It’s 11:58 am on a sunny Thursday and a line of more than 30 people has already formed at number 342 of the Rua Ferreira de Araujo in Pine trees .
When the waiters open the establishment’s heavy glass doors, the diners’ conversations become more heated: everyone is excited to occupy one of the more than 100 seats in the restaurant. Modern Mamma Osteria .
The house quickly fills up and a new queue forms. It is the second wave of visitors in search of an Italian lunch with a modern touch, in what is now one of the most successful restaurants in the region of low pine trees .
The same situation is repeated in the Itaim of mom – abbreviation for Modern Mamma and as the habitués like to call the house.
on the narrow street Manuel Guedes, an agglomeration has taken over the sidewalk (and often the street) since 2016, when it opened its doors and quickly turned into a case Of success. No wonder, in a short time, it has already undergone a renovation to gain more seats and currently serves 15,000 customers per month.
The Pinheiros unit came a few years – and a pandemic – later, in July 2021. The formula was repeated, the menu is exactly the same and, of course, the numbers are just as expressive: 11,000 people pass through it/month.
The big names behind all this success is the chef duo Paulo Barros and Salvatore Loi in addition to a team of 135 employees, that make the two units work from Monday to Monday, always with crowded tables and queues at the doors – the house does not accept reservations.
Paulo Barros, who gained notoriety with the Due Cuochi , studied and worked in the United States. Salvatore, on the other hand, needs no big introductions: he was one of the big names in the group Fasano masterfully commanded the Ristorantine, and it was in world that he met and started his partnership with Barros.
“It works very well because Salvatore is the creative one, the gastronomic master. I take more care of the day to day, the production. We absolutely complete each other”, says Barros.
However, the success of mom goes well beyond that. In addition to Paulo and Salvatore, the group has two other partners who do not appear so publicly, Gustavo Costa and Nick Thomas who take care of the administrative part and, as Paulo says, are fundamental.
For a restaurant to be successful, it is not enough just to combine good ingredients, have a delicious menu and a full house. This account has to be closed in a sustainable way
Paulo Barros, chef and partner at Moma
According to Barros, each of Moma’s partners has different skills that complement each other.
“The knowledge acquired in the lives of the four partners allowed each one to take care of a part of the company in a complementary way such as operations, administrative-financial, creation and supplies, so we have the owner’s eye in all strategic areas of our business”, it says.
And it’s not just owner talk: during the pandemic, the house supported itself with its own investment – something the group is proud of and believes is due to the simple but incisive business model it has created.
Mangia che te fa bene: more than 2,000 lasagnas per month and a menu that is always new
The administrative details are far from the eyes of the diners who fill the units. What really makes lovers of good food wait for a table are the creative dishes, with good cost-benefit for the regions they are in and a trendy atmosphere.
“What we want is to deliver to the customer not the classic Italian cuisine – despite being an Italian – but always a more creative dish, something that the customer does not expect, but will approve because they already know our premise”, says Salvatore.
But if there’s one thing the chef prioritizes, it’s maintaining the standard, which he says is “as difficult as creating a recipe.”
“Here at Moma we change a few dishes every month, adding two or three new items. For this, we need to constantly train the team. When they are practically mastering every step of the dishes because of the repetition, we go there and change it. This is exhausting, but it’s our premise and we know our customers expect it,” she says.
The news can be constant, but some classics of the house never leave the menu and remain firmly in the ranking of the most requested.
This is the case of the lasagna lying down, Salvatore’s signature, made with veal, cream of money padano and black truffles (R$ 74). Every month, 2,000 units of the dish are sold.
Others that are successful are the quadrucci, stuffed with diaper ragu and cream of money padano with roasted sauce and black truffles (R$ 68); charcoal grilled polpetone stuffed with buffalo mozzarella and semolina and thyme mini bauletti (R$79); the rigatoni cacio e pepe (R$ 61); and the dessert strawberry meringata (R$32).
Salvatore Loi also adds that there is a redoubled attention to shopping.
“For example, in Italian cuisine, Grana Padano cheese is essential. Our team brings a new brand, because of cost, for example, but we test all the recipes that use the ingredient, over and over again, to make sure we don’t lose quality”, he adds.
Even with all these processes, Barros is humble to say that this is not exactly a formula for success.
“I’m not saying it’s a formula that everyone should replicate. But it’s a way that we believe works here. Yes, we have business intelligence, but I would say 80% of everything is sweat. Every day is a new day, there is something that needs to be adjusted, that needs to be seen and reviewed. There is no miracle, there is a lot of work.”
And all this work has given excellent results: with a revenue of R$ 48 million per year the group is now preparing to open a new challenge.
Success that now wins another business: Ella Fitz
After seeing the two Moma units full every day, the four decided it was time to open a third business, but without being a new unit of the restaurant. They were looking for something different, a challenge.
It was then that they decided to create the Ella Fitz an Italian bar, in Rua dos Pinheiros which will be a mixture of bar and restaurant.
The two partners guarantee that the place will have nothing to do with the Modern Mamma Osteria. Ella will have its own identity, menu and characteristics. She is “Moma’s cousin, not a twin brother,” says Barros.
“Of course the base will be Italian, after all it is our school, but it will be a mixture of Soho with Italian food and Mediterranean influences, where people can choose to have dinner or not, have a drink with a snack, enjoy good music. At Ella, the customer is much more free to choose what type of meal they want to have”, she explains.
The investment, around 4 million reais, it is 100% own capital, showing that the group understands about investing in the company itself and good management.
“Today, we are operating 4.5% above 2019, already discounting the price adjustments applied in these 2 years of pandemic. We project that Ella Fitz can add to current revenue growth of around 28%”, adds Barros, who also says that 75% of the profits will revert to the company itself.
Ella is born as a place where Jazz is the great motto, as it makes reference to one of the greatest jazz legends, the singer Ella Fitzgerald .
With the opening scheduled for the end of november the house – in addition to the inventions of Salvatore and Paulo in the kitchen – will have a creative drinks menu by the hands of the bartender Ricardo Barrero, current bar chef at Moma.
The wines will also be part of the menu, but served in 500 or 250ml jars, so that the customer can taste more than one label.
Still talking about the kitchen, the idea of the chefs duo is to have fresh products, with a menu that should change every fortnight or even weekly – going more and more to the organic side, putting more vegetables and less meat, but always running away the obvious, as is their face.
Source: CNN Brasil
Bruce Belcher is a seasoned author with over 5 years of experience in world news. He writes for online news websites and provides in-depth analysis on the world stock market. Bruce is known for his insightful perspectives and commitment to keeping the public informed.
