In many businesses, the error it costs dearly. In some cases, in addition to being heavy on your pocket, it can be accompanied by a real risk of breakage. This was the scenario faced by Cheirin Bão before its turnaround.
“We grew very quickly. In the beginning, there was a huge ramp-up. And we consumed a lot of cash for extra-company purposes. We spent millions until we learned”, says Wilton Bezerra, founding partner and CEO of the network.
The speech summarizes a period of mistaken decisions and disorganized growth – according to him, a classic and very common mistake among expanding entrepreneurs.
Cheirin Bão is today one of the largest coffee shop chains in Brazil, with more than 800 stores and revenue that, in 2026, is expected to exceed R$500,000. The company was reborn ten years ago under the leadership of Eduardo Schroeder and Wilton Bezerra, spreading the Minas Gerais flavor across the country and now aiming for international expansion.
In an interview with Mariana Amaro, in another episode From Zero to TopWilton Bezerra spoke about how he almost went bankrupt, the radical decision during the pandemic and how he transformed a problematic brand into a successful business.
Also read:
From crisis to turnaround
The main mistake, according to Wilton, was classic and common among entrepreneurs in the expansion phase: “When everything was going well, we were using the money for other purposes. And when it went bad, we had to resort to credit — and credit, in Brazil, is expensive. It’s one thing to take out credit to develop the business. It’s another thing to do it to cover a cash hole,” says Bezerra.
Continues after advertising
In 2019, the company was already highly leveraged. When the pandemic arrived, the scenario quickly worsened. It was in this context that the decision that would change the direction of the company came.
Wilton and his partner decided to operate radically. They cut their own salaries and started to depend exclusively on new results. “We decided: from today onwards, we will change our entire way of doing business. Now, we will have to live on new money. We will only make money in the company, even though we own it, if we create businesses and products that make more money than they currently do”, recalls the CEO.
The change in posture and thinking was not so common, but at the time of the pandemic it made sense and was even decisive for the company’s health.
Continues after advertising
“Extreme situations call for extreme measures. This gave us the strength to sell more, to create more products, to approve more suppliers, to sell more products and to motivate the franchisee to sell more. And we did so, it also educated us and made us look at the business in a different way”, he reveals.
This movement marked the beginning of a new phase for Cheirin Bão: while everyone was pumping the brakes, the company invested and launched new products, reinforced support for franchisees and made a bold bet on marketing, including a partnership with Michel Teló.
“When a crisis comes, someone has to have the courage to make people take their eyes off the crisis and look at the light. When this passes, we will already be on the other side of the river and people will be thinking about jumping. And that’s exactly what ended up happening. That act of courage there was very important. I even think that this is a characteristic that an entrepreneur has to have”, says the CEO.
To find out more details about Cheirin Bão’s challenges and trajectory, see the full episode on . The program is available in its podcast version on the main streaming platforms such as , , , and
Continues after advertising
About From Zero to Top
The Do Zero ao Topo podcast 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.
