São Paulo – Franchise chain Mix Potato, whose flagship product is stuffed potatoes, plans on expanding into the Arab market. The brand has 72 restaurants in Brazil and will start going international next year.
In Miami, the company will open an office in January and an own store in March. Also in March, it will inaugurate two franchises, in Phoenix, Arizona and the other in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, all in the United States.
According to Mix Potato vice president Douglas Bote, the plan is to stay in the United States for a year and then expand to other parts of the world. The Arab countries and East Asia should be the next investment targets.
According to Bote, when the time comes, he will assess the economic scenario in the two regions before deciding on either. The vice president explains that location selection was based on research into raw material availability and market profile, among other aspects.
Mix Potato engaged in talks, approximately a year and a half ago, with an Arab executive who wanted to invest in the brand and open stores in Dubai. However, negotiations did not go through and now the brand has decided to expand internationally on its own, the vice president says.
Currently, out of the brand’s 72 units, all of which are franchises, 41 are located in the state of São Paulo. There are Mix Potato restaurants in 18 different states of Brazil, including the Federal District. Bote explains that before the end of the year, 91 stores should be operational. In the beginning, the company had a few own units, but then decided to make them all into franchises.
Potatoes on the streets
Mix Potato was established by the businessman Ademir Carvalho, currently the company’s chairman, in 2005. It started out as a restaurant. The entrepreneur decided to shut down the unit in 2007 and set out looking for professionals with knowledge of the franchise business. In 2011, he re-established his brand, this time as a franchise chain. Now, the company is headquartered in Campinas, São Paulo, and Carvalho has a partner, Douglas Bote, plus an investor. Carvalho, however, remains the majority stakeholder.
The restaurants serve potatoes stuffed with everything from stroganoff to cream cheese. Also on the menu are Swiss potatoes and Swiss cassava, which are pastries with various fillings. Mix Potato also sells snacks such as potato with hamburgers, grilled meats and other side dishes. The stuffed cassava pastry is a patented creation of the company.
Most of the stores, approximately 65%, are on the streets, but the chain also owns franchises at malls. One of the brand’s strategies was to take a typical mall product and advertise it to the lower income brackets. Bote explains that the average price paid per meal at stores is R$ 18 (US$ 7.4), not much by Brazilian standards.
The investment required to open a Mix Potato franchise ranges from R$ 150,000 to R$ 260,000 (roughly US$ 70,000 to US$ 107,000 at current exchange rates). According to the vice president, the investment cost is recovered within 12 to 24 months, and monthly street store revenue is roughly R$ 40,000 (US$ 16,515). Mall stores gross around R$ 80,000 (US$ 33,000). Net income is 35% of gross revenues. The company is not publicly traded.
Contact:
Mix Potato
Website: www.mixpotato.com.br
Telephone: (+55 19) 2121-1498
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
