Snack bars in hospitals profit more than in malls – 06/26/2023 – Mpme

A food franchise tends to be more profitable inside a hospital than a mall. This is because the former lacks what the latter lacks: costs and competition.

A patient’s companion, for example, does not usually look for the cheapest cafeteria in the vicinity. When he gets hungry, he goes straight to the on-site canteen.

The 26 Casa do Pão de Queijo stores in health institutions, despite representing 20% ​​of the chain’s units, account for 30% of revenues. They are in the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Sergipe and Paraná.

A similar situation occurs with the brands Rei do Mate and Grão Espresso. In the first, the 22 stores in hospitals are equivalent to 7% of the total points of sale and add up to 10% of the billing. They are located in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, the Federal District, Roraima, Maranhão and Bahia. In the second, the 18 units in clinics, laboratories and hospitals, all in São Paulo or Rio, correspond to 11% of the total and 30% of the profit.

“In a hospital, competition is much less, because the place usually has a maximum of two cafeterias”, says Taciana Beatriz Couto, CEO of the Zmais group, owner of Grão Espresso. The company wants to open eight more stores in health institutions by the end of the year.

Rei do Mate also intends to expand its business in the sector: the idea is that the company ends 2023 with 30 operations in hospitals. Casa do Pão de Queijo plans to have 50 by December. .

In addition to being advantageous for the franchisors, the account is better for the franchisee. The owner of a Casa do Pão de Queijo outlet in a hospital, for example, needs an average of 24 months to replace the initial investment of R$ 300,000. As for a unit in a mall, it takes 36 months, according to the chain itself.

In São Luís (MA), engineer Leonardo Almendra, 48, has been operating a Rei do Mate franchise at São Domingos hospital for a year. He says that the earnings have already covered the initial expenses. The period was even shorter than the standard, because he preferred to do the work on the structure himself, in addition to choosing not to receive a salary.

He did not want to disclose his monthly profit, but according to Rei do Mate, the average profitability of points of sale in hospitals is around 15% of revenue. Now, Leonardo is building a second unit on the site, a kiosk close to the surgery and ICU wards.

The relationship between franchisee and establishment is another difference between operations in malls and hospitals. In the second, stores act more as service providers than tenants.

An example of this is the greater variety of dishes in health institutions, where people tend to stay longer.

“When we entered this segment, the hospitals demanded that we have a more complete menu”, says Ricardo Bertucci, director of expansion at Casa Do Pão De Queijo.

In these places, the brand sells stroganoff, light feijoada, pasta, tilapia and polpetone. Rei do Mate offers lasagna, escondidinhos and cannelloni. In both chains, meals cost about R$ 30. Hospitals require franchise employees to adhere to hygiene standards and follow guidelines for food preservation.

There are three contract formats between brands and hospitals: rent, transfer of percentage of sales and free operation in exchange for supplying products to employees.

The first two are the most common. Most often, the percentage ranges from 6% to 10%. “It cannot be a rent that causes us to increase the price. It has to be a fair account, because, if the snack bar is expensive, it affects the customer’s evaluation of the hospital”, says Antonio Carlos Nasraui, president of Rei do Mate. In general, product values ​​are the same in malls and health centers.

Fernanda Ladeia, a Grão Espresso franchisee at three Delboni laboratories in São Paulo, works with the third format. The store provides snacks, juice and coffee to customers after exams and, in return, earns the right to sell on site. The franchise does not pay for electricity or water.

Fernanda also has a unit at Shopping Bourbon, in São Paulo. She says that her earnings at the laboratory’s Tatuapé unit are higher. “In both places, revenue is just over R$100,000 a month, but at the mall I pay R$24,000 in rent. Even with more employees in the laboratory, the profit is much greater.”

But not everyone is eligible to have a franchise in a health institution. Bertucci, from Casa do Pão de Queijo, says that the company chooses only professional franchisees to work in the sector. “We have six stores in Rede D’or, for example. I cannot put a newcomer in the system, at risk of contaminating the relationship with the group.”

This filtering also happens in Grão Espresso and Rei do Mate. “The big hospitals have international certifications, and the snack bar goes through this process”, says Nasraui.