Meet Alberto Saraiva, from Habib’s, and his infallible idea of creating a “decoy” product.

Today you will get to know the balcony of Alberto Saraiva, apparently a mere Portuguese-Brazilian citizen who was orphaned at a young age and had to take over the leadership of the family business.

But what is your differential?

Well, when thinking about pursuing a career in medicine, he considered offering free services to the neediest population, which makes one of its main pillars evident: profit is the consequence of serving well.

In other words, this means meeting customer needs with quality and an excellent product at an affordable price.

With this and other tactics, Alberto Saraiva created the fast-food chains Habib’s (the largest in the world in Arab food) and Ragazzo, still today in charge of Arabian Bread, Icelips, Promilat and Vox Line.

Alberto Saraiva’s story

Born in Portugal 66 years ago, Alberto Saraiva arrived in Brazil at less than 1 year old.

His family settled in Paraná and later in São Paulo in order to invest in Alberto’s education.

And the interesting thing is that the boy’s deep-seated persistence was already showing clear signs, as he tried to take the entrance exam for three years until he got a place at a reputable institution.

But a tragedy marked the change in direction.

Alberto’s father was murdered during a robbery at his bakery in the Brás neighborhood.

The entrepreneur then did not think twice: he left the course and took responsibility for the business.

Too bad the difficulties were not delayed, as there was a lot of competition and baker turnover.

But for the young man “impossible” was a distant word and he literally “got his hands dirty” when learning to make bread.

Until an idea leveraged the company.

With the sale of bread 30% cheaper, the bakery outperformed competitors by selling and reselling.

And that was when Alberto’s life-guiding phrase took on meaning “Don’t give up, you need to walk.”

What was Alberto Saraiva’s big catch, anyway?

Shall we understand Alberto Saraiva’s idea?

1 — He became the best at what he did

The strategic vision for the business made Alberto Saraiva sell the bakery and set up Casa do Pastel, with products again priced below the competition.

It was an absolute success and caught the attention of brokers who were quick to buy it.

Alberto then became an expert in opening culinary businesses that generated profits to be later sold.

What does that mean?

That like him you also need to be the best in your market to gain space and win customers.

What is your differential that offers a lot of value to people?

2 — Always maintained the quality of the products

Another important motto for Alberto Saraiva was the quality of the products.

To give you an idea, he watched the new owners of his old businesses stop using the best ingredients, leading to loss of quality and, as a consequence, bankruptcy.

Therefore, pay special attention to the quality of your products or services.

This will make your brand desired by the consumer and known in the market.

3 — Alberto Saraiva bet on esfiha as the decoy product

Alberto Saraiva’s sfiha cost cents.

Yes, cents!

And it attracts customers in the brand’s own communication, which showed the zero before the comma, an infallible strategy for those who are still considered their decoy product.

But what is this?

Basically it is a very cheap item that makes the customer go to the store and consume others of greater value. That simple!

Therefore, esfiha attracts customers to the establishment who end up trying other dishes that cost more than it does.

That’s how he bills.

And you, have you ever thought about having a decoy product or service?

This can be a very interesting alternative to attract customers’ attention to your business!

Alberto Saraiva and his decoy product is what most leads us to reflect on this story of persistence and success!

How about following the same strategy?