EXCLUSIVE: Zamp will operate Starbucks in Brazil

Starbucks has chosen Zamp — the master franchisor of Burger King and Popeyes in Brazil — to operate its brand in the country, sources familiar with the matter told The New York Times. Brazil Magazine.

The US company has already notified Zamp of its selection and authorized the company to begin negotiating ownership of SouthRock.

According to a source, Zamp has the option — but not the obligation — to buy the 140 stores SouthRock still operates.

Negotiations in this regard must be closed by the end of this month, because after this deadline, SouthRock will lose the right to use the Starbucks trademark. The initial deadline set by headquarters was the end of February, but Starbucks extended the deadline until April to allow time to find a new operator and keep the stores open.

“For Zamp, the best option is to acquire the SouthRock property, but it needs to make economic sense and the process needs to be quick, because it has 40 stores facing eviction proceedings,” one source said.

In recent months, SouthRock has closed 50 of its 190 Starbucks stores in Brazil. Those still open are suffering from product shortages, and SouthRock has not even been able to pay the amount Returns And coffee sold exclusively by the head office. (Starbucks has been sending free coffee to keep stores running.)

The sources said that after the experience with SouthRock, one of the operators… Private equityStarbucks was looking for a partner with him know how To operate restaurants and have strong governance – Two features offered by Zamp.

For Zamp, the contract adds a global brand to its portfolio with strong expansion potential – and with related revenues.

Last year, SouthRock earned about R$500 million from the 190 Starbucks stores it owned at the time. According to one of the sources, the stores that were closed were the ones that suffered losses, while those that remained were “good” profitable.

Due to product shortages, the remaining stores this year are operating with 30% lower sales volume than last year.

Zamp's contract with Starbucks will be a single-operator model, where the local partner cannot franchise stores; He turns them all on and pays Returns Matrix. As is common in this type of contract, the operator is obligated to open X number of stores within a certain period of time, and to carry out all procedures capex necessary for this.

One source said Zamp sees a great opportunity to expand the brand into other regions of Brazil – today, the vast majority of them are in the southeast, especially São Paulo – and open high street stores.

“In Brazil, the brand has barely begun its journey to the street, where there is a clear opportunity to develop the breakfast consumption occasion,” this source said. “In the world, high street stores dominate, because that is the most logical place to propose the brand.”

In Mexico, for example, where Starbucks is operated by Alsea, of the brand's 820 stores, only 80 are in malls.

The deal with Starbucks comes a few months after Mubadala Capital – linked to Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund – acquired Zamp with the aim of turning the company into a “house of brands” for the world. Fast food.

Pedro Arbex