“Guys, chori?”, “To the choripán guys, to the choripán”is surely a phrase that you have heard when leaving a football match, a dance or another large-scale show, both in Córdoba and in other provinces.
In a new chapter of “Workers of the Quartet” We got into a day of work Noelia and Sergioa couple who have been selling choripán for ten years, a trade that has been passed down from generation to generation starting with the family’s grandfather.
When dancers prepare to enjoy their favorite artist’s show to unwind from the week or simply go out to enjoy themselves, they kick off and begin preparations. Their workday normally runs from Thursday to Sunday. Unlike a more traditional job, their normal schedule starts at 2 and runs until 7, when there is no one left in the vicinity of the dance clubs. If there is a show or a football match on the same day, it starts earlier.
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Noelia is part of a family of five siblings, all dedicated to the same occupation. Currently, she is in charge of transmitting all her knowledge to her children to continue the chain that was started by her grandfather and has now become consolidated. The peculiar thing is that once a couple is formed in the family, “open a new branch” and becomes part of a new team of the “choripaneros”.
For Noelia and Sergio, what they do is provide a service to the dancers and they are in charge of all the details so that their clients are satisfied. Fresh merchandise, a table next to a gazebo and battery-operated LED lamps. “Before we used lanterns, night sun with the wick, now we are evolved”he said while waiting for the arrival of the first diners in the vicinity of King’s Room. Inside she was already singing The Crazy Amato.
+VIDEO: The craft that was passed down from generation to generation
Quartet workers
In search of formality
With their ten years of experience in the field independently, Noelia and Sergio know their audience and know in advance what their work day will be like. “If it’s early we know it won’t sell much, if the game is at 9 p.m. it’s a good time to work,” she said regarding his work on the soccer fields.
Although they can calculate the amount of merchandise they will need for each night, many times the calculation can fail. The goal of the couple every time they leave the house is to sell all the chorizos, although they recognize that today “it is not the same sale as before.”
At the end of the dances, there are many stallholders trying to capture the attention of customers, so it is time to bring their marketing techniques to light. “The most important thing is the smoke, it is the eye-catcher. If it doesn’t have smoke, it is a dead grill,” Noah said. In addition to personalized attention, workers offer a bonus that they implemented since the pandemic: 14 centimeters of chorizo, which makes them stand out among so much competition. “Giant, cheap and we received transfer”Sergio said with a laugh.
The heroes in the early mornings
The sale of choripán on tables in the street is one of the commercial activities that are still not authorized or regulated in Córdoba. Regarding this problem, Noelia regretted the situation and although she recognizes that the Municipality or the Police usually “look down on them”, she confessed that she is in talks with those responsible to see how to “legalize the table”. “Many families live off this, we do it with all our hearts. I love and enjoy my job, we provide a service for the people”, she concluded.
