The famous Catupiry cream cheese was created by Italian immigrants Mário and Isaíra Silvestrini. It was in 1911, in the municipality of lambariOn Minas Gerais.
The story goes that Mário Silvestrini arrived in Brazil in 1896, at the age of 12, coming from Italy via Genoa. In 1911, he was already living in the small town of hydromineral resort of Lambari, in the state of Minas Gerais.
It is worth remembering that at the beginning of the century the municipality, which today is called Lambari and has little more than 20 thousand inhabitants, was called Virtuous Waters, or simply Aguinhas.
In Lambari, or Aguinhas, the immigrant Mario Silvestrini was married to Isaíra Silvestrini and the two decided to start a small artisan cream cheeses.
Tradition from the packaging
The curds were produced according to family recipe, almost by hand. Once ready, each curd was wrapped in cellophane paper and carefully placed in small handmade boxes.
Over the years, these round packaging, made with thin sheets of wood and with labels in the colors red, blue and white, became true objects of desire for collectors.
In 1922, when it was already industrialized in the city of St. Lawrence, cottage cheese Catupiry® won his first prize. The product received the gold medal in Rio de Janeiro International Food Exhibition.
In August 1936, the Catupiry® brand was registered under number 47449. The name catupiry, in Tupi Guarani, Means Excellent. It was this excellence that the couple Italian immigrants wanted to provide all consumers with its product.
Versatility makes catupiry a passion
Initially designed to be consumed pure or with bread, toast and desserts, the product ended up becoming indispensable in countless recipes, as it is versatile and has a low acidity content.
Very quickly, Catupiry began to be used in pastas, fish, birds and awakened the creativity of Brazilian housewives and chefs. Today there is an infinite number of cooking recipes, sweet and savory, which use the product as an ingredient.
The industrialization of cream cheese, which had begun in São Lourenço, Minas Gerais, began to be carried out in São Paulo only in 1949. This change to the great industrial center of the country definitely boosted business.
In 1973, Catupiry® gained prominence as Brazil's cottage cheese in the international cheese dictionary, Cheeses, edited by Les Editions Larousse.
Strategy originates catupiry pizza
Also in decade 70, to escape the Financial crisis, the company invested in publicity, developing bold partnerships with pizzerias. The person responsible for this was Armando Alba, employee of the company's sales department. He offered Catupiry, initially for free, to the Livorno pizzeria, on Avenida Ibirapuera, in São Paulo.
When invading the Italian tradition In Brazil, the strategy gave rise to the Catupiry Pizza, third most consumed by Brazilians. Product consumption exploded. Many restaurants and pizzerias started to use similar products and display the Catupiry brand on their menus, which became synonym for cream cheese.
In the following decades, the company launched innovations, such as cup cottage cheese, in 1985, and the buckets and tubes sold to pizzerias and other commercial establishments in 1990.
The first store Catupiry® Delights was opened in 2002, in the same property as the brand's former factory in São Paulo, in Bom Retiro. The objective was to offer savory snacks, pastas and sweets, as well as different dishes at lunch, everything made with Catupiry® products.
Emporium brings line with 200 products
In 2018, upon completing 107 years, the company reopened its first own store with a new proposal and a new name: Catupiry Emporium.
In addition to cream cheese, the space has a line of frozen products, launched in 2017, including cheese bread, tartlets, mini kibbeh, mini coxinha e q, between others. In total, the brand's portfolio includes 200 products.
Catupiry produces curds and cheeses in four dairy products. There are two in the São Paulo municipalities of drinking fountain e Santa Fe do Sul, and the others in Doverlândia (GO) e Santa Vitória (MG). Today, the company is in the hands of six families who are Silvestrini heirs.
Simplicity, tradition and success
Estimated revenue is R$600 million per year, the company has 650 employees and is present in five countries, including the United States, Canada and Japan.
It's a story that began at the resort of Aguinhas, today Lambari, in Minas Gerais, where the Italians Mário and Isaíra decided to produce their cream cheese following family recipe. Today the treat is on the table millions of Brazilian families.
A story that has no time to end. And he has the face of workforce of immigrants Italians in Brazil.
By Roberto Schiavon/Italianismo
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