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The rising popularity of Brazil’s cafe competition

Author Damien Wilde
Posted On 2nd June 2015

brazilcafecomp

“Food is something people have to buy every day, so it generates income every day,” says David Bispo, the owner of a boteco (a small café bar) in the Chapeu Mangueira area of Rio de Janeiro. “You probably haven’t bought any clothes today, but you’ve probably bought food.” And of course, he’s correct.

Bispo opened his café a couple of years ago when his work as a fisherman dried up and it’s one of a number, possibly thousands, which are found in Brazil’s most famous city. It’s not particularly flashy by all accounts, but there’s a steady trade that takes advantage of the cold beer and petiscos, small snacks which are often deep fried.

In a competitive market, standing out from the crowd is hard to do. Sure there’ll be regulars, those that live within walking distance – or directly underneath – but it’s tough to attract those who are a little further away to take those extra steps. One such way (one that Bispo took full advantage of) is to take part in the exceedingly popular Comida di Buteco competition, a free-for-all tournament that pits boteco against boteco.

The competition is now in its fifteenth year and runs on a national scale. Anybody can enter and judges rank each café according four criteria, those being the quality of their food, the service, hygiene standards and, crucially, the coldness of their beer. Alongside the judges’ opinions, there is also a popular vote. The two scores are then combined to determine the winners.

Bispo entered one such iteration of this competition, a decision which ‘transformed’ his business. With a menu based on family recipes and traditional dishes, such as the popular feijoada, his boteco faired extremely well: visitors and sales increased.

Fellow café owner Rigo Duarte also talks about the tournament’s ability to improve sales and attract a wider audience: “The thing about the competition,” he says, “isn’t to win, but to participate.”

“We typically make [£435] per day, but when the competition was on it was [£1,305],” notes Emanuele Braga Duarte Ribeiro, who co-owns the Angu do Gomes boteco with Rigo.

“If at least 30% of the people who came to the bar during the competition come back, we’ll be super happy.”

Given this successful blueprint, is it high time that we started creating competitions like the Comida di Buteco in our towns and cities?

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