04/07/2024 – 7:30
“Pamonha! Pamonha! Pamonha!” announces the recording that can be heard on the streets of neighborhoods such as Pinheiros, Perdizes and Moema. And yes, “it is the pamonha car passing by your street”, as the audio says. The pamonha car, in this case, is a Jeep Renegade, a vehicle with a suggested price starting at R$120,000.
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It is part of a fleet of eight vehicles, seven of which are rented. One of them was caught around Av. Brigadeiro Faria Lima – a region that concentrates the main finance and technology companies in São Paulo – and became a meme precisely because of the difference of being a high-end car selling cornmeal and the like.
The post was confirmation that Henrique, the owner of Jeep da Pamonha, had a strategy that was working. It was his idea to use Jeeps instead of the traditional Kombi or popular cars, more commonly used in this type of business.
“The most popular or oldest car gave off a different image. Sometimes even an association with dirt and low quality. When I changed the car, my image changed and the business changed.”
Henrique Morais Pereira runs a “spin-off” of his father’s business, Seu Miguel, who created Pamonhas Arujá. The first option for a model that was different from the standard was a Spin. Henrique said that the impact was immediate. He started selling twice the average of R$500 per day. Seeing the results, Henrique was certain that he needed more cars on the road – and they all had to be of a better category.
Since he couldn’t afford to buy several vehicles at once, he partnered with Localiza. And that’s how Henrique’s share in Pamonhas Arujá took on a life of its own and became Jeep da Pamonha.
“With Jeep, the business gained an identity”
Even the production was separated from the patriarch’s business. But Henrique says it wasn’t because of a fight. On the contrary, they both support each other and occasionally help each other with production when needed.
The separation was due to disagreements on how to conduct business, which includes the use of different cars, operating in the central region of São Paulo and even product diversification. “My father is very methodical and prefers to continue doing things his way. I am now more open-minded to innovation.”
The voice is that of Patriarch Miguel
The voice on the recording that sticks in my head is that of Miguel das Pamonhas, the patriarch of a family that has been in the corn products business for over 40 years. In addition to the sweet pamonha, the most popular, there is also savory pamonha, curau, green corn juice and corn cake.
Due to Chagas disease, driver Miguel – with experience in taxis, buses and concrete mixer trucks – gave up driving and started working selling boiled corn in a square in Guarulhos. This was in the late 1970s.
Customers started asking for pamonha. Miguel decided to meet the public’s demand and took the opportunity to change his point of sale, swapping the cart in the square for a Kombi that traveled through neighborhoods in the East and North Zones of the city of São Paulo. And leaving the square and driving around looking for customers really worked. Miguel ended up having more than 20 vehicles circulating.
As he lived in Arujá, he named the business “Pamonhas Arujá”.
“Arujá was more interesting to use than Guarulhos, which was a city better known for its factories, and Arujá brought more of the spirit of the countryside, which was interesting considering a handmade product”
Henrique’s solo career maintains an important connection with the original business. He makes a point of using the recording that advertises the products made by Miguel.
‘We don’t sell cats in bags’
The engraving is, literally, the trademark of the family business. There have been cases where other vendors have appropriated it to sell their products, which could result in a lawsuit, warns Henrique. But he is open to negotiating some kind of partnership.
Residents of Pinheiros, Vila Madalena, Perdizes, Moema, Jardins, Vila Mariana, Moema, Campo Belo and the Congonhas Airport region are already familiar with the voice that announces “we don’t sell pigs in a poke”. This means that the products are not a scam.Come check it out! If not, the guy will leave and the kids will cry.“, is another characteristic audio catchphrase that, like good advertising, sticks in the consumer’s head.
According to Henrique, despite having been traveling through these neighborhoods since 2017, it was during the pandemic – with people at home – that the recording gained “fame”. The period was also “financially a bountiful period”, he says.
Pure corn juice yields R$30,000 per month per Jeep
Henrique says that each Jeep sells around R$30,000 per month. Daily sales vary between R$1,000 and R$2,000. “On rainy days, sales are lower,” he says. The drivers – trained to be pamonhas – work with a target of selling 100 pamonhas per day – which cost between R$10 and R$15, depending on the neighborhood and size – and earn a percentage of the sales.
The Jeeps run from Monday to Saturday, usually from 1pm or 3pm, until around 8pm. Each one in a pre-established region, or territory, as he says.
In the summer, Henrique expands this territory to the northern coast of São Paulo, extending to Paraty and Angra dos Reis, in Rio de Janeiro. He has already reached the internationally famous Copacabana. He also goes to Florianópolis, Curitiba, Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo (Vitória and Vila Velha).
In addition to the Jeeps, the products are also sold in a physical store in Guarulhos. During the pandemic, two other stores had to close, one in Ubatuba and another in the Pinheiros neighborhood.
Today he also accepts participation in events – he is a supplier for June parties and parties in condominiums.
Henrique’s strategic plan – which still has no set timetable – includes a possible expansion of points of sale, including convenience stores, where he should soon install corn juice machines. And, he says, if he finds an investor, the possibility of opening a franchise has not been ruled out. The idea is also to include an electric model in the Jeep fleet.
Henrique also wants to try selling in supermarkets again. In his previous experience, he offered the product in vacuum packaging, but according to him, this did not win over the public. “People miss the corn husk. It makes all the difference.” He makes a point of emphasizing that his products maintain their artisanal profile. The technique of packaging in husk, for example, can take three months to learn.
‘Pamonheira’ family
Six of Miguel’s nine children are in the corn business. In all, the family operates about 50 vehicles. His brothers each have about 3 or 4 cars. One of them drives a BMW. Another, a Tiggo.
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