonomy.

Three brands and two lines that run across them

The interview sets out how we are organised: LIFE Catering, LIFE Espacios and LIFE Signature, plus two verticals that run across all three, LIFE Hospitality and LIFE Bodas. The aim is to become more specialised while still offering the complete service: food, front of house, venue management and client care.

We choose venues for their character, more than their size

A venue joins the group for its history, its architecture, its location or what it makes possible. Asunción mentions the Museo del Prado, the Palacio de Linares, the Hipódromo de la Zarzuela and Soto de Viñuelas, and makes it clear that we do not apply the same formula to all of them: each one has its own audience.

What sets us apart, she explains, is taking part in the whole process: concept, catering, sales, operations and the events themselves. A historic building comes with limitations you have to work with, and an attractive venue is not enough if it is not run sustainably.

1,546 events in 2025

These are some of the figures in the interview: around 300 permanent staff, 1,546 events in 2025 and 930 in the first half of 2026. Corporate events account for about 40% of turnover, private events for 29%, and Signature and restaurants for the remaining 31%.

Asunción attributes the growth to the way our lines complement each other. The same venue can host a company meeting, a wedding or a food concept of its own, and what we learn at each event helps us run it better.

Companies look for a partner who understands their goal

Ten years ago, clients hired a specific service. Today a company uses its events to convey its values and strengthen its relationship with employees, clients and partners, and it needs someone who understands that purpose. In private celebrations, demand for personalisation and exclusivity keeps growing, with better-informed and increasingly international clients.

Madrid first, Portugal on the horizon

Madrid remains our main market. Among the projects under way, Asunción mentions Matadero Madrid, Arion at the Hipódromo de la Zarzuela, Santa Costura and Confuso, and the evolution of our offer at the Museo Reina Sofía. Outside Madrid, Portugal included, we will grow organically and very selectively: sometimes as approved caterer, sometimes managing the venue or developing its food concept.

We want to be a benchmark in premium hospitality.

That is the goal for the next three years. Asunción does not want to measure it only by the number of venues or turnover, but also by the quality we manage to sustain and by the growth of the teams who make it possible.

Source · Interview by Ernesto Páez · Business People · 27 October 2026 · Read the full interview (in Spanish)