The incredible story of Jose Romero’s last sprint (Barcelona 2003)

Who? Jose Romero
Number of participations to waiters races: three (2002, 2003, 2004)
City of the waiters races: Barcelona

About Jose Romero

Jose developed his interest in the waiter profession very young. Indeed, Jose’s family has a restaurant – the “Bar Los Caracoles Casa Antonio�? that is over 60 years old and which is one of the oldest restaurants located in downtown Seville. Jose began his career in the family business but has worked in several other places such as the Patio Sevillano, also in Seville. In 2005, Jose moved to the United States where he worked his way up until he became a certified Sous Chef at the Double Tree Rocky Point in Tampa, FL, which is a Hilton Company Hotel.

About the profession of waiter: Jose’s Words

Customer satisfaction has always been the most important thing to me. My role, as a professional waiter, has evolved thanks to my experiences both in Spain and the United States. In my opinion a true professional has the ability to recognize the type of customer you are dealing with from the moment he places the first order, he looks for all of the alternatives to satisfy that customer´s needs as if the customer was the only person he is attending to.

In todays´ world the waiter´s profession is of easy access to anyone who can carry a plate, here in Spain we call those “waiters”, plate carriers, whereas back in the my grandfather´s times circa 1960s, a waiter needed to have a certain skill set to sell these products. That is why in today´s world it is important to recognize a professional waiter, someone who has studied this profession in different jobs and countries as opposed to a “plate carrier” who is someone who looks at the job as just another job.

The waiters races Jose participated in

Jose participated to three waiters races in Barcelona in the early 2000s. Those waiters races are well-known from the Spanish waiters as they were part of a national tournament organised during the early 2000s by Sergat Events and sponsored by the beer brand San Miguel (the “San Miguel Ligua National Carrera de Camareros�?). This waiters race tournament became very famous, mainly because of the high–level of the competition which welcomed competitors who were very “sportive�?. The final which was taking place in Barcelona was a 100 meters sprint and every spectator can remember the tension and suspense that caught the public up during the few seconds the race lasted.

According to Jose, San Miguel finally decided to stop sponsoring the race in 2004 because the level of competition became so high that only a few people signed up in the last year (they indeed thought they had to be at a certain level to race).

During the first race in 2002, Jose broke the long standing record of 9 years with his time during the semi finals. In 2003, he broke his own record with a personal best and record time for the race of 13.52 seconds, however Jose reached only the second place because of his tray falling a few seconds before the end of the race.

Watch the incredible video of Jose (number “78″) at Barcelona 2003 waiters race:

How the waiters races changed Jose’s life

‘’it wasn’t the prizes themselves that changed my life, it was the race itself. In the end, a prize is a material thing, but the people you meet and the friends you make are what really change you. That is why I am so anxious to try to reorganize another waiter race here in Spain: to bring that community back together and get back that racing spirit!�?

Jose’s recommendations corner

“Above all says Jose Romero, and particularly in case the race is a sprint, you have to work on your concentration already before the race…and try to maintain it also during the race.

For me, it was easy to do that the first year because no one knew me; however the 2 last years it became difficult because of the reporters who wanted to interview me even before the race.

I also recommend training before the competition. Personally, the training for this race was difficult, I trained for 4 months rigorously everyday, combining gym hours with my own training technique of running, and top of everything still maintain over 12 hours of work a day.

Read more about Barcelona 2003 waiters race