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Canada

TAPIOCA: Brazilian entrepreneurs launch their own brand in Canada

 

TAPIOCA BRASIL:   the taste that you already love with a brand new look. 

By Leila Monteiro Lins | Photos by Armando Chin | Published 20/03/2018

Brazilian entrepreneurs Diogo Cabus, 32, from Maceió and Lucas Holtz, 30, from Salvador hosted a launch party and tasting event of “Tapioca Brasil” at Távora Supermarket in Mississauga. The brand which was created especially for the Canadian market, debuted in February this year. Until recently, they worked with an existing tapioca brand in Brazil, but decided to face the challenge of creating their own brand with a modern package that features a “Ziploc”  type seal, allowing refrigerator storage and easy use. In addition, Tapioca Brasil has a bilingual presentation, in English and French.

The partnership, which started in December 2015 with the creation of the company Osh Bites, has proven to be successful. “Diogo is the artist focused more on sales and marketing and I am the magician responsible for the financial and logistics part,” says Lucas.

Challenges, competition and future plans

After conducting market research, engineers Lucas and Diogo identified a demand for tapioca by Brazilians living in Canada and therefore decided to start looking for suppliers in the northeast and southeast regions of the country. To their surprise, four competing companies appeared on the market, hindering the sale of their first container. “We had to work hard to conquer the market,” says Diogo.

Launching their own brand was certainly a daring step to take. “Tapioca Brasil” is available in 20 Portuguese stores across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), one in Calgary and also through Osh Bites’ website: www.oshbites.ca/where-to-find.  The expansion plan, according to Lucas is to start distribution later in the year in three more provinces and the United States in 2019.

Tapioca and its benefits

 

Tapioca is a starch extracted from cassava root. In the northern and northeastern regions of Brazil, tapioca is a typical breakfast dish and a daily snack for many people. Who would have imagined that tapioca starch which can be served in so many ways – with butter, condensed milk, cheese among other fillings, would actually become a buzz word in a healthy lifestyle world? One of the main reasons tapioca has gained so much popularity recently is because it is gluten-free and can be used as an alternative to wheat flour to thicken up food.

Leila Monteiro Lins

Leila has more than 30 years of experience in journalism and marketing, including media relations, event planning and the development of communication strategies. In April 2010, LML launched Discover magazine in Canada.

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