Tartuferia San Paolo, in Jardim Paulista, decided to accept an unusual form of payment: decentralized bitcoin cryptocurrency
By Mariana Fonseca & #8211; Exam
São Paulo - Those who are looking at risky investments know that for a while there is only one option: buy bitcoins.
No wonder: since the beginning of the year, the price of virtual currency has quadrupled and reached its historical record, trading at $ 4,320. In Brazil, its value reaches 14,000 reais per currency.
Some of the attractions of the currency for investors, in addition to profitability, are transaction encryption, which gives more security in the transfer of values, and the decentralized control that governs it. Bitcoin is not administered by any country or banking system; Payments can be made by anyone anywhere in the world quickly and without intermediaries.
But will the bitcoin wave spread beyond risky investors? We will see decentralized cryptocurrency being used as a payment method in the retail common, as you pay something by ticket or pass a credit card?
Some ventures bet on this future. This is the case of Tartuferia San Paolo: the restaurant, located in Alameda Lorena (São Paulo), recently decided to accept bitcoin as another way to pay the bill.
The Tartuferia
The idea of Tartuferia was born in 2001, when serial entrepreneur Lalo Zanini wanted to set up a business as innovative as his previous one: the popularization of absinthe drink in Brazil. In addition to owning about 50 homes throughout Brazil and abroad, Lalo provides consulting for small businesses and startups who want to set up gastronomic projects.
That year came the idea of taking one of the most expensive ingredients in the world - the Italian truffle - and putting it on all the plates of an affordable restaurant. "I wanted to take that thing of eating truffle in a dish of 500, 600 reais," says the entrepreneur.
Zanini did a lot of research and then visited Italy to see the process and understand what made the end product more expensive. About five years later, the Tartuferia San Paolo project was formatted. The restaurant was launched three years ago.
“It has been over twelve years of research, therefore. It is the first truffle house in the world with a Brazilian reading and very affordable price ”, defends the entrepreneur. The average ticket is between 96 and 112 reais per person.
To reach the restaurant table, the truffle is hunted by dogs trained in the fields of Italy, from where it embarks to Brazil in record time, to ensure its freshness at the time of serving.
“I understood that the restaurant market in Brazil was still very green, and almost everything you put on can become fashionable. Already on the first day, we already filled up, ”says Zanini.
The restaurant's movement was consolidated when the entrepreneur placed in Tartuferia the possibility of paying the bill in three installments without interest on the credit card. Sales rose 30% with the news.
Today, Tartuferia San Paolo has seven units in operation and expects to grow 65% this year compared to last year. The plan is to open another ten houses next year, expanding with both its own units and at least franchise system.
