The Boom Cake changes its face due to the sanction: “Hopefully one day we meet because of the food”

The huge yellow cheese with eyes that until a few days ago covered the facade of Boom Cake disappeared this Wednesday, even before the pastry shop opened its doors. The establishment, located at number 380 Consell de Cent, next to Girona metro, dismantled the sign after neighborhood criticism and after an inspection by the Barcelona City Council detected that it violated the urban landscape regulations. According to the council, the business will be notified of the opening of two procedures: a sanctioning file for the installation, the amount of which has not yet been determined, and another for restitution, which obliges the establishment to return the facade to its previous state. The owners have stated on social media that they never wanted to generate controversy. “Hopefully one day we won’t be known for a controversy, but that we meet through food,” they said after the removal.

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The pastry shop, which will have among its main products the Japanese cheesecake, specialty coffee, and matcha tea, had attracted attention even before opening. Neighborhood associations have interpreted the huge cheese with eyes, the intense yellow of the facade, and its reliefs “as another symptom of the transformation of Consell de Cent,” marked, according to their complaints, by “the loss of local commerce in favor of businesses aimed at tourists, expatriates, and occasional visitors,” such as specialty coffee shops, brunch places, ice cream parlors, and matcha establishments.

The City Council conducted an inspection of the premises on July 9 and confirmed that the facade violated the Barcelona Urban Landscape Use Ordinance and, council sources have reported, the establishment’s managers will receive notification of the two procedures: an economic sanctioning file for the installation, the amount of which has not yet been determined, and another for restitution, which obliges the establishment to return the facade to its previous state.

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The controversy has also reached politics. Elisenda Alamany, general secretary of ERC and candidate for mayor of Barcelona, has considered the case another example of the “debarcelonization” of the city and has welcomed that the pressure from neighbors, concerned about the proliferation of establishments “aimed at tourists and the loss of neighborhood identity,” has led the City Council to act. Alamany has also used the episode to criticize recent municipal threats to remove historic signs from traditional businesses, such as the Carol and Fermín wineries, a measure the City Council decided to halt last week.

However, Boom Cake pastry shop has rejected that behind its facade there was a will to enter that debate. After removing the cheese this Tuesday, the establishment explained on its social media that its intention “was never to express any cultural stance, much less to create controversy.” The goal of the design, it assured, was simply to get those passing by to “stop for a moment, smile, and enjoy a different design.”

The business owner also emphasized the entrepreneurial nature of the project in response to the criticism received. “I am just a normal person who decided to undertake. I am not a big chain nor do I have a huge team behind me. The only thing I might know how to do is try to make good cakes and prepare each sweet with love and dedication,” he said.

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