Vitamina Group shrinks amid debts and lawsuits – 10/20/2023 – Education

The Chilean early childhood education group Vitamina arrived in Brazil in 2019 with the promise of revolutionizing the area. In an aggressive start, he bought 37 schools, most of them in São Paulo, and planned to have more than a hundred in the country. After four years, however, the group made a silent withdrawal, leaving a trail of legal problems, debts and criticism from parents and teachers.

Vitamina entered the country with financial support from the Peninsula, from Abílio Diniz’s family. The relationship, however, began to have problems, and the Brazilian investment fund withdrew from the business in the middle of last year.

Since then, according to Sheet has shown, employees and suppliers face delays and lack of payments, schools are closing their doors and parents are caught by surprise. The group has accumulated labor lawsuits and non-payment of rent.

The report questioned the lawyer representing the group, Suen Chamat, and she replied that she “only conducts the processes” and that only the press office could make statements. The advisor was contacted by message this Thursday (19) and asked for questions to be sent by email. This Friday (20), she stated that the questions are being handled by a spokesperson, but no deadline was given for a response.

According to lawyer Joel Batista, who represents a group of former employees, suppliers, parents and former school owners, the Vitamina group is responding to around 300 lawsuits. “There are approximately 250 labor lawsuits and 50 civil lawsuits against the group. The total amounts to around R$100 million,” he says.

In a communication application, a group called Support for Victims of Escola Vitamina in SP has more than 500 people. They scheduled a protest against the company in front of the Chilean Consulate, on Avenida Paulista, next Sunday (22), at 10 am, to draw attention to the problems faced.

There, there is no shortage of reports from people who say they feel deceived by Vitamina. This is the case of Maurício Lima who, in 2021, sold one of his schools, the Blue Sky Morumbi unit, to the group.

The owner of the building where the institution operated was reportedly reluctant to maintain the lease for the group. He only accepted after Lima left a private property of his as a deposit.

“That’s what was done, I left a property belonging to my family as a deposit. I ended up acting as a kind of guarantor for the group. They stopped paying the rent and the owner of the building filed a lawsuit. The value of the eviction action is more than R $400,000. I’m already considering my property lost because I know that Vitamina won’t pay,” says Lima.

After losing almost all of its students, the unit closed its doors in July this year. According to Lima, the employees did not receive their salaries and other labor rights and are taking legal action against the group and the former owners.

“They can’t come from Chile and end everything here and leave without giving satisfaction, in silence”, complains Lima.

Another supporter, as school owners are called, is Soraia Nunes, who also sold her school, Peraltinhas, in Mooca, to Vitamina, for around R$1.2 million in 2020. Payment would be in five annual installments , always in July, according to the former owner.

“They paid the installment for 2021 and 2022. They didn’t pay this year’s installment. We haven’t had any return emails, calls or messages. We executed the purchase and sale contract, but honestly we don’t have any hope of receiving it.”

The unit also closed its activities this year.

“They sent all the employees away and didn’t pay anyone. At the beginning of the year, we had labor hearings and Vitamina sent representatives. After July they no longer sent anyone, and the cases are being judged in absentia. The labor lawsuits are now falling on us , the former owners”, he says.

According to her, the group is in debt for the building’s rent and utility bills, such as water, electricity and telephone, which were still in her and her partner’s name.

Cleaning assistant Luana Pereira, 20, says she worked for the group for about a year, at the Espaço Singular school, in Brooklin, and at Eco Berçário, in Vila Andrade. The first no longer exists. Pereira was terminated in July and says she received nothing.

“They didn’t pay salaries, vacations, the FGTS was never deposited. I have a three-year-old son, I’m unemployed and I’m having difficulties. I had a hearing in September and no one from the company showed up. I couldn’t even get unemployment insurance. The judge won my case. “, he states.

Temístocles de Almeida Passos, 59, known as Nenê, is the owner of Casa de Frutas Nenê, which has existed since 1987. He says he delivered fruit and vegetables to one of the units purchased by the group and started supplying food to all 37 units, in São Paulo, Greater São Paulo, Campinas, Santos and São José dos Campos.

“It was a big operation, it was hard work to serve them. But I did it with great care. I delivered every Monday. In the beginning they paid correctly. But, at the beginning of this year, they stopped and it became a snowball. They wanted to reduce it to R$ 25 thousand per month, but the cost was R$30,000 per week. They owe me more than R$400,000”, he says.

Nenê says that he was no longer assisted by any of his Vitamina contacts.

Teacher Danielle Paranhos, 39, says she worked for 12 years at the Mundo Melhor school, in Pompeia, and was dismissed in February this year, without receiving anything.

“They said they didn’t have the money to pay my rights. They coerced me into accepting the payment in 11 months. INSS and FGTS hadn’t paid since last year. They only paid the first one and disappeared. They don’t answer me, they don’t answer emails. And they keep sending re-enrollment for 2024 even for schools with eviction orders”, he reports.

The teacher says she went through trouble until she got another job. “I’m behind on bills, banks are calling me, I’m paying a lot of interest for late payments and we’re left with no Vitamina positioning,” she says.

Another person who lost out is Lílian Arruda, oncologist and researcher, who had two autistic children, aged four and five, at the Pueri Regnum unit, in Brooklin.

She had already paid for the entire year for both children, but withdrew them from school in the second semester. She says she informed the school about the decision but received no response, nor the money back.

“It was very painful to follow what happened there. My eldest son’s last teacher, who left, had more than 25 years of history at the school. All the employees were incredibly dedicated. They were professionals who did not receive their salaries, and little Little by little we began to notice the loss of quality. They stopped having English classes and physical activities, for example. All the structure that the school had was being lost”, says Arruda.

The report managed to count at least 45 legal cases involving rent collections and evictions. Sometimes, the same unit has more than one process.

One of them states that Vitamina has not paid the rent and IPTU where the Amor Perfeito school operates, in Perdizes, since November last year.

“I had to file two lawsuits in court, which are being handled by my lawyer,” says Maria Helena Serra Netto Fioravanti, owner of the property. “The school has continued to operate without paying rent for almost a year.”

A Sheet contacted the unit on Thursday and it continued to enroll and was open for interested parties to visit. The group also maintains a website listing 19 schools in operation.