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Scoring in the kitchen
SEAN A WILLIAMS, Thursday Life reporter
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Rene Simoes in the kitchen at O Camarao Arte Bia. (Photos: Sean Williams)
CURITIBA, Brazil - The mention of the name Rene Simoes evokes, at first, football. And rightly so.
The Brazilian, in his own right, has been successful as a coach of the "beautiful game", both in his native Brazil and Jamaica, where he has taken on iconic status since guiding the Reggae Boyz on that magical journey when they qualified for the World Cup Finals in France in 1998.
But there is another aspect to the charismatic Brazilian that Jamaicans ought to know. Rene is also a "successful" businessman he is a partner with brother, Roberto, in a small chain of upscale restaurants.
The restaurants in Portuguese, the native tongue of Brazil, are called O Camarao Arte Bia. The English translation: Shrimp Art and Beer. Though beer in Portuguese is cerveja, Bia, sounding like the English word beer, is short for Rene's youngest daughter, Beatrix.
Specialising in seafood, but not exclusively, the Brazilian coach, so admired by Jamaicans, got into the business by sheer coincidence.
"In 1995 my brother had a problem, as the restaurant he bought was going down. He took me aside one day and said I have to ask you something, 'Can you lend me some money?.'
"I said to him that if I lend you the money you will lose it, so what I am going to do is I am going to give you the money and become your partner. And I said to him 'if you lose, I lose too'," said the mustachioed little man with a big heart.
They never looked back from that.
"Then we started the business with one restaurant, and then the business started to grow. Before long it was two restaurants, then we go to three, and now we have four," claims Rene. O Camarao Arte Bia employs 120 Brazilians, including chefs, waiters, bartenders and administrative staff.
And there are plans, he said, to expand the business this year.
"For this year, we have a plan for a couple more stores," the Brazilian told Thursday Food. There have also been requests from business interests from all across the country for franchises, but Rene says he's not ready for that at the moment, although this fits into the company's long-term plans.
"Everywhere we go people want a franchise. Before we do that we want to get a better organisation going first. Every state wants a franchise because of the quality food we have," he boasts.
The four existing facilities are located in Brazil's second most populous city, Rio de Janeiro (six million people), and business is so good that each store easily caters to 1,000 clients per day.
"On some days, 1,000 people pass through each of our restaurants, especially on Friday and Saturday. It is crazy, busy," Rene noted.
Apart from the trademark seafood, with shrimp the main delicacy, O Camarao Arte Bia also caters to those who would like to indulge in chicken et al.
"It's not only seafood, we also offer chicken, but the strongest food is seafood, especially shrimp. We are near using 3.5 tonnes of shrimp per month," Rene explains.
The price, he says, is also very competitive for a restaurant of its class. "In business, it is not how you sell, but how you buy. If you get good prices when you buy, then you can sell your customers at better price. An average price for shrimp dinner is 13 Reals, the Brazilian currency (US$8)," the football aficionado explains.
But the strongest selling point for the establishment, he claims, is the consistent good quality of the meals served.
"The main character of our business is quality and quality all the time. If you go to the restaurant everyday the quality is the same; it is very high. If you go to all the restaurants it is the same food and same quality you will find," he outlined in his halting English.
Rene, who is in Brazil with the Reggae Boyz for a series of games and training camp, hosted the team at the branch located in Norte Shopping, a massive mall located in Rio de Janeiro.
And the Boyz all agreed that it is the best food they have had since arriving for their three-week visit. Some, who have eaten nothing but fish and chicken prior to their visit to O Camarao Arte Bia, cautiously ventured to try the shrimp and based on the feedback had no regrets.
SEAN A WILLIAMS, Thursday Life reporter
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Rene Simoes in the kitchen at O Camarao Arte Bia. (Photos: Sean Williams)
CURITIBA, Brazil - The mention of the name Rene Simoes evokes, at first, football. And rightly so.
The Brazilian, in his own right, has been successful as a coach of the "beautiful game", both in his native Brazil and Jamaica, where he has taken on iconic status since guiding the Reggae Boyz on that magical journey when they qualified for the World Cup Finals in France in 1998.
But there is another aspect to the charismatic Brazilian that Jamaicans ought to know. Rene is also a "successful" businessman he is a partner with brother, Roberto, in a small chain of upscale restaurants.
The restaurants in Portuguese, the native tongue of Brazil, are called O Camarao Arte Bia. The English translation: Shrimp Art and Beer. Though beer in Portuguese is cerveja, Bia, sounding like the English word beer, is short for Rene's youngest daughter, Beatrix.
Specialising in seafood, but not exclusively, the Brazilian coach, so admired by Jamaicans, got into the business by sheer coincidence.
"In 1995 my brother had a problem, as the restaurant he bought was going down. He took me aside one day and said I have to ask you something, 'Can you lend me some money?.'
"I said to him that if I lend you the money you will lose it, so what I am going to do is I am going to give you the money and become your partner. And I said to him 'if you lose, I lose too'," said the mustachioed little man with a big heart.
They never looked back from that.
"Then we started the business with one restaurant, and then the business started to grow. Before long it was two restaurants, then we go to three, and now we have four," claims Rene. O Camarao Arte Bia employs 120 Brazilians, including chefs, waiters, bartenders and administrative staff.
And there are plans, he said, to expand the business this year.
"For this year, we have a plan for a couple more stores," the Brazilian told Thursday Food. There have also been requests from business interests from all across the country for franchises, but Rene says he's not ready for that at the moment, although this fits into the company's long-term plans.
"Everywhere we go people want a franchise. Before we do that we want to get a better organisation going first. Every state wants a franchise because of the quality food we have," he boasts.
The four existing facilities are located in Brazil's second most populous city, Rio de Janeiro (six million people), and business is so good that each store easily caters to 1,000 clients per day.
"On some days, 1,000 people pass through each of our restaurants, especially on Friday and Saturday. It is crazy, busy," Rene noted.
Apart from the trademark seafood, with shrimp the main delicacy, O Camarao Arte Bia also caters to those who would like to indulge in chicken et al.
"It's not only seafood, we also offer chicken, but the strongest food is seafood, especially shrimp. We are near using 3.5 tonnes of shrimp per month," Rene explains.
The price, he says, is also very competitive for a restaurant of its class. "In business, it is not how you sell, but how you buy. If you get good prices when you buy, then you can sell your customers at better price. An average price for shrimp dinner is 13 Reals, the Brazilian currency (US$8)," the football aficionado explains.
But the strongest selling point for the establishment, he claims, is the consistent good quality of the meals served.
"The main character of our business is quality and quality all the time. If you go to the restaurant everyday the quality is the same; it is very high. If you go to all the restaurants it is the same food and same quality you will find," he outlined in his halting English.
Rene, who is in Brazil with the Reggae Boyz for a series of games and training camp, hosted the team at the branch located in Norte Shopping, a massive mall located in Rio de Janeiro.
And the Boyz all agreed that it is the best food they have had since arriving for their three-week visit. Some, who have eaten nothing but fish and chicken prior to their visit to O Camarao Arte Bia, cautiously ventured to try the shrimp and based on the feedback had no regrets.