The first branch will be opened in Lisbon, this summer
Many years ago, when he did not even dream of working with cafes, executive Arnaldo Vieira visited Italy and had a delicious espresso. He was so impressed with the quality that, for more than 30 years, he kept a dream to himself: to produce a high quality coffee to be consumed anywhere in the world.
After retiring and producing at full steam at his farm, Baobá, located in São Sebastião da Grama, in the countryside of the state, the challenge now is to make the dream of his network of specialty coffee cafes, Onníe, come true, which is also his brand of specialty coffees.
“My dream is to have coffee packaging produced in my farm, in supermarkets, cafes and specialty shops all over Europe,” he confided. “We want to have a brand as well-known as Juan Valdez, from Colombia. Everywhere in the world, at airports, you will find Colombian coffee. The same does not happen in our case,” he says. The name Onníe comes from an asteroid, which may explain, in part, the ambitious plans to conquer the international market, whose global investments are still being consolidated, according to the president of Holding Curumins, Arnaldo Vieira.
His first incursion will be in Lisbon, in the region of Bica, more precisely at Rua São Paulo, 260. “The cafeteria will have a Probat roasting machine, we will export the green coffee there and will also have a showroom with other products, microbatches of special coffees, from partnering producers. We are also studying to present other products such as quality Brazilian cachaça, but we have not closed anything in this sense yet”, he explains.
“Our goal is to open three or four more coffee shops in Lisbon in the very short term and the idea is to extend our range of action to the city of Porto. Let us first consolidate ourselves in Lisbon, better understand the habits of the population and of tourists in the city and only after that move on to other Portuguese cities,” he says.
“Portugal is the flavor of the month. It has just been voted the best tourist destination in the world. To get an idea, I bought this spot last year and it has already tripled in value,” says Arnaldo.
Its international plans also include the creation of a roaster unit in Hamburg. “After all, all the coffee that is marketed to Europe, necessarily passes by the port of Hamburg. So, we will test a roaster there, as I think it’s an important step for our plans,” explains Arnaldo Vieira. That, by the way, also include the opening of coffee shops of the network in other European countries. “First, however, we will conquer Portugal,” he said.
In addition to Europe, the holding plans to open a branch in Toronto. “For me, Toronto is a mini New York with less competition. It will be very important be present in the region,” he clarifies.
Onníe in Brazil
For the domestic market, the plans are quite ambitious as well. With an estimated investment of R$ 6 million, the plans are to inaugurate five units, all in São Paulo, until the end of the year. The first will be a coffee shop at Avenida Paulista, which will be open in 30 to 40 days.
The businessman already has a coffee shop in Alphaville, the Arnolds.
The next one will be in Pinheiros, on rua Simão Álvares, where a concept store, an emporium, a bar and an Ensei Neto school will be operating, read the full article on the subject here, in addition to a kitchen, which should be responsible for preparing the food consumed by the other Onníe network units.
And, for 2019, Onníe will go to the cities of Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Curitiba and Campinas. “After the first five years, we will evaluate the work developed and decide if we will open a Onníe franchise, in the same manner as an Outback. To be an Onníe franchisee, one will need to have worked in the coffee shops first.
The increasing opening for special coffee shops in Brazil is vertiginous. Its internationalization is more recent. And this operation is very positive for the growth of the specialty coffee market. Although we are the biggest producers worldwide, we do not rule the roost in this market. We just copy trends. It is time to change it.
Picture and videos: Clodoir de Oliveira
