With a smile on his face and a waterproof coat on, Francisco Bastos enters the Arcádia store, on Avenida da Boavista, in Porto, to meet Dinheiro Vivo. We met on a rainy day, just after the storm passed Kristin – that the north did not cause damage that was not solvable. The CEO of the national chocolate company, who has led the company since 2019, is also the representative of the fourth generation of the family that owns Arcádia, and only the fifth to lead the destinies of one of the most beloved national brands. The cat’s tongues, the traditional assortment, the candied orange with chocolate, to which chocolates with Port wine or Dubai Style chocolate have now been added. They are a clear example of what Arcadia has done throughout its nine decades of life to survive.
“Being a family business, Arcádia has its nuances when it comes to the rate of growth that can be done responsibly”, he begins by clarifying. The company “went through some moments of growth, followed by some moments of absorption of the moment of this previous growth. It’s a bit of a ladder of growth, isn’t it?”, he notes.
Francisco explains, therefore, why Arcadia emerged from the pandemic with more stores, a greater supply of products and with the muscle to face the period of rising prices of raw materials which, in the meantime, was caused by the War in Ukraine and all the global political and economic instability. After many years dedicating himself solely to chocolate, Today, Arcádia is also a producer and marketer of pastries and ice cream, a segment that already represents a considerable portion of its business.
Diversification is, in fact, one of the watchwords in the company, whether in terms of products or in the business model itself. Not all Arcádia stores are their own, but those that are franchised follow very specific rules. In fact, Francisco explains, “we have nine franchises. That is, they help us to have a very close relationship with each partner, which is good for the brand and good for the franchisees, because they also have a lot of support from Arcádia’s point of view”, he continues.
But the diversification of products also brought an additional challenge: since 2022, the company has been dealing with the significant increase in the price of cocoa on the international market – “It was inevitable that, in the last two years, we passed on some of this increase to the end consumer. But we have done it in a phased manner, to be less violent and, as it is, we have absorbed part of this increase” – but also with the rise in the price of coffee. “Another very important product for us”.
The advantage? “We were coming from a period of very strong growth, before the pandemic – it coincided, in fact, with the opening of the store in Chiado, in Lisbon – and, therefore, we were well capitalized. During the pandemic, we continued to grow, open stores and produce. And what happened was that, when activities resumed, we were ready to respond to the increase in consumption that we actually registered”, he notes.
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