Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Issue link: https://sct.epubxp.com/i/400168
Today the business sells some 28 mil- lion minidoughnuts annually through a network of 120 kiosks in Mexico, where Ju- lio Beleki plans to open 18 more this year. The concept will be going further afield, though, with units in two of Guatemala City's main malls: Centro Comercial Mira- flores and Portales. At press time the com- pany was poised to open kiosks in Costa Rica and negotiating a franchise sale to in- vestors in Colombia and El Salvador. Costa Rica will be getting about 15 kiosks over the next five years, and the goal in Colom- bia is for about 50 over that same period. Julio Beleki says he came up with the idea of selling doughnuts after seeing an industrial doughnut maker at a fair in Las Vegas and realizing that supermarket wo dECAdES AGo JuLio BELEki had no inkling what he was getting into when he devised a retail con- cept for a business-school project as an undergraduate at Mexico's Tecnológico de Monterrey. His proposal involved using kiosks to sell minidoughnuts fried to order. "when i finished the business-incuba- tor project, i realized it was a feasible idea," he said. Thus, in 1997, at age 20, he developed that school project into a full-scale business that he called Beleki. "i set it up while finishing my college degree." shoppers had few hot-snack options if any when leaving the stores. Encouraged by his parents, who are entrepreneurs too, with investments in real estate and electronic games, he decided to base the business on kiosks because he lacked the money to lease stores. His brother Carlos joined him in the venture, and together they knocked on doors of well- established retailers for months, until walmart México y Centroamérica of- fered the opportunity to set up a kiosk outside one of its stores in a suburb of Mexico City. "when we initially pre- sented the concept, the reaction was usu- ally: 'Yes, that's an interesting business concept, but who are you?' " said Julio Beleki. "it took five months to convince walmart to give me a chance." Franchising consultant Ramón Vinay is not surprised at Beleki's growth. T Top of the class Beleki turned a Business school concept into a Food kiosk chain By María Bird Picó r e T a i l i n g T o d a y 38 S C T / n o v e m B e r 2 0 1 4