Founder of Blue Life gains strength in the production of Tilapia fish

When the paulista Ayres da Cunha Marques sold the health plan Blue Life for Amil, in May 2007, peace was the watchword. As soon as you got rid of the debt of r $ 100 million that the health carrier accumulated, the surgeon moved to a farm on the banks of the Paraná River, in the quiet town of Aparecida do Taboado (MS). But it withstood the calm and, a few months later, already involved in a new venture.
Laboratory for reproduction of FRY at the headquarters of Zippy
At the invitation of Antonio Carlos Amaral, former President of the Legislative Assembly of Mato Grosso, Mahmood met in 2008, Ambar Amaral, tilapias production company founded by the friend in the municipality of São Paulo South of Santa Fe. The proposal was clear: create the fish in Ilha Solteira hydroelectric dam and provide for the Amber. "He made a feed factory and a refrigerator and excited me," recalls Ayres da Cunha Marques.
FRY gain weight in tanks dug for 30 days
But Amaral didn't count that the enthusiasm of Marques would be so great. He not only decided to invest in the production of Tilapia fish in captivity, founding the Zippy foods, but also erected their own feed mill and, in February last year, opened a refrigerator, making it a direct competitor of Ambar. "When he found out I was building the Zippy, was a year without talking to me. But only create fish would not have grace, "says Mahmoud.
Fattening is typically take six months
Now, almost five years after starting the contributions of more than $ 20 million needed for the creation of the complex of Zippy, the entrepreneur program new jumps. With a projected revenue in r $ 24 million for this year, the company of fish already glimpsed reach annual revenues of $ 60 million. Recently, the Zippy obtained the first authorization of the intricate bureaucratic process that involves the granting of a new area of hydroelectric power for the production of fish in captivity.
Bleed process of tilapias, another step in the company's vertical integration
Headquartered in Santa Clara D'oeste (SP), on the border with the South-mato-grossense Aparecida do Taboado (see map below), the complex of Zippy Food houses a laboratory for reproduction of "chicks"-the Tilapia fingerlings, a feed mill, a graxaria and a fridge. "It is a complex business, as if I had assembled five companies", repeats Marques.
The businessman justifies the need for a "complex" on Brazilian culture still incipient in the production of tilapias. Recently, the Dutch Bank Rabobank said that the Brazilian production of fish in captivity is still in "childhood", despite its immense potential. In the Government, the Minister of fisheries and aquaculture, Marcelo Crivella, has publicly criticized the quality of fish feed produced in Brazil.
Company grows and projected revenues of R $ 60 million
For Marques, lean production of tilapia is also essential to not be hostage of "tight margins" of a typical refrigerator, the example of what happens in units of cattle, pigs and chickens. "To produce a pound of Tilapia fillet, I need three pounds of fish," he says. In the accounts of businessman, three pounds of fish would cost R $ 12,60 if Zippy did not produce their own fish. Already the price of Tilapia fillet would be sold for about $ 17. "You have all the labor cost and transport in the middle of it. The margins are flat. "
In the opinion of the Manager, the Zippy would also be unworkable if it was just a fish-producing, buying and selling third-party food tilapia with some friend's original proposal, Amaral.
The business model of the Zippy starts in the production of fingerlings. Currently, the company produces 600 thousand "puppies" per month, but the nursery unit has the capacity to provide 2 million fingerlings per month, according to the company's General Manager, Claudio Masocatto.
Fillet production reaches almost 1.2 million tons per year
The fingerlings are eight days in the incubator. After that, spend 30 days in tanks dug, until they reach an average weight of 25 grams. It is only at this stage that the tilapia is finally brought to the dam, where tanks are fattened. Zippy's goal is to produce Tilapia in six months. The ideal weight for slaughter is 800 grams. However, the company takes between six and eight months to make the fish reaches an average of 650 grams, Masocatto.
During the fattening period, the fish are fed with the feed produced in Zippy factory, which produces 1 thousand tons per month. The unit sells about 500 tonnes for other creators of tilapias, getting an additional monthly revenues r $ 300 thousand. The feed produced by Zippy consists of soybean meal, corn, a core consisting of vitamins and amino acids, as well as meat and bone meal and fishmeal and oil made in graxaria by the company. Together, bran and corn account for 95% of the ration of tilapias.
In the refrigerator, the fish are insensibilidados with ice, are finally slaughtered and bled manually. After this process, are mechanically descamados, washed, filetados and refiletados. Of the total 400 employees of Zippy, about 300 work in the slaughter.
The following is the process of cooling and freezing. Zippy currently produces about 100 tons of steak per month, with 80% of this volume are for the gondolas of the retailers Carrefour, Pão de Açúcar and Walmart. "We will need more fish, because the demand is growing," says Mahmoud.