Comillas and Madrid City Council bring the second series of training programmes run by the Chair in Gastronomy and Culinary Innovation and Sustainability to a close

The event was attended by Inmaculada Sanz Otero, First Deputy Mayor of Madrid and Delegate for Security and Emergencies and Spokesperson for Madrid City Council, and Dolores Carrillo Márquez, Vice-Rector for Institutional Relations, Organisation and General Registrar of Comillas. The event, which was also attended by Engracia Hidalgo Tena, Head of the Department of Economy, Innovation and Finance at Madrid City Council – the department spearheading this training initiative – also featured speeches by Antonio Obregón García, Executive Director of Madrid Culinary Campus, and Manuel Morales Contreras, Director of the Chair of Gastronomy, Innovation and Culinary Sustainability in Madrid.

In her institutional welcome address, the Vice-Chancellor thanked the First Deputy Mayor for her presence and emphasised that her attendance “is not merely a matter of protocol: it is the clearest sign that training, innovation and the future of the catering sector matter to Madrid”. Carrillo recalled that these programmes stem from the agreement signed in June 2025 between the city council and the university, which aims to “put a university’s knowledge at the service of a sector that is, at once, a hallmark of Madrid, an economic driver and a source of employment for thousands of people”.

The programmes take part of a public-private partnership agreement that seeks to generate knowledge and promote innovative practices across the entire hospitality value chain. The agreement promotes training, business management and the sector’s adaptation to environmental and social challenges, with a particular focus on small businesses with fewer resources, and fosters sustainable gastronomy that makes the most of resources, respects the environment and preserves Madrid’s gastronomic culture.

The executive director of Madrid Culinary Campus, Antonio Obregón, explained the uniqueness of the project, which is deeply rooted in the city of Madrid, and expressed his satisfaction at being able to contribute to the social transformation of the city through the university’s core mission: the training of professionals. “At Madrid Culinary Campus, we promote improvements in the quality of education, entrepreneurship in the food sector and research applied to culinary innovation. The fact that this second edition has once again been met with the same level of success and positive results as we saw in 2025 confirms the strength of this project.”

For his part, the director of the chair, Manuel Morales, emphasised that they share this conviction. “We aim for this chair to be a space for actively listening to the sector’s needs, to understand its challenges and problems, and to identify how we can help it become more sustainable and competitive, with our training and research focused on these objectives.”

Fifty students trained

In the two intakes held to date, the chair has trained 50 students: 13 referred from the School of Hospitality and Catering via the Madrid City Council’s Employment Agency, and 37 selected from among owners, managers or those with responsibility for managing businesses in the gastronomy sector.

The program "Smart Kitchen Management: Production Costs and Profitability", comprising 40 teaching hours, has enabled participants to gain a deeper understanding of business viability and profitability, as well as the design and financial planning of menus. Classes were held alternately at the university’s premises and at the Madrid Municipal School of Hospitality and Catering.

Meanwhile, the course "Innovation and Business Management in the Catering Sector" brought together 37 students holding management or ownership roles in hospitality SMEs in the capital, and covered digitalisation, point-of-sale systems, the circular economy, and marketing and innovation strategies in the catering sector. In terms of their profiles, 30 per cent work in micro-enterprises with fewer than 10 employees, 55 per cent in SMEs and 15 per cent in large companies; by sector, 75 per cent work in restaurants, restaurant groups and catering – 11 per cent of whom in hotel restaurants – 11 per cent as suppliers to the sector or in foodtech, and 14 per cent in communications, marketing, consultancy and other service companies.

The event concluded with a speech by the First Deputy Mayor of Madrid, Inmaculada Sanz Otero, who highlighted the role that “the hospitality sector plays in the capital due to its impact on turnover, employment and the city’s international image, factors which underpin the city government’s unconditional support for this sector”.

A sector with over 15,000 establishments

The importance of this training for professionals is reflected in the latest figures for Madrid’s hospitality sector. The capital has 15,325 hospitality establishments — following a slight decline of 3.89 per cent — with the Centro district being the main hub, hosting 3,191 operating businesses. Weekday occupancy has risen by 7.85 per cent compared with the previous year, and the afternoon slot has seen the strongest growth, with an increase of 14.69 per cent. Customer satisfaction remains at a notable level, with an average score of 7.01, and the business closure rate has fallen to 0.46 per cent, compared with 0.58 per cent in the previous period. In terms of technology, 40.42 per cent of businesses have an average level of digitalisation, highlighting the sector’s scope for improvement.

From 2027, practical training sessions and new educational modules will be delivered at the new Madrid Culinary Campus facilities, which aim to ensure the continuity of a competitive, sustainable and highly skilled hospitality model.