Retail Refugees

You may or may not know that when people refer to Brazil as a melting pot of culture and ethnic groups, they are not talking exclusively about indigenous and European cultures. Brazil, oddly enough, is home to the largest Japanese population outside of Japan with over 1.5 million citizens! It is no surprise that the Japanese culture has influenced Brazil (especially Sao Paulo and the state of Paraná) in many ways.

The influence on the food is perhaps the most prevelant, however, when visiting the cities of Brazil. One need look no further than the latest chain of popular restaurants, Koni. According the New York Times, the Koni shops are “a chain of tiny sushi shops that glow like radioactive salmon” in the night throughout Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.

According to the paper, “the city’s university students and 20-somethings flock there after-hours for temaki sushi, what we would call hand rolls and what they have taken to calling “cones,” and have elevated it to a post-clubbing snack on a par with pizza. By early 2008, there were a dozen Koni Stores, all extraordinarily orange and most open late on weekend nights. Limited seating makes them good places to hang out and be seen, but not for too long. One of the 20-something founders, Michel Jager, noted that the bright color scheme was chosen not just for its salmon hue but to induce quick customer turnover.

The cones, pronounced KO-nees, like the stores, are available in about 20 varieties, from the simple tuna (7.50 Brazilian reais, or about $3.40 at 2.25 reais to $1) to the tempura shrimp and the krips, made with salmon, crunchy wasabi peas and crispy fried leeks, each 9 reais. And they come with a pedigree: the menu was created by the Japanese-Brazilian chef Nao Hara, whose restaurant, Shin Miura, is consistently rated one of the city’s best. In March of this year, Grupo Umbria — a Brazilian restaurant conglomerate — snapped up the young company and began to expand nationwide.”

This is the evolution of a great idea combining fresh and healthy food and the suitable retail concept. On any given night the Koni stores are jam packed with people, says a friend living in Rio. I would love to see this concept grow to the USA and Europe. The key is maintaining the price level while not sacrificing freshness, quality, or convenience.