Buddy Valastro talks about his hopes for the opening of the first store in the Brazilian market
Cake boss Buddy Valastro, star of the Christmas campaign of the shopping centers under the General Shopping Brasil umbrella, recently announced the opening of the first Carlo’s Bakery store in Brazil in the Parque Shopping Maia, Guarulhos (SP), slated for rollout in April 2016.
This will be the very first Carlo’s Bakery outside the United States market where 13 units are already operating. With headquarters in Hoboken, near New York city, Carlo’s Bakery has become famous in Brazil for the Cake Boss program showing the daily routine of Buddy and his family in running the company and producing such unbelievable cakes.
During his trip to Brazil for the final episode of the Battle of the Confectioners Brazil reality show, Buddy signed an agreement for the first store of his network in Brazil and talked to General Shopping about his hopes for the new business.
Why begin your international expansion in Brazil and more specifically at Parque Shopping Maia?
Firstly, Brazilian fans have been so amazing that it seems only fair to open a Carlo’s Bakery here. When they visit our stores in the United States, they always ask when we are going to open a unit in Brazil. The moment has finally arrived. We love Parque Shopping Maia, a new enterprise in a region of major growth, and we have been able to find a 300 square meter space, which will allow us to house the whole production operation at the site itself.
Again, we know the store will have lines of people and we do not wish to inconvenience the other storekeepers in the shopping center. We want to be in a place which has our image and we don’t want to give the idea that we are about to take over the whole mall. It was incredible that we were able to find this space at Parque Shopping Maia. In my opinion, we will get people from all over the country to visit us there.
Do you already have plans for other Carlo’s Bakery stores in Brazil?
We are just beginning. Going forward we will have other stores in various cities around Brazil. At the moment, our aim is to open this first unit in Maia in April 2016 and with its expected success, then grow and open more stores. We will open as many stores in Brazil as people want us to open. We want to be in São Paulo, in Rio de Janeiro, in Brasília, in the Northeast, where the public wants us to be. We will be where we find the opportunities.
How do you find doing business in a new country with a culture different from the US?
Wow, it’s incredible! It’s impossible to be in the middle of the crowd that welcomed us in Maia (last month) and not feel this in your heart. You see children looking at you, hugging you, crying and this is all very inspiring. It means everything to me, really. I feel like I am the luckiest person in the world when this happens. I would have liked to have taken photos with everyone, to have hugged the whole world. People know that I am like this and I think this is why I get on so well with the Brazilians. I am a very emotive person and the Brazilians are like that as well. And when people treat you so well, you have to be like that to them in return. Brazil has done so much for me - so this is my way of reciprocating. It has been so amazing that sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming.
Is the economic crisis a concern?
I believe in Brazil despite the economy in crisis and the political problems. People have asked me if this scares me and I replied that we have to run the risk because it is worthwhile. At a time like this, people reduce their spending on other products. They don’t usually save on a cupcake costing R$ 6 but rather on a pair of shoes worth R$ 1000. Our business is kind of crisis proof and that is why we will be opening our first store in a few months’ time.