Lisbon, June 9, 2025 (Lusa) - The managing director of the Portugália Restauração Group said in an interview with Lusa that he expects to exceed €50 million in turnover in 2026, adding that the refurbished breweries are growing "by more than 15%".

The Portugália brewery celebrates its 100th anniversary on 10 June, and the stores have undergone a rebranding, an investment whose amount José Carvalho Martins did not detail. Still, he said that the group has a plan to expand to 25 stores by 2030.

When asked about turnover, the manager began by saying that at "cruising speed" he would like to reach "close to €50 million". This target is close, because last year, he said, "with all the refurbishments", they reached "around €45 million".

"This year we expect to get very close to 50 [million], we still have many interruptions this year [due to the refurbishment of the stores], but we also expect to get very close to 50 and next year, with all the stores open (...) we will pass that mark," admits the general manager.

Business in 2024 went well, he adds, despite the closure of many Portugália restaurants for refurbishment.

"What we are seeing is that since we opened the stores, customer receptivity has been spectacular," he continues, adding that this year, "they are growing above 15%."

Therefore, "there is really enormous receptivity to what we are doing in terms of rebranding, and we hope that this effect will continue throughout this year for the stores that have already been refurbished" and that it will symbolise "the beginning of a new era," emphasises José Carvalho Martins.

As for the expansion strategy defined in 2024, he says: "We are not paranoid about this plan, in the sense that if it doesn't make sense, if it makes sense to open more or if it makes sense to open less, we always look at that."

"The idea is to continue investing in the Portugália brand, as well as in the Brasserie brand, and to this end, we plan to hire 500 people over the next five years," he adds, acknowledging the difficulty in recruiting staff for the restaurant business.

Regarding investment in new openings, the managing director stated that the group has not committed to a specific amount in advance.

"It's an amount that we will release, so to speak, as we find spaces that make sense and, thank God, we are in a position where we can invest (...) when opportunities arise," he said.

The refurbishment of all stores is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

"It's a significant investment, several million to ensure that customers feel valued and feel that we have changed what we need to change, without changing what we really can't change," he says, assuming that the amount is in the single digits.

José Carvalho Martins acknowledges the difficulty in hiring staff. "I don't like to be the defeated and defeatist who sings the same song that everyone else sings," but "it's difficult, fewer and fewer people want to work in catering, it's a challenging, demanding profession, but the truth is that just as we look at all challenges with a problem-solving mindset, we have to look at this one too."

For the manager, it is necessary to "create conditions for people to feel more comfortable," improving processes so that work is more focused on the customer than on administrative issues.

"That's what we've been trying to do. We've been investing in technology and creating an environment where people can do what they want to do in the restaurant business, which is to have direct contact with customers and pass on that satisfaction to them. That's what we've been trying to do," he says, emphasising that the group has been investing in training.

"Twenty years ago, almost 100% of our employees were Portuguese, but today more than 50% of our workforce is foreign," which is a source of "pride in our ability to adapt" and "in being a brand that is considered by people of various nationalities as a place to work and to consume," he points out.

Meanwhile, the group has opened its first Manteigaria in Spain, two in Paris and one in Macau, where they already had a Portugália.

"Although Portuguese is not spoken on the street, Portugal is viewed very favourably in Macau and, therefore, [the business] is doing very well, people have a nostalgic feeling towards Portugália in Macau," he says.

As for his ambitions as manager of the Portugália breweries, José Carvalho Martins says he would like "people to feel that - without this changing to the point where they question whether this is still the same Portugália - people understand that this is, in some ways, a new Portugália".

In other words, "a Portugália that wants to serve increasingly better and fresher products, that wants, while hiring difficulties, to serve its customers better and better, and I would really like that to happen in terms of quality," admits the manager.

"Everything that is quantitative and all the results that come from that are simply a symptom that we are doing our job well, and that is our ambition," concludes the general manager.

ALU/ADB // ADB.

Lusa