How a world famous culinary brand went from days-long menu updates to same-day turnaround.
About José Andrés Group
The José Andrés Group is a global hospitality company founded by chef and humanitarian José Andrés that operates more than 40 restaurants, bars, and food concepts across 20 distinct brands. Known for pioneering modern Spanish cuisine in America, the group runs acclaimed brands such as Jaleo, Zaytinya, and The Bazaar, combining innovative dining with strong culinary storytelling.
The Challenge
Before MustHaveMenus, José Andrés Group's marketing team managed menus through a patchwork of PDFs, InDesign files, emails, and Slack requests. Every update, from a price change to a seasonal dish, required local operators to email their changes to the corporate marketing team. The changes would queue up in the inboxes of graphic designers in marketing. Then a succession of updated PDFs would be sent around for review. Total turnaround time could be several days.
Key friction points:
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Complex menu operations across multiple restaurant concepts
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Marketing overwhelmed by constant email back-and-forth with operators
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Operators lacking direct update capabilities
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No centralized, scalable system
Rebuilding the Foundation
MustHaveMenus replaced that patchwork by consolidating José Andrés Group's entire menu operations into one platform. Brand assets and menu data were collected by MustHaveMenus' service team and transformed into a brand template library.
In under three months, MustHaveMenus migrated more than 400 pages of menus — including everything from 20-page wine books to 70-item dining menus — into a structured template library. The templates were designed to ensure future updates could be made easily without breaking the layout or causing other disruption to the brand.
The Solution
The newly created brand templates were organized by concept and location. Each local team was given access to their location so they could confidently handle updates within brand guidelines without deferring to marketing. Marketing retained oversight over every location, plus executives were given read-only access to view menus at any time. MustHaveMenus became the source of truth for menus with more than 70 staff members actively using the platform.
The Impact
The Group's flagship brands were quick to put MustHaveMenus to work. Zaytinya, the group's Mediterranean concept with five locations, now collaborates with marketing in real time — enforcing brand-wide consistency while still allowing for local menu variations. Mercado Little Spain, a food hall in New York City with many kiosks and sub-brands, utilized version control to track the constant flow of menu updates. Subtle price changes and branding mismatches no longer flew under the radar.
What's Next
Today, with the portfolio continuing to grow, José Andrés Group's menu operations aren't just keeping pace. They're built to scale with one of the most ambitious restaurant groups in the country. And the marketing team has more time to do what they do best: storytelling.
