Hence, it has invested in technology for remote payment
The city of São Caetano do Sul, in Greater São Paulo, is a separate case in Brazil. With a little more than 160 thousand inhabitants, it is the Brazilian city with the best HDI in Brazil and is also the 48th higher Brazilian GDP. Crime rates are also well below average.
In this oasis, entrepreneur Deiverson Migliati was born and built, in three years, one of the most admired franchise networks, Sterna Café, whose main mission is to popularize the specialty coffees for Brazilians. To do so, he uses the prices practiced in its 35 units, where the cup of special coffee costs, on average, R$ 4.50, well below the competition.
With a goal of reaching the end of 2018 with 50 units open, Deiverson could see a unique opportunity, shortly after making one of his many international trips, which is a hobby of his.
Upon arriving in South Korea in 2014, he noticed that the specialty coffee scene was pounding. “The place was filled with coffee shops, always beautiful, full of customers and offering in their menus the best special coffees in the world, including Brazil,” he says.
He noticed that the coffee shops also offered different preparation methods, something that Brazilians were definitely not used to.
Back in Brazil, he formatted his business and, faced with capital difficulties to invest, began looking for opportunities to open his first home, without having to invest in rent, gloves etc.
“My network of contacts was paramount. I scribbled on a napkin the proposal of Sterna Café (which until that moment I had no name), and I came to present the project on September 1, 2015 for the executive board of the Sabará hospital, in Higienópolis, a reference in child care”, he recalls.
The fact is they liked what they saw and gave Deiverson a free hand for him to open his first coffee shop. It took four months to get the unit working. “I developed the menu with specialty coffees and other popular drinks in other countries,” he says. The name came from the bird Sterna, a type of swallow known for traveling great distances in the time of migration, and a clear reference to his travels.
Deiverson, at the beginning, was able to hunt down the specialty coffees served on the network, but now, with the growth in the number of shops, he assigned the curatorship to Wolff Cafés, who is also responsible for the roasting and training of baristas.
“We only serve coffees above 84 points on the SCAA scale, and 90% of the coffees we offer are roasted by Wolff Cafés. From my travels, I bring microbatches from producing countries such as Ethiopia, Uganda, Colombia, and I give them to my franchisees. And they, in turn, whenever these specialty coffees get to their units, invite their best customers to taste them. Thereby, I am helping Brazilians better know the coffee they drink, as well as the preparation methods. I am genuinely happy when I get in a Sterna Café unit and see a different preparation method at each table,” he says.
The success of the franchise is due in large part to the places chosen: always in shopping centers or reference hospitals. “Since I had no money to invest, I had to be sure of the return. Thus, we opened it in the innovation area of Banco Itaú, the Coworking Cube, in Itaim, inside the Nubank building in Pinheiros, in addition to Sabará hospital, in Higienópolis and São Luiz Hospital, in São Caetano. All places with a high rotation and consumption of certain coffees,” he explains. In the last 24 months, they sold 500,000 cups of coffee. It is the first specialty coffee franchise network homologated by the Brazilian Association of Franchises.
The wind changed its direction and, at that moment, the malls began searching for the network. In this movement, a unit was recently opened in the Anália Franco mall and right after that, a new house inside the Saraiva bookstore, within the Eldorado Mall. “And arguably in the Granja Vianna Shopping Mall in Cotia, in the same format,” he said.
Sterna Café is present in São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Santos e Campinas. Fortaleza, Brasília, Curitiba, Goiânia open until the end of the year. We are studying the brand internationalization with proposals to set up a store in Washington DC and Coral Gables, in the US, and in Cascais, Portugal. “I am also considering proposals in Uruguay, Malaga, Spain and London and, the best kept secret, a possible interest of a large Japanese group in the Brazilian specialty coffee market. However, he will not say that not even for a million dollars.
Investment
The franchise has several different business models: the first one is the cart, for corporate buildings, which require an investment between R$ 8,000 to R$ 100,000; the to-go modality, designed specifically for corporate buildings, in the range of R$ 150,000; kiosks, between R$ 150,000 and R$ 180,000 and larger stores that cost between R$ 300,000 and R$ 500,000. The franchise fee is R$ 30,000.
The network closed 2017 with a turn-over amounting to R$ 10 million and, by 2018, a 30% increase is expected.
Technology as an attractive: Sterna 2.0 (highlight diagramming)
As they work in work environments where time is key, the network is investing R$ 100,000 by the end of the year, for the development of two platforms. The first is an application, in the pre-order format, in which customers, inside their car, an Uber unit, or even using public transport, can choose the coffee and pay before getting to the site. “Americans have already adhered to this novelty and Brazilians will go the same way,” he says.
Sterna Café app
The other is the creation of a robot, Mr. Sterna, created through a smarter algorithm, to interact with customers in the sales portal of Sterna Café, www.sternacafe.com.br. The two solutions are being created by the companies Rakuten and Neomode.
The network also has its Sterna Café prepaid loyalty card. Through the QRCode, customers automatically debits the purchase in the company’s system.
Customers can also place their order by using their Apple Watch: to do this, simply draw the watch close to the Network POS and the operation will be performed.
Prepaid Loyalty Card Sterna Café
Another option is to use the Sterna Café application, place the order and make the payment as quickly as possible.
Migliati’s profile
Migliati was born in a family getting by, as the son of a worker and of a housewife. He graduated thanks to FIES. His first job was in Casas Bahia, in 2002, still under the Klein family’s control. Having started as an intern, he managed to become a visual merchandising coordinator. In 2009, he was fired, took out a loan at Caixa, and bought a Subway franchise. In a very short time, he opened three more brand stores, as well as several KFC stores.
In his travels, when he visited more than 60 countries, he had the idea of opening the Sterna Café franchise.
