Montecorone restaurant: “When you are an entrepreneur, you must have the strength to overcome difficult times”

Italian families were in charge of establishing and founding at the beginning of the year 1900 the representative multiculturalism of the town of Capitán Pastene, located in the commune of Lumaco, La Araucanía region, where the best of the Italian, Chilean and Mapuche traditions are preserved and combined.

The Italian tradition has a key factor: its gastronomy. And it is this same factor that the families of this small town have been promoting for decades, as is the case of the Ristorante Patrimonial and Emporio Montecorone (Montecorone restaurant), known for the elaboration of prosciutto and other Italian cured meats. Mabel Flores and Angelo Lubini, wife and husband and owners of this great family business, received all the cultural heritage from their parents and grandparents to expand this business.

In 2004, Lubini began the production of hams in the basement of his house – in which today he has a modern factory that allows him to deliver about 1,500 hams each year – which led him to later expand his business to produce other kinds of Italian cured meats, pastas and pizzas to conquer, in 2010, the opening of his restaurant. 

“We as Ristorante Patrimonial and Emporio Montecorone deliver more than a meal, we deliver a history and culture through our dishes”, describes Mabel Flores, who is in charge of this family business.

The cultural encounter of its products can be found in the prosciutto with merkén (Mapuche smoked chili), which has a Denomination of Origin and combines the best of the traditions consolidated in this small town.

The reality of businesses during this time of pandemic has led entrepreneurs to redefine themselves in the face of the crisis, and Ristorante Patrimonial and Emporio Montecorone changed the way they market their products. They began to sell in an online channel with delivery service, but also, since September, they began to receive some diners with all the corresponding sanitary measures.

The reactivation of the economy has been one of the main issues addressed by different actors and in this regard, CMPC assumed this commitment with the Arriba Todos Juntos initiative, which since August began the first stage of three, called “Preparing to go out ”, which delivered 25 hygiene kits to entrepreneurs of the Lumaco commune.

The first phase of the program helps Lumaco entrepreneurs and businesses have a safe return to their activities, and Montecorone is one of them. 

“When you are an entrepreneur you must have the strength to overcome difficult moments, that is what an entrepreneur is about. If you fall, get up, and this has been an apprenticeship. The entrepreneur is full of energy”, says Flores, who also invites everyone to believe in national production during this time.

“Despite everything that has happened, this was a big support from CMPC. When they called us and told us that they were going to help us with all this, for us it was like not feeling so alone. It helps us a lot”, she says.