Lindt turns partner at Copenhagen and will have shops in Brazil

The brand chocolate Lindt Switzerland will have stores in Brazil, and the first unit should be opened in São Paulo until July. The business plan is being designed by a joint venture that launches its operations today, formed by Lindt and Brazilian Group Sprüngli & CRM-owner of Kopenhagen and Chocolates Cocoa Brazil. The agreement was signed on Friday, after two years of negotiations.
So far, Lindt products are available in Brazil in "duty free" shops at airports and on large-scale retail, distributed by Aurora Foods importer. The new brand spaces will have a broader portfolio of nearly 200 products-all imported. In addition to the best-known items of Brazilians Lindor truffles, and the tablets, will be sold for this options, pralinés (type of Bonbon with chestnut stuffing) and the young line Hello. According to the President of the CRM group, Narinder de Moraes, the average price of the products is similar to that of Kopenhagen-both brands are in the premium segment.
Lindt has 51% of the new company that will manage the brand stores in Brazil. The remainder belongs to the owner of the Kopenhagen. In the first instance, the points of sale in Switzerland will be branded themselves, but in the future there could be expansion through franchising. The company Switzerland is present in about 100 countries and one of its business models are the stores.
The Group CRM has 820 stores in Brazil, most franchises. Its sales totaled r $ 760 million last year, up from 42% in comparison with the previous year. The company plans to terminate this year with more than 1,000 points and exceed $ 1 billion in revenues.
The Lindt brand, created for almost 170 years, has publicly traded in Switzerland. In 2013, sales grew 8% and totaled 2.88 billion Swiss francs ($ 3.28 billion). The company has eight plants in the United States and Europe.
According to Matthews, the company Switzerland has tried to grow in emerging countries, and Brazil, third largest chocolate market in the world, is one of the priorities. This is the first joint venture of Lindt in Latin America, but the brand is present in almost all countries in the region through a partnership with local distributors. Recently, Lindt created subsidiaries in other developing countries such as China and South Africa.
Moraes, of 69 years, bought the Kopenhagen in 1996 out of the hands of the founding family which gives its name to the brand. His daughter, Renata, and son-in-law, Fernando Vichi, executives of the group, were ahead of talks with Lindt. Before closing the deal, the Swiss team were some times in Brazil, visiting the premises of CRM and the market, including the CEO, Ernst Tanner.
Lindt will send executives to finance, marketing and logistics, who will be at the headquarters of the CRM group in Sao Paulo, a luxury brand that belonged to Daslu.
Renata Moraes, Vice President of marketing for the CRM group, the decision to create the Cacao Brazil, network with cheaper products launched in 2009, proved that the group can manage different businesses. Last year, this brand has doubled in size and now has 490 shops. In retail, however, the company has not had the same success. The chocolate candy line Dan Top, acquired in 2007, was withdrawn from retail at the end of 2011, the same year in which the Group announced investments to rejuvenate her. According to Renata, the priority of the company in recent years has been the Chocolates Cocoa Brazil. "Moreover, we saw that it was very different a retail operation. But the Chairman of the Group States that can reactivate the brand forward.
According to Renata, have Brazil stores portfolio Cocoa, Kopenhagen and Lindt contributes to the maturing of the chocolaterias market in Brazil. "The idea is that the Brazilian to think of chocolates, from any class or age group, find an option out of the supermarket". According to Fernando Vichi, VP of finance, "the past two Easters, saw a strong consumer migration from the supermarket to specialty stores."
Lindt is here negotiating with Cocoa Show, with 1.6 thousand shops, but the talks do not progress, according to market sources.