Founded on Chef Junior Durski’s core belief that delivering superior quality should be at the heart of any successful restaurant’s business model, we believe Grupo Madero is one of the fastest-growing multi-brand restaurant companies in Brazil in terms of sales and restaurant count. Driven by this unwavering commitment to quality, our Company has grown from a single Madero Steak House in 2005, located in Curitiba, to a multi-brand portfolio of 275 restaurants as of December 31 2022, built on a vertically integrated production, distribution and logistics platform. At the heart of our network is our Central Kitchen, a state-of-the-art automated production facility that produces virtually all of the food consumed in our restaurants. Our track record of growth demonstrates that a restaurant platform purpose-built to materialize Chef Junior’s vision of delivering quality above all else – for guests and employees alike – can be a source of sustainable competitive advantage.
After nearly a decade of perfecting the Madero Steak House concept, Chef Junior realized that the Grupo Madero could serve new customers and expand its reach, adapting the Madero Steak House concept to meet evolving consumer preferences.
In 2014, we opened the first Madero Container, one of the first fast-casual concepts in Brazil, with a fast home format that offers a narrower menu focused on our grilled hamburgers.
In 2015, we inaugurated the first phase of our current Central Kitchen, spanning 3,715 square meters in the city of Ponta Grossa, state of Paraná, Brazil, which now sits at the heart of our vertically integrated operating model. The Central Kitchen is where we produce or supply over 95% of the food served in our restaurants, store all supplies for our restaurants, and manage our entire distribution network.
In 2017, we launched the Jeronimo brand, a technology-centric fast-casual concept that is uniquely positioned with a lower price to target a younger, lower-income population. This concept operates through the Jeronimo Burger brand, in food courts and as independent restaurants in shopping malls, and through the Jeronimo Track brand, as an independent restaurant that also features a drive-thru.
Between 2018 and December 31, 2022, we invested approximately R$341.4 million to increase capacity and reduce costs in our Central Kitchen, aiming to significantly improve the efficiency of our operations. As of December 31, 2022, the total built area of our Central Kitchen was 32,408 square meters, divided into four factories (fridge products, sauces and desserts, sausages and smoked products, and hamburgers and bakery), in addition to our Robotic Distribution Center and our Dry Warehouse, on a plot of land covering 80,781 square meters.
Since 2018, we have centralized the production of most of our vegetables in an organic farm, located close to our Central Kitchen, which, combined with our preservative-free products, form a perfect combination of flavor and healthiness in the products served in our restaurants.
We operate primarily company-owned restaurants under two core brands, Madero and Jeronimo, with multiple distinct concepts that include Madero Steak House and Madero Container under the Madero brand, and Jeronimo Burger and Jeronimo Track under the Jeronimo brand.
In January 2019, we received an important investment of R$700.0 million from Madrid Fundo de Investimento em Participações Multiestratégia (an affiliate of The Carlyle Group) with the objective of financing the continuity of our growth strategy, as well as contributing to the development of best corporate governance practices and improvement of internal controls.
In December 2020, we launched our first Ecoparada Madero on Rodovia Castello Branco in the state of São Paulo, one of the main highways in Brazil. Ecoparada Madero is a gastronomic complex with an upscale environment, bringing an innovative concept to the roads of Brazil. Its facilities are ecologically sustainable, with solar energy generation panels, rainwater collection system, electric vehicles charging stations, in addition to processes for separating organic waste, which are later transformed into fertilizer for use in our organic farm and in our restaurants’ plants. This complex comprises six operations, including Madero Grill, Madero Burger, and Jeronimo, as well as the introduction of new brands such as Madero Café, Empório Madero and Convenience store.
In November 2021, the Company received another investment of R$300.0 million through primary resources from Madrid FIP, aiming to fund the sustainable expansion strategy of the Company’s restaurant network.
Our commitment to quality in all aspects of our business has enabled us to rely on strong revenue growth over the past two years, including rapid growth in the number of our restaurants to meet customer demand and growth at the restaurant and corporate levels. Over the four years ended December 31, 2022, we grew from 138 total restaurants in 15 states in Brazil, on 31 December 2018, to 275 total restaurants in 18 states, representing a compound annual growth rate, or CAGR, of 20.1%, even with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic as of March 2020. With the Central Kitchen currently installed and our corporate infrastructure in place, we believe we are well-positioned to deliver strong and profitable growth.