When starting out for the first time, Giovanna Molinaro, from Rio de Janeiro, brought together two seemingly irreconcilable passions. One of them is the one that cares for cats, especially the three that live with her, Malala, King and Fúria, all rescued from the street and of undefined breed — Calvin, the fourth adopted, has already passed away. Giovanna’s second passion, an architect by training, is the world of coffee shops.
The result of these two interests? The Gato Café chain, whose headquarters, in Botafogo, has been operating since 2020. The first branch, in Barra da Tijuca, opened the following year. And the number one franchise, in Cachambi, in the North Zone of Rio, was opened this year. The expected revenue for 2025, when two new franchises are expected to come out of the oven, in the same city, is R$3 million.
Giovanna came up with the idea after discovering a similar café in Japan, which she visited in 2018. In the business that inspired her, purebred cats roam freely around the space looking for cuddles. “Gato Café is very different because its purpose is to help abandoned cats find new homes,” explains the founder, who left architecture to get the café off the ground.
Another mission of the business, adds the entrepreneur, is to help minimize a certain stigma that surrounds felines. “Unlike dogs, they are not seen everywhere, which means that fewer people are interested in taking them in”, Giovanna believes. “By bringing cats closer to the general public, we increase adoption opportunities.”
It works like this: every network unit is divided into two parts. The cats are restricted to one of them, and can be visited upon payment of a symbolic fee of R$10 for 15 minutes. The money raised helps balance expenses with the philanthropic side of Gato Café. Since its opening, the chain has already brokered more than 600 adoptions — it has teamed up with NGOs specialized in taking in felines that don’t have a home to call their own.
All of Gato Café’s revenue comes from the café itself, which pays tribute to cats in every way possible. There is everything from quiche with a cat design to a line of cups and glasses in honor of felines. Soon, Giovanna intends to start expanding in other states. The initial investment in a franchise costs from R$205,000.
“Niche marketing tends to be very effective, which makes the potential of cafés, bars and themed restaurants very high”, observes Fernando Blower, president of SindRio, the Union of Bars and Restaurants of Rio de Janeiro. “For this type of business to be successful, however, hitting the hammer on a topic that attracts a recurring audience is essential. If you invest in a fad, you may be forced to adopt a new theme in two years, due to lack of public, and transform the establishment from top to bottom, which will require new investments.”
The name of Circus Trattoria, opened in 2023, already indicates the theme adopted. In BarraShopping, in Rio de Janeiro, the Italian restaurant owes its fame to the artistic performances of clowns, magicians and jugglers and the unusual menu. The pizzas are served under a circus “mini-tent” and some of the doughs, without artificial colors, display the colors of the rainbow. One of the colorful ravioli, for example, is shaped like a bullet. It is stuffed with shrimp and served with Philadelphia sauce.
Brothers Marcus Vinícius Temperani and Marcius Temperani focused on the same theme with Circo da Pizza, which opened in September. “I expected a 20% smaller clientele, and I always saw the business with great optimism”, admits the first, when commenting on the almost 8 thousand monthly visitors.
In Vila Guilherme, in São Paulo, a few meters from Marginal Tietê, the new product occupies a warehouse measuring around 800 square meters. The address was already in the hands of the Temperanis, who previously ran a furniture store there. Transformed into the Pizza Circus after a not very complex renovation, the warehouse gained a replica of a globe of death and other decorative items that refer to the circus universe.
“For a themed restaurant to be successful, it cannot be a current theme or restricted to a certain audience, like some superhero”, Marcus believes. “Everyone likes circus and it’s something timeless.”
The brothers are literally familiar with this universe. Leopoldo Temperani, their great-great-grandfather, is considered the first bullet man in Brazil. Born in Italy in 1848, he settled here in 1875 and set up Circo Temperani. Later renamed Temperani Brothers, the business remained in family hands until the 1980s.
At this time, it was commanded by another Leopoldo and his brother, Osmar. Grandsons of the country’s first bullet man, they risked, together, the circus’ globe of death. Afterwards, the duo founded the Dizzy snack bar, which started in Vila Maria, and the restaurants O Compadre and O Caipira, both in the North Zone. Marcus and Marcius are Osmar’s sons and today they run Dizzy, O Compadre and the Japanese Nōsu, in addition to the new pizzeria.
The “ticket” to Circo da Pizza costs R$99.90 for adults and children aged 11 and over. Includes savory pizzas, hot dogs, nuggets, popcorn and French fries. For children between 4 and 10 years old the price drops to R$89.90 and for those aged 3 or under entry is free. In the beginning, these prices included unlimited soda. “This was encouraging waste,” says Marcus, justifying the end of this perk.
Given the immense demand on weekends, the restaurant limited reservations to Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. It also imposed a time limit of 2h30. “If there’s no queue, there’s no problem going over that time”, Marcus informs. “We decided to limit the stay because the disappointment of children who wait and end up not being able to enter is very great.”
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Source: CNN Brasil
Johanna Foster is an expert opinion writer with over 7 years of experience. She has a reputation for delivering insightful and thought-provoking articles on a variety of subjects. Her work can be found on some of the top online news websites, and she is currently lending her voice to the world stock market.
