Lucien, Valérie et Bernard Barba devant leur vivier de langoustes. Laurent François
La famille Barba fête les vingt ans d'existence de leur poissonnerie brasserie à Béziers.
It’s past 1pm at the Barba fishmonger brasserie, which is packed to the rafters. Wearing a sailor’s sweater, Bernard Barba is at the corner of the counter. He’s taking notes in a notebook: “I’m now more often at the Valras fishmonger than in Béziers,” he says as he sits down at the table. “So I’ve gotten into the habit of writing down what I mustn’t forget for Valras.” It’s true that since he woke up at around 3:30am, the former ASBH pillar, 36, hasn’t really had a break. Sitting on the table, his phone, which never stops vibrating, confirms it.
Inaugurated in October 2004
All smiles, Lucien, his father, joins him. A few minutes later, Valérie, his mother, does the same: “What do you want to eat?”, she asks. “What do you want, mom”, Bernard replies, before she joins the kitchen of the brasserie, where since the end of 2004, she has enjoyed sublimating seafood. The fishmonger, like the brasserie, were inaugurated a little over 20 years ago. That was on October 13, 2004. The fishmonger opened two days later, the brasserie, the following week. The establishment has since become an institution.
The Barba company in figures
-20 years of existence
-25 to 30 employees
-turnover in 2023: approximately 6 million euros
-direct work with around twenty auctions
-semi-wholesale sales represent 50% of the company's turnover
Selling fish in the Valras family Barba is a story that has been going on for ages, in the lineage of Jacky, Lucien's mother, who worked for 50 years in the Béziers market halls: “My mother stopped in September 2003,” says Lucien Barba. In the meantime, in 1997, when my brother and I separated and I took over retail sales, we opened the fishmonger in Valras. Valérie was still selling fish at the markets and in the market halls.”
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For his part, little Bernard, then aged 9, did not miss a crumb of the task of his parents who, like their ancestors, had work as a priesthood: “With Sabine, my sister, we grew up in the fish business,” smiles Bernard, who always dreamed of taking over from his parents, much to the dismay of his teachers. I remember that once, I was sent away for several days. My mother had to go see the school management to say that they should definitely not send me away but to stick me. Otherwise, I would have happily gone to work with my parents and it would not have been a punishment… As soon as I could go to the markets with my mother, I would go. With my cousin, at the age of 12, we were already unloading trucks.”
No longer believing in the Béziers market halls and seeing more and more people from Béziers coming to help themselves at the Valras fishmonger, Lucien Barba and his wife decided to leave the city center to settle on the outskirts of Béziers. It will be a dead end in Touraine on a vast area: “At first, we were talking about opening the fishmonger alongside other businesses,” remembers Lucien Barba. “But in the end, we decided to just have a fishmonger and Valérie chose to create the restaurant.”
An inspired cuisine
Valérie Barba learned to cook in the skirts of Suzon, her grandmother, and with her parents, Gisèle and Bernard Lengay, owners of Mira Mar, in Valras. In the kitchen, she works with fresh fish and shellfish according to the catches of the day. Inspired by this Mediterranean cuisine, so dear to her descendants, she offers dishes that have their place on the finest tables. Twenty years after she started, she still thrives behind the stove: “I can say today, with hindsight, that I am really doing what I wanted to do” , rejoices Valérie Barba, smiling at her husband who, although he has taken a step back since he retired, is still present. At the head of the company since 2018, Bernard confirms this: “He taught me a lot,” smiles Bernard. He knows everyone, he is very respected.”
“Raised to work”
Bernard Barba has focused on developing the company. He buys his fish from all over the French coast and even sells it abroad. An intense workload that the young man endures: “We were raised to work,” explains the Valrassien. “It's a family tradition. Without a love of this job, it's impossible to keep going.” In the morning, at dawn, his eyes glued to his computer and the numbers that never stop scrolling, Bernard buys fish directly from twelve auctions on the Atlantic coast. In the afternoon, he turns to those in the Mediterranean. In all cases, at the latest, the fish is on his stalls less than 24 hours after coming out of the water.
A proud smile playing at the corner of his lips, Lucien listens to his son speak. Bernard walks away. He whispers: “The student has surpassed the master. One of his strengths is that when you tell him things, he listens. He asks questions, makes his own analysis and then, it's up to him.” Fish, at the Barba, a family affair, we tell you!