They say everything ends in pizza. And a hamburger project, where does it start? In the case of Severo Burger, the idea came up when friends Hélio Pacheco and Geraldo Nunes played football.
During this debate in Porto Alegre, they started to entertain the idea of setting up a hamburger restaurant. Football days – which were generally Tuesdays – for his group of friends always ended with a barbecue or a nice snack. The person preparing the banquet was Grêmio member Hélio, who already liked cooking.
Graduated in Law, he pursued his dream of being a judge or labor attorney. However, the sea of competitions was not very fishy. “Over the course of three years, I advanced through the selection stages, but couldn’t get a place”, he recalls. “I was already tired.”
After a failed attempt in a competition he took in São Paulo, Hélio saw an interview on TV with the owner of a burger restaurant in São Paulo that had started in a garage measuring just 18 square meters.
He decided to get in touch with that entrepreneur through Facebook. After that, they had a coffee together in São Leopoldo when the businessman visited the city on work.
With the tips received, the lawyer from Rio Grande do Sul decided to go into the gastronomy industry and test his culinary skills at events.
Table for the new company
Radio broadcaster Alexandre Fetter was also part of this football group. He was the one who suggested that Hélio take his recipes to a big music festival in Porto Alegre. The challenge was accepted.
“In two days, we sold 5,200 burgers”, says the entrepreneur, who on the occasion was helped in the kitchen by ten other professionals.
The promising start encouraged Hélio, who called on another football friend to invest in this field. It was Geraldo Nunes, a doctor in management who was selling his company and looking for new opportunities.
Together, Hélio and Geraldo founded Severo Burger in 2015 with another partner, Guilherme Dias. But today society is very different, as Guilherme left the company and, during the pandemic, Geraldo could not resist Covid-19. Since then, his two sons have taken his place at the helm of the company.
Currently, the other partner is Alexandre Fetter, who joined the company after opening the brand's franchise model, called Severo Garage.
At this point, you may already be asking yourself: and why Severus?
“A lot of people think it’s someone’s surname,” says Hélio. "But not. When we went to research names to name the burger restaurant, everyone we considered was already registered”, he recalls.
“My wife, Mariana, came up with the idea for Severo, as it is an adjective that conveys the idea of strength, of truthfulness, which comes from the Italian 'vero'”, he states. “It’s all about the brand’s values.”
Escalation with delivery
Creativity is also in the name of the snacks served. “We decided to combine two passions of Brazilians, cars and snacks, when naming our burgers”, explains Hélio.
So, make way for the classic Opalão, which, in addition to bread, meat and sauce, includes bacon, cheddar cheese and caramelized onion.
Or the Dojão, very well equipped with bacon jam, crispy onions and gorgonzola cheese. “We have even hosted meetings for vintage car collectors”, says the partner and founder.
In the first year, Severo operated only with sales in salons. The partners decided to test delivery as a way to top up their budget when the kitchen was idle.
The result was much better than expected. “We literally doubled our revenue from deliveries,” says Hélio.
Currently, 60% of Severo's revenue comes from the salon, and 40%, from delivery. There are 20 physical units in total, 18 of which are franchised, in the states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. “Before the pandemic, the proportions were 80% from salons and 20% from deliveries”, he says.
The brand's advancement, he emphasizes, is largely due to the partnership with iFood and platform tips to boost sales. “We already have units where revenue is divided into 70% for delivery and 30% for the salon”, says Hélio.
Even the choices of locations for physical units have been directly influenced by iFood technology. “The company maps hot spots for the business and we prioritize these locations to open new stores,” he states.
Burger with sustainable packaging
Three years ago, Severo started using hamburger and portion packaging made from paper to replace plastic ones. The boxes, bags and straws, in addition to the paper that wraps the snack, are biodegradable.
“The only component of the delivery that is still made of plastic is the cup for the sauces, but this year we should replace it with a paper one”, highlights Hélio. “In this aspect, we don’t just consider costs, we think about the collective. I have two young children and I want to leave a better world for them.”
