When Guilherme Lemos first entered the small kitchen where his brother Henrique was starting a Japanese food business in 2013, his reaction was one: “I thought there was no way that would work. It was very ugly, very improvised in a space in Botafogo (RJ)”, recalls the current CEO of Grupo Rão.
Henrique, however, saw what no one else saw. “My brother was always more entrepreneurial than me. He saw something where I only saw a problem.”
Without capital, with just R$40,000 borrowed from his mother-in-law and “paid in three months”, Henrique unknowingly created one of the first Brazilian operating models focused exclusively on delivery, long before the term “Dark Kitchen” became popular.
“At the time, iFood didn’t even exist. We received orders via Facebook and telephone. We accepted checks”, says Guilherme, laughing.
The CEO participated in the program From Zero to Top and told a little about the history of Grupo Rão, which today has 20 brands and more than 200 units distributed in 10 states and Portugal.
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Democratic food
The initial idea was to reduce costs to “democratize” the consumption of Japanese food. “Japanese was expensive. My brother decided that he could eat sushi two, three times a week if he cut all the costs of room, waiter and card fees”, says Guilherme.
The formula worked and this caught the attention of the CEO, who until then still worked at a bank. In less than two years, the model replicated itself. Guilherme opened the second unit; other partners opened the third, fourth and fifth. But there was a lack of structure. “The franchisor didn’t exist. It was all family-friendly. We needed to professionalize it,” he says.
That was when Sushi Rão Holding emerged, beginning a formalization process.
Today, the group operates with a council, clear divisions and consolidated governance. Guilherme heads the foodservice, while his brother runs the board and international expansion.
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To find out more details about the company’s history and how they intend to reach the IPO aiming for half a billion reais per year, see the full episode on The program is available and in its podcast version on the main streaming platforms such as , , , and .
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About From Zero to Top
O podcast From Zero to Top is a production of InfoMoney and brings, every week, the stories of prominent women and men in the Brazilian market to tell their story, sharing the biggest challenges faced along the way and the main strategies used in building the business.
