Amidst COP30, in Belém, the lines that formed before a restaurant only a few meters away from the UN’s climate conference became a part of the scenario. Amazônia na Cuia, from Pará, has attracted delegations, tourists, and locals alike, becoming not only a window to local gastronomy but also as a business case study that helps to explain how COP30 stirred the local economy.

Founded in 2012 by Rafael Barros, the restaurant saw profits increase from R$4 million in October to a projected R$5 million in November, boosted by record inflows of tourists drawn by the climate conference.

Growth happened without price tuning, a decision that Barros deemed strategic to preserve the brand’s reputation.

“I was worried that tourists would feel like they were being exploited. So, we kept every price exactly as it is”, says the founder.

Barros, currently 35, has opened his first unit at only 5m², with one single employee and six plates being sold on the sidewalk. Before that, he had been through different occupations and enterprises, from football fields to professional Poker, and to a barber shop, to businesses that never took off.

It was after this cycle that he shaped the concept of Amazônia na Cuia, with the idea of uniting gastronomy, regional identity and tourist experience.

In Amazonian culture, the cuia, a type of bowl carved from the empty shell of a local fruit, the cuieira, has a central role. More than an utensil, it is a symbol of identity and tradition, reflecting the relationship of the local population with the rainforest. The cuia bridges generations and is present in daily life, cooking, art, and community rituals.

When sanitary restrictions closed off the town, operations migrated to the apartment where he lived with his wife. Instead of stopping, he spent almost a month cooking at home and delivering orders to couriers in the building’s entrance.

This improvisation changed the scale of his business. In the first month after reopening, profits reached R$ 50.000, almost twice the amount of the previous period.

From then on, the restaurant grew fast – first into a 20m², onward to a 144m² unit, the acquisition of a neighboring estate, and expansion until 240 seats were reached. Monthly profits surpassed R$1.6 million.

Today, his network operates a total of three units, which add up to over 2.000m² of built area, with 210 employees and services around 30 thousand people per month. This month, with the COP30, the projection rises to 50.000 clients.

The financial curve accompanies this jump: in 2024, Amazônia na Cuia made R$17 million; this year, projections lie at R$40 million. Over the last four years, the average annual expansion was 115%.

The business’s growth average surpasses projections for the restaurant and bar segment, wherein estimations are an increase of 6,9% in 2025, according to the Brasil Foodservice Institute (IFB), after 3,2% expansion in 2024.

The restaurant in COP30

The third unit, in Bairro do Marco, Belém, was explicitly planned with COP in mind. The R$4 million investment – made up by the owner’s own money and a bank loan, the first since the restaurant was founded – transformed the space into an operation with around 130 employees.

During COP30, Barros stationed translators in every unit, translated the menu into five different languages, and reinforced his teams with freelancers. Still, demand remained constant from noon to midnight.

According to the founder, the growth model is supported by three pillars: authenticity, patterning, and organizational culture. The proposal, he says, was always to take elements of Amazonian traditional cooking to dishes.

“The restaurant positions itself as an Amazon experience, with carefully built environments made by tourism specialists, artisans, historians, and architects, hand-painted cuias and even a deck with local living fish species. The operation is patterned and fast, structured like an assembly line to ensure agility. The team receives formal training, with an internal handbook, content exams, and servicing classes,” he says.

Now, the plan is to turn the restaurant into a national and international phenomenon. The goal is to open 10 more units by 2029, with São Paulo, Brasília, and Manaus on the radar, besides Lisboa as an initial bet abroad.

Barros dismisses franchises and plans to grow through societies with managers formed within the company itself, including their social participation.

The main challenge will be to structure the logistics needed to deliver Amazonian goods fresh to other regions. Today, the network consumes 1,5 tons of pirarucu, a native fish, every month, around 700kg of filhote, another local fish from Belém, and six tons of shrimp, all locally sourced.

“From December onwards, I plan to travel, to know a few regions better, talk to investors, and understand which are the most suitable places for an eventual expansion. We know that this choice is decisive for the business to succeed, and this will be one of the main criteria when deciding what the next steps may be”, affirms Barros.