Cacau Show
Cacau Show is a Brazilian chocolate manufacturer, based in Itapevi, São Paulo. The company was founded by seventeen-year-old Alexandre Tadeu da Costa in 1988, from his sales of Easter eggs using door-to-door catalogs. At that time, Alexandre Costa borrowed $US500 from a relative to buy the ingredients and molds to make his own chocolate, and progressively grew his business to a manufacturing and retail giant that today has more than 2000 franchise stores throughout Brazil, supplied by a massive factory outside São Paulo turning over more than $1 billion each year in  all the franchise stores. Shortly after the initial steps, Costa invited his high-school friend Sergio Butuem to join the company. The partnership worked well for 25 years, while Costa represented the image of entrepreneur and chocolate specialist Butuem worked behind the scenes organizing, studying and planning. According to Costa in an article for "Exame" magazine, Butuem was the person mostly responsible to adapt his plans to reality. In 2001, the first store was opened and the expansion was accelerated in face of the great demand for the franchise due to the quality of the products and accessibility in prices . In 2008, it surpassed the American company Rocky Mountain and became from there the largest chain of chocolates in the world in number of stores. Nowadays the chain is the third largest franchise operation in Brazil and produces more than 50 million pounds of chocolate per year. In 2011, Cacau Show and the founder won the prize Ernst&Young Entrepreneur of the Year in Brazil and represented Brazil in the competition World Entrepreneur of the Year in Monaco. In 2013 Cacau Show won the prize World Retail Awards in France as the Emerging Market Retailer of the Year. The exponential growth  of the company is still due to the opening of stores in capitals of the country and points where there was little competition. The company plans, in the future, to operate in the international market, through franchising. Nowadays the company is already present in more than 1,000 Brazilian cities. Cacau Show produces a special chocolate recipe, using selected ingredients and different fillings based on truffle. Cacau Show became a truffle specialist in Brazil, the product is a reference among its loyal customers.