“Remember that time is money,” Benjamin Franklin admonished. The concept in Bologna was applied to catering with a formula that met with immediate success and which will perhaps pave the way for other innovative initiatives useful for surviving in times of Covid.
The idea came to two restaurateurs, Mirco Carati and Antonella De Sanctis, owners of the restaurant “Vagh in ufezzi” in via dei Colli 9/2 in the center between Porta Castiglione and the Archiginnasio library.
Literally the name that appears on the sign of the tavern should be translated as 'I go to the office', but in popular tradition with these words men meant that they went to the tavern, a place consecrated to their distraction, and that therefore their wives or anyone else shouldn't have disturbed them, as well as at work.
Mirco and Antonella were inspired by the old Bolognese tradition to give a novelty to their place and thus make up for the restrictions imposed by the post-Covid regulations.
At Vagh in Ufezzi you go to eat … on time. And that is, you sit down, order, eat whatever you want and pay not for what you have eaten, but for how long... the chairs have warmed up. An hour, rigorously, marked by an old alarm clock, placed there on the table together with the dishes, for 18 euros. Two hours for 26 euros.
The idea was immediately liked. It is not an absolute novelty. The elderly remember in Via Pratello, a Ghitton tavern where you went for pasta and beans, you paid for a 10-minute pasta or if you wanted, more abundant, for 20 minutes.
Francesco Guccini, cantor of Bologna, also recalls it in his book
"I don't know what face he had." “The bar was not enough for us intellectual students; it seemed to us (perhaps sometimes victims of those famous cracking jokes) too crude, and the desire to play Francesco Villon as soon as he was discovered at school was like a symphony. Here in Bologna we heard, or read, of legendary taverns, but we looked for them in vain: evidently in our times there was no longer the Osteria di 'Ghitton', "margheritone", where it was said the spoons were tied to the counter with a little chain (so much for trust), and you could eat pasta and beans in time, that is, one would buy, let's say, for five minutes and, with the pot in front of him, he could swallow everything he could in that time".
At Vagh in ufezzi, the cutlery is no longer attached with a chain, the place is very simple, as befits a tavern, but comfortable and cheerful.
If the idea of the fixed-term lunch came to Carati, it must be said however that it was made possible by Antonella De Sanctis, a graduate in statistics who studied times and earnings combining them with the quality of the offer. Antonella made some calculations considering the average permanence of customers before covid when they could have 25/30 seats, and the one in the post-covid time which reduced internal sessions to 12/14 in compliance with what was established by government security measures.
And so the operation started thanks to an optimization of the production chain while safeguarding quality: you book in advance specifying the number of diners, you choose the time slot, which, excluding Sundays, goes from 18 to 24 of all days, so the last shift closes at two. The one-hour tasting takes place throughout the opening period, the two-hour one takes place at even hours on the clock. Nine home cooking dishes on the menu, crescentine and cured meats will never be missing. Only one dish is ordered at a time in compliance with the cooking times of the food, customers will be able to eat as much as they like within the time limit with bis and tris. Bread and water are included in the price, beer, wine and coffee are paid separately. If you leave something on your plate due to too much greed, you pay a premium.
Then, when the time is up, to remind everyone that the time has passed as in the old monasteries there is the sound of an old bell, in addition to the alarm clock that is on the table.
Marco and Antonella are keen to clarify that their formula is not a fast food nor an 'all you can eat'. Because Vâgh íñ ufézzí remains a tavern with quality products, which change daily based on market availability.
“We wanted to give value to the time spent at the table, which in recent months has become very precious” they add but at the same time allow more people with the same budget to dine with us with the same quality, booking a time slot and consuming at will during that time.”
Finally, the menu is the classic one of a tavern, ranging from tagliatelle with meat sauce to balanzoni with butter and salted ricotta, from ribs with sausages and vegetables, to pork fillet with vegetables, from legume soups to potato soup and leeks, and more fried schie, crescentine with mixed cold cuts, some cheese and a couple of desserts.
And it is to be sworn that the formula will be taken up by some other restaurant. Because we also get out of Covid by setting the imagination in motion and not always re-proposing old schemes.
