Donna da Sodi tells how she overcame the crisis after the conflict with Nestlé

The result surprised her boss, who decided to give her a mixer as a gift. Cleusa started making cakes at night to sell them, and during the day she worked in a loudspeaker factory. In 1997, with the fame of the work, he quit the factory and, after receiving his severance pay, rented a 20-square-meter space to open his shop. There, “Sensações Doces” was born.

This name accompanied the project for ten years, during which 74 stores were opened throughout Brazil. Just when everything seemed to be going well, Cleoza discovered that a multinational company was rejecting her trademark application due to copyright infringement.

“I had 74 stores and the INPI, which is where you register your trademark, started rejecting the trademark. Alessandra, a lawyer and friend who worked with me, said: ‘Look, there is a Swiss company that doesn’t let go of the Marc Bass business.’ I thought: ‘What does a Swiss company want from me?’ I didn’t care much about that,” recalls Cleusa.

Soon after, I discovered that the company in question was Nestlé, which had registered one of its chocolate bars under the same name.

I was starting to get my feet on the ground in the business, with 74 stores already, financially stable, and all of a sudden, the rug was pulled out. My son said, “Mom, we’re not going to make it.” I said, “We’re going to make it, yeah.” Cleoza Maria of Sodiê

The name transition wasn’t easy. “It left me in the red for almost four years, because, so that the franchisees wouldn’t despair and the business wouldn’t collapse, I took all the losses myself. I changed all the carpets, signs and communications in 74 stores,” said Kleusa.