08/19/2008 07h54
Gran Sapore to start in the benefit-tickets area
Valor Econômico 08/19/2008
Gran Sapore, second largest collective meals supplier of the country, now wants to be present in the life of the employee even when he or she decides to have lunch outside the restaurant of the company. The company announces today its entrance in the market of meal vouchers, with the creation of the
Sapore Benefícios. The investment in the new business is nearly R$ 35 million (US$ 22.3 million) in two years and the company plans to put three kinds of benefit cards into operation until December: one for meals, one for industrialized food (for purchases in supermarkets, bakeries and the like) and one called "auto", to cover fuel and car services. In order to be in charge of this area, the president of Gran Sapore, Daniel Mendez, brought Carlos César de Almeida Coutinho in, who had been the managing officer of VR for six years. "Our purpose is to have 1 million of cards into operation in 12 months", says Coutinho, who holds the office of vice-president of Expansion and New Businesses of the group. The Brazilian market of benefits is led by the French company, Sodexo, which bought VR last year, and reached more than 5 million users of its cards and corporate checks. Other heavy rivals are Ticket (from the Accor group) and Visa Vale. "We don't have the intention of being the largest company of benefits in the market. We want to offer a complementary service, increase our portfolio", remarks Mendez. With this very purpose, the company is offering the companies the option of managing an internal food court, together with the Sapore restaurant, with well-known franchises, such as Bob's, Bon Grillê, and Casa do Pão de Queijo. The idea is to manage food courts in several companies - and even outside them, in small commercial centers - and make a rotation of such franchises whenever necessary. According to the system, Gran Sapore can only manage the court, contracting the franchisees and monitoring the quality of the service, or be the direct operator of a specific brand. Today, Gran Sapore has 915 restaurants in operation and serves 720 thousand meals a day.
