Fazenda Churrascada is purchased and should expand in the next 5 years

Nicknamed the “Disney of barbecue”, the Barbecue Farm has just been purchased by a food service holding with the aim of increase the number of operations it's from strengthen the brand in an integrated way with gastronomic events and the subscription club.

The person behind the move is the Heat Group, recently founded by two former Burger King executives, Gabriel Carvalho It is Gustavo Reichmann . In addition to them, three other investors raised R$100 million to create the holding, which aims to consolidate brands in the food segment.

“We looked at several opportunities inside and outside the country and the one that caught our eye the most was Fazenda Churrascada, precisely because it has this very powerful combination of a strong brand and growth capacity”, says Gustavo.

Between 2011 and 2016, he and Gabriel led the aggressive expansion of Burger King in Brazil , in which, on average, one store was opened every three days, totaling more than 500 operations of the chain on national soil. Gustavo even became CEO of Burger King in the United Kingdom, with Gabriel alongside him as CFO.

The duo now wants to replicate the strategy, but in a way designed to take into account the experiences that Fazenda Churrascada delivers.

According to Gustavo, 30 to 40 brand restaurants could exist within the next five years in Brazil . Currently, there are five units at Fazenda Churrascada: the headquarters in a colonial mansion in Morumbi, in São Paulo, and in Campinas, Curitiba, Brasília and Campo Grande.

Barbecue as a synonym for “Barbecue”

Opened in 2020 in an eight thousand square meter property in Morumbi, the first Fazenda Churrascada has established itself as a gastronomic point sought after by barbecue lovers in the capital of São Paulo – grill, fire pit, pitch, meat clothesline, butcher shop and even an ice cream parlor. part of the assets, not counting the kids area and live music.

But the operation was only born as a result of the success of Barbecue , a gastronomic festival created in 2015 with cuts prepared by national and foreign chefs accompanied by lots of beer, drinks and shows. To give you an idea, this year's event already has Tickets Sold Out : five thousand of them were sold in just 1h20 with prices between R$400 and R$500. There will be a 10-hour party on August 3rd in a warehouse in Mooca.

It is precisely through the integration of the Churrascada “ecosystem”, as Gustavo Reichmann defines it, that the brand must strengthen itself. “We have a strong barbecue theme, coming from Brazilian culture, meeting people, celebrations. This strength of the brand makes us believe that there is a lot to explore in the barbecue ecosystem,” he says.

In addition to restaurant operations, events, mobile catering and the subscription club, the new partners are thinking about strengthening the world of meat sales and tutorials and courses, for example. “Many of these fronts already exist and we will develop them in a more integrated way”, he guarantees.

In the end, we would like to be the reference for everything that people think about the topic of barbecue. It's being top of mind, which is being the first thing that comes into your head

Gustavo Reichamann, founder of Heat Group

Brand synergy

The value of acquiring control of the brand could not be revealed for contractual reasons, but part of the R$100 million raised by investors remains reserved for other potential businesses.

As Churrascada is the holding company's first project, the search for other investments goes through the brand's filter “to see if they would be joint businesses or completely separate ones”, as Gustavo argues.

However, some businesses that developed from Churrascada were not included in the acquisition. A Barbecue by the Sea , for example, opened in 2022 on Avenida Rebouças and focuses on fish and seafood, has a different corporate composition than the group and was not sold. The owners are expected to change the name of the house in about eight months.

Already the Rancho Churrascada a farm in Espírito Santo do Pinhal (SP) with a restaurant, cabins for rent and rural experiences, keeps the name, but is outside the scope of the Heat Group's venture.

Next steps

While the purchase and news unfold, the Churrascada group must earn R$ 150 million this year, a growth of 20% compared to 2023, largely due to the “natural maturation of the brand”, as Reichmann points out. With a high average ticket in restaurants, the businessman defends the customer's value for money.

“As we talk about experience, we want our customer to stay there. There are people who go for Saturday lunch and stay until the end of the day, for four to five hours, listening to music, drinking, eating good meat, having fun with the children and having access to a butcher's shop and a wine store, for example. He consumes more because he ends up getting more, but the view based on the value of the money he is using is positive. The benefit is greater than the cost”, argues the professional.

For the coming years, innovation is the keyword on the entrepreneur's lips. “Innovation, in general, is what we want to have very strong. And this largely comes from the event, which gave rise to the brand,” he says.