São Paulo – A year ago, Showcolate, a company from the city of Belo Horizonte that sells desserts made from fruit and chocolate, opened its first kiosk store in an Arab country, Lebanon. Now, it also owns a unit in Oman and is getting ready to enter the markets of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar. And that is not all.
“The region has been accepting our brand very well. I have been contacted by people interested in being master-franchisees,” explains businessman Wallace Ricardo, the owner of Showcolate.
It was by means of a master-franchisee – that is, the person in charge of the expansion of a brand in a given region – that the company broke into the Arab market. In this particular case, the investment amounted to 500,000 euros.
According to Ricardo, there is still space for other deals of the type in the Middle East. “We may have new deals, in countries other than the ones we are set to enter,” he says. He explains that the franchise in Beirut, for instance, generates monthly revenues of around US$ 20,000. “The bulk of earnings go to the master franchisee, who gets 70% [of revenues], and 30% of it comes to Brazil,” he says.
The businessman says the type of dessert his brand makes, though widespread among Brazilians, was new to the Arabs. “It didn’t exist in those countries, but the people really enjoyed it, it is being very well accepted,” he points out. He also explains that local fruit has been put on the menu, such as dates, to appeal to the tastes of Arab consumers. “Dates and chocolate suit their taste really well.”
Ricardo should soon go to the Emirates to discuss the opening of one more Showcolate kiosk. “I am planning a trip to set the details of our first unit in Dubai,” he reveals. According to him, the Emirates are the country that holds the most promise of business expansion in the Arab world. “I have high hopes about the unit due to open in Dubai, because the emirate is a shop window to the world,” he claims.
According to Ricardo, in the Emirates alone, 10 of the brand’s units should be opened. In the meantime, Saudi Arabia and Qatar should have their first Showcolate kiosk stores by the end of the year.
The businessman claims that there are approximately 90 kiosks of his brand in Brazil and abroad. In Brazil alone, 12 new ones should be inaugurated before July. “We are going through a stage of very strong expansion,” he says.
On the market for eight years, Showcolate is present in the South, Southeast, Midwest and Northeast of Brazil. Overseas, it is also active in Portugal, Chile, Peru, Venezuela, Panama, Mexico and Colombia.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum