International Careers: Sara Wilson, On Opening a Bar in Spain
Sara Wilson, co-owner AlteArte in Altea, Spain
While working abroad in Paris as a high school English assistant and a server at the Hard Rock Cafe, Sara Wilson fell in love with more than the French language and culture. She also fell hard for her now-husband David Fernandez, a Spanish-born chef who was raised mainly in France. When her visa expired, David followed her back to the U.S., where they got married. She worked as a business reporter and he as a chef, but they spoke French and cooked French food and her love affair with France stayed very much alive. Little did she know they’d soon pick up everything and open a bar in Spain, where she didn’t speak a word of the language.
Ten years after opening AlteArte, an intimate bar perched above the Mediterranean in Altea’s historic old town, she can’t imagine it any other way.
Undomesticated: How did you go from American writer to a bar owner in Spain?
Sara Wilson: My husband and I were living in New York City in 2009 and we just happened to lose our jobs within one week of each other. It just so happened that my father-in-law was starting a restaurant in Spain at the exact same time. My husband is a trained chef, so we took it as a sign from destiny, and we, along with our cat and 22 boxes of belongings, moved to Spain.
When it quickly became apparent that the restaurant project with my father-in-law wasn’t going to go quite as smoothly as we hoped, we went up and down the coast, in search of our own business. After about five months of searching, we came across a small bar for sale in Altea, and, three months later, officially took over and opened for business.
Undomesticated: Not only did you open a business in another country, but you had to learn how to serve customers in a new language. You speak Spanish fluently now, but can you remember what that was like?
Wilson: It was like jumping into the deep end of a pool and not knowing how to swim. Since my in-laws spoke French, I hadn’t thought it was necessary to learn Spanish. How I regretted that decision. When I got here, I did not know a single word of Spanish. I guess I knew adios and gracias, but I didn’t even know “hasta luego”! So it was a huge learning curve. Fortunately, I had been in the country for a while before we opened the business and David is Spanish, so I wasn’t completely alone. But I remember being so nervous, on our opening day, about not understanding people’s orders. In the end, with something like that, you do kind of just have to jump in. I learned on the job, and I survived, and, more than 10 years later, the business has survived as well.
Undomesticated: Why did you settle in Altea? Can you tell us about the town?
Wilson: We didn’t choose Altea. Altea chose us. As soon as I saw Altea’s old town, I fell in love and had a very strong feeling that this is where we belonged. It’s a small artist’s town between Alicante and Valencia in the northeast of Spain and simply oozes with European charm. It has cobblestone streets, whitewashed houses, and steep and winding staircases that lead to a blue-domed church in the heart of the old town. It’s nestled between the Mediterranean Sea and the mountains, so there are picture-perfect views around every corner.
Sara and David at their bar, AlteArte, in Altea, Spain.
Undomesticated: Has business changed dramatically since the pandemic started?
Wilson: We’re fortunate that Altea is such a picturesque town and desirable town to visit, so when Spain started opening up again, Altea became a top destination. We enjoyed a very busy summer season and were flooded with tourists; however, unlike normal summers where the bulk of the tourists come from other European countries, this summer, the tourists were 99 percent Spanish. As a result, the consumption was different. We sold a lot more beer and food and fewer mojitos. Now that the summer is over, though, and the Spanish are no longer on vacation, Altea has become quiet, and a lot of business owners are apprehensive about the long winter ahead of us.
Undomesticated: What was the biggest surprise about running a business in another country?
Wilson: I was so worried that my lack of knowledge of the Spanish culture and language would hurt the business, but we got lucky and opened the business in a town that has some extremely patient Spaniards and a huge expat community. The patient Spaniards didn’t make me feel stupid or self-conscious, and the expats appreciated that I spoke English and could relate to their cultures. That ended up helping out a lot in bridging the communities and establishing our own clientele.
I think that running a bar in Spain holds a romantic connotation for many Americans. The truth of the matter is that, while the overall picture is appealing, the day-to-day tasks of the business are far from glamorous. Restocking, being on your feet all day, putting out and taking in the terrace every day, fixing broken machines, etc. requires a significant amount of dedication and commitment.
Undomesticated: What is the biggest reward of being a bar owner?
Wilson: Watching the business grow and evolve. Being able to connect customers and know that friendships were formed and memories were made thanks to our business. Having the opportunity to meet people from all over the world.
Undomesticated: What’s the biggest challenge?
Wilson: Finding the balance between running a successful business and keeping everyone in the neighborhood happy. In the beginning, we were surrounded by neighbors, so we were constantly worried about making too much noise or dealing with police visits when the neighbors called. It’s hard to keep everyone happy.
Undomesticated: Do you ever get to travel? Or are you stuck running the ship year-round?
Wilson: Being a business owner offers a huge advantage in that we can choose when to take vacation. Also, being a business owner in Europe, where taking vacation is expected not frowned upon, has allowed us to close for a month each year. David and I have taken advantage of that time off to travel to Thailand, Portugal, Jamaica and the U.S. The rest of the year we are fully hands-on. Getting away can be hard, though. In Spain there isn’t a sense that an employee represents the business or that if the business does well then their job is more secure. So expecting to hand over the bar to employees and have them to offer the same level of customer service is a lot to ask. Perhaps it’s also me having a hard time to let go and trust that everything will be OK without us.
Undomesticated: What advice would you give someone hoping to start a business abroad?
Wilson: Take your time to find the right business and the right place. It’s important to take the time to get to know the demographics of the place, study what people want and what might be lacking, and how business works.
Make sure you have sufficient financial resources to run the business for a while in order to give it time to get established. A common mistake that we have seen over and over again is people from other countries thinking that they can just open the doors and immediately turn a profit. Here in Spain, there’s a bar on every corner, so you have to make sure to differentiate the business in some way. After hearing enough times that our mojitos were really good, we decided to specialize in them. Also, fostering art and culture has helped us stand out. Between monthly art exhibitions, workshops, a language exchange, writers retreats, a film club and a book club, our goal, since the beginning, has been to showcase talent and bring people together. That really gave us a niche and made AlteArte more than just another bar.
Most importantly, listen to your intuition. If it feels right, go for it. If you overthink it, you might never move forward.
Undomesticated: Any tips for working with a spouse? I imagine that must have its share of benefits and challenges!
Wilson: Define your individual roles. It wasn’t until my husband and I identified our individual strengths and weaknesses that we were able to define our roles. Once we knew what we were each responsible for, it was much easier to do our jobs well without stepping on one another’s toes. Have a clear vision for the business that you both agree on, so that you can work towards the same goal. Treat starting a business the same as getting married. It’s a huge commitment that will require both people to be dedicated day in and day out.
Make sure you continue to prioritize the marriage. If it ever feels like you’ve become more coworkers than a couple, re-evaluate how you’re operating the business. The marriage needs to be strong in order for the business to flourish.
Undomesticated: What’s next for you guys?
Wilson: We’ve focused so much on organizing events that bring people together—in fact our motto is “Connecting Good People” —that it’s challenging now to operate in this new COVID environment where bringing people together could actually be potentially harmful. Instead, we’re focusing on how to work efficiently: maybe by changing our opening hours and putting our energy toward developing new food options and experiences. With earlier closing times mandated by law, we need to reinvent ourselves.
This winter, business will inevitably be quieter. I hope to take advantage of the increased downtime to work on a book about the ups and downs of moving to Spain and starting a business with my spouse.