Três Corações Alimentos

Três Corações Alimentos is the corporate name associated with Grupo 3corações, a Brazilian food company whose business grew from coffee roasting and distribution into a broad portfolio of food and beverage categories. The group’s present identity dates to a 2005 joint venture between São Miguel Holding, the owner of the Santa Clara business, and Strauss, which owned Café Três Corações. The partners each hold half of the venture. In 2010, the group adopted 3corações as its institutional brand and Três Corações Alimentos as its corporate name. Coffee remains central to the company’s offering. Its range includes roasted and ground coffee, soluble coffee and coffee-related products, marketed through several brands that have been built, acquired or incorporated into the group over time. The broader portfolio includes the TRES multi-beverage machine platform, cocoa-based drinks, powdered refreshments, corn-derived foods and seasonings. The group’s brand portfolio has included 3 Corações, Santa Clara, Café Iguaçu, Pimpinela, Kimimo, Itamaraty, Frisco, Tornado and Dona Clara, among others; its official website presents a wider collection of consumer-facing brands and products. The company has expanded through acquisitions and brand additions, extending its presence beyond its origins in northeastern Brazil and into other regions of the country. Its history includes the incorporation of businesses and brands such as Café Letícia, Frisco and Tornado, Itamaraty, and Cia. Iguaçu de Café Solúvel. The supplied company overview describes 3corações as having more than 30% of the Brazilian market and operating in Brazil and five other South American countries. It also identifies the group as Brazil’s largest company in the coffee sector, citing the Brazilian Coffee Industry Association. Grupo 3corações positions its offer around coffee quality, consumer trust and pleasurable everyday experiences. Its website emphasizes attention to coffee quality from cultivation through production and the blending of products for the tastes of different regions. In addition to its consumer business, the company has participated in high-profile events: in 2016, it reached an agreement to supply coffee under the 3 Corações brand to the Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games. The available evidence identifies the group as active, but does not specify its headquarters, current executives or a more detailed present-day ownership structure beyond the equal joint venture.

The company’s history brings together two coffee businesses that developed separately in Brazil. The Santa Clara line began in 1959, when João Alves de Lima, known as João Rufino, started selling green coffee in São Miguel, Rio Grande do Norte. In 1961, he acquired a mill and began roasting and grinding coffee, initially selling it under the name Nossa Senhora de Fátima. As the business grew, it sourced green coffee directly from coffee-growing regions. In 1973, João Rufino became a founding member of the Associação Brasileira da Indústria do Café (ABIC). In 1984, João Rufino handed control to his sons Pedro, Paulo and Vincente Lima, who formed JAL — João Alves de Lima Ltda. to market Nossa Senhora de Fátima coffee. The product was renamed Santa Clara in 1985. The company expanded distribution in Rio Grande do Norte, established a factory in Eusébio, Ceará, in 1989, and created Santa Clara Indústria e Comércio de Alimentos. Its corn-products business developed with the installation of the Moinho Santa Clara in Mossoró in 1993, associated with the Dona Clara brand. The company adopted Grupo Santa Clara as its institutional brand in 1995 and took control of the Kimimo coffee brand in 1996. São Miguel Holding e Investimentos was formed in 1999 to manage the Lima family’s businesses. The company added the Rio de Janeiro coffee brand Pimpinela in 2003, expanding its reach into southeastern Brazil. The other predecessor, Café Três Corações, was established in 1970 in Santa Luzia, in the metropolitan area of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. Its founders were Mauro Alves, Jan Sérgio de Oliveira and Pedro Basílio. It began as a small coffee roaster and distributor. After facing financial difficulties in the early 1980s, the company was sold to coffee grower Aprígio Tavares and underwent restructuring. In 2000, the Israeli Strauss-Elite group acquired the company that owned the 3 Corações coffee brand. In December 2005, São Miguel and Strauss-Elite announced a joint venture, Santa Clara Participações e Empreendimentos, bringing the 3 Corações coffee and cappuccino brands into the Santa Clara group. Each partner held 50%. The combined business continued to expand: in 2009 it acquired Café Letícia and bought the powdered-refreshment brands Frisco and Tornado from Unilever. In 2010, the group adopted 3corações as its institutional brand and Três Corações Alimentos as its corporate name. The acquisition-led expansion continued with the announcement in 2014 of the acquisition of the Itamaraty coffee and cappuccino brand. In 2016, the group acquired Cia. Iguaçu de Café Solúvel, owner of the Iguaçu, Cruzeiro and Amigo brands, and agreed to supply coffee under the 3 Corações brand to the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The resulting group operates across coffee, multi-beverage machines, corn products, seasonings, chocolate drinks and powdered refreshments. Its portfolio has included numerous regional and national coffee brands alongside products such as TRES machines, Dona Clara foods, and Frisco and Tornado refreshments. The official website describes the group as operating in Brazil and five other South American countries and presents coffee quality and consumer experience as central to its identity.

• 2016

  Cia. Iguaçu acquisition and Rio Games supply agreement

• 2014

  Itamaraty acquisition announced

• 2010

  Group rebrands as 3corações

• 2009

  Acquisitions extend the portfolio

• 2005

  São Miguel and Strauss-Elite establish a joint venture

• 2000

  Strauss-Elite acquires the company behind 3 Corações

• 1996

  Santa Clara takes control of Kimimo coffee brand

• 1995

  Grupo Santa Clara adopted as institutional brand

• 1993

  Corn-products business develops

• 1989

  Factory and food company established in Ceará

• 1985

  Nossa Senhora de Fátima renamed Santa Clara

• 1984

  Management passes to the Lima family’s next generation

• 1973

  João Rufino becomes an ABIC founding member

• 1970

  Café Três Corações founded

• 1961

  Coffee roasting and grinding begin

• 1959

  Santa Clara predecessor begins selling green coffee

A broad Brazilian food and beverage group with coffee at its core, emphasizing coffee quality, consumer familiarity and products for different regional tastes.

• 3 Corações

  Core coffee brand, also associated with the group’s Rio 2016 Games coffee-supply agreement.

• TRES

  Multi-beverage machine platform.

• Santa Clara

  Coffee brand originating in the predecessor business.

• Café Iguaçu

  Coffee brand in the group portfolio following the acquisition of Cia. Iguaçu de Café Solúvel.

• Dona Clara

  Brand associated with corn-derived products.

• Frisco and Tornado

  Powdered-refreshment brands acquired from Unilever in 2009.

• Chocolate drinks, seasonings and corn products

  Additional product categories identified in the supplied company overview.

• 2016Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games coffee supply

• 2010

  Adoption of 3corações institutional brand and corporate nameOther

1. 1Home - Grupo 3corações3coracoes.com.br
2. 2Três Corações (empresa)pt.wikipedia.org
3. 3Três Corações Alimentoswikidata.org