We launched our line of fine dining restaurants with the inauguration of the trattoria Rugantino "Casa Tua" in Madrid, a restaurant that specializes in authentic Italian-Mediterranean cuisine.

Following the success of Rugantino and the excellent response to Italian gastronomy in Madrid, we opened a second trattoria, Tattaglia, which also specialized in authentic Italian-Mediterranean cuisine.

We began our national expansion process by opening Vips cafeterias and shops in Barcelona, Seville, Valencia and Zaragoza.

We opened our third trattoria restaurant in Madrid, Lucca, right in the heart of the exclusive Salamanca district, which quickly became a reference in classic Italian cuisine.

We diversified our brand portfolio by launching the Italian restaurant chain Ginos. The formula offers authentic Italian cuisine at affordable prices. It quickly became a great success.

After signing a master franchise agreement with the number 1 casual dining chain in the United States, we opened the first Fridays restaurant in Spain at the La Esquina del Bernabéu shopping mall in Madrid. With this opening, we brought real American Tex-Mex cuisine and cocktail making to Madrid in an informal setting where fun reigns.

The Grupo Vips loyalty program was born as the first in the Spanish restaurant sector; it is multi-brand and completely free. Its main objective is to reward and thank all of our customers for their loyalty, visit after visit. Club Vips is one of the first customer loyalty cards ever created in Spain.

We opened the first two Starbucks in Spain in April 2002, in Plaza de Neptuno and at calle Ortega y Gasset, both in Madrid. The double opening was the result of a 50/50 joint-venture agreement between Grupo Vips and Starbucks Coffee International to develop and operate the brand in Spain.

We inaugurated the first two Starbucks in France, also through a 50/50 joint-venture agreement with Starbucks International. They were located in Paris, in the busy avenue de la Opera and in the La Défense business center. Five years later, we sold our stakes to Starbucks Coffee International in order to focus on developing the brand in the Iberian market.

We continued to work on diversifying our portfolio of restaurant chains and bought the small Madrid-based Asian restaurant chain, The WOK. We included The WOK in our expansion plan and opened new restaurants in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Seville.

Grupo Vips, which up until then had been 100% managed by the Arango family, opened up its share capital to the Goldman Sachs private investment affiliate, Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, which bought out 30% of the company.

Lisbon was the city chosen to enter the Portuguese market and inaugurate the first Starbucks store in Portugal. That same year, we inaugurated British Sandwich Factory (BSF), our own factory that makes sandwiches, premium salads and products to go.

Following growth which up until that time had been exclusively through our own management of our locations, we opened up our Ginos brand to franchising. So, the first Ginos franchise was opened in calle O'Donnell in Madrid.

We launched a new concept, VIPSmart, which offers the best of a VIPS restaurant in a quick-service style. With this new commitment, we have reinforced our competitiveness and have positioned ourselves in a new segment, Fast Casual, by adapting to the new consumer habits deriving from the economic crisis.

We broadened our commitment to franchising, which began in 2010 with the Ginos brand, and added the Vips Cafeterias and VIPSmart, the Quick Service adaptation, to the franchising model.

The Vips and Ginos chains were overhauled with new images, decoration, culinary offerings and services in order to become more modern and update their value proposal.

Club VIPS, the Grupo Vips loyalty program, turned 18. To celebrate it, the Club renewed its image and went digital with a commitment to mobility. We launched the Club VIPS App, a free, multi-brand application that is pioneer in the sector. It quickly became the main transactional and relational channel for Club VIPS.

Grupo Vips again holds 100% of Starbucks Coffee Spain and Portugal.

This same year, ProA Capital acquires 30% of the Grupo Vips shares which had been in the hands of Goldman Sachs Capital Partners up to that time. 

Grupo Vips is completing its brand portfolio by introducing Spain to wagamama, the leading international brand in the Pan-Asian cuisine segment. The first restaurant opened at Calle Serrano 41 in Madrid in April 2017.