Today we’d like to introduce you to Horacio Gabriel.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Hocca was inaugurated on 07/04/1952 in São Paulo – Brazil, inside the Municipal Market of the city known internationally as a great food and culture center. I always say: “You want to know a town or city, then know your market first”.
As the first restaurant within this Mercadao, as it is known, our history began with our founders Horácio Gabriel and his wife Maria de Deus Ferreira Gabriel, both Portuguese immigrants. With a lot of dedication, care, quality and entrepreneurship, they began to show themselves ahead of their time and make the Hocca brand synonymous with quality, tradition and innovation. Creators of Pastel de Bacalhau and Sanduiche de Mortadela became pioneers for the Mercadao to be today a tourist spot in the city and Hocca a tourist spot within a tourist spot. The Hocca made the Mercadão known worldwide.
Our founder won the José de Anchieta medal, the state’s highest award for a civilian, for making the mortadella sandwich and the shrimp pastry icons of tourist attractions in the city. They say that going to São Paulo and not eating at Hocca is the same as going to Rome and not seeing the Pope. The second generation led by the couple’s eldest son, Engineer Ângelo Norberto Ferreira Gabriel, continued to manage the company, raising it to a professional level in a short time and the couple’s second son, Lawyer and Chef Horácio Gabriel transformed the menu, keeping the traditional and like many constant innovations, marketing and service. All this is a lot of work and dedication made and makes the brand Hocca today with 69 years of age to grow into large malls in São Paulo and to be invited by the American group Simon to open a unit in Orlando at Florida mall to be a Brazilian tourist spot here in Orlando for all peoples and especially the American people.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Calm never and always resilient. With work, dedication, peculiar service and a lot of innovation, we are always adopting human evolution in order to serve. The challenge of being in another country and culture required a technical study of the location and habits to serve our new customers with our standard. Bring inputs for our products to be the same as served in Brazil and train our employees at Hocca in Brazil so they understand and do the same things in the United States.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
My name is Chef Horácio Gabriel. I’m 46 years old and graduated in law and gastronomy. I’ve been working since I was eight years old at Hocca with my father, the founder and I learned how to cook with my mother, who was also a Chef. I’m responsible for the Hocca brand to have differentiated growth in the gastronomic field, and Hocca in Brazil reaches around eight thousand people per day from the menu and the brand’s tradition.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
Daily learning and my father and brother were and are my mentors and always study and improve.
Contact Info:
- Email: gabriel@hocca.com.br
- Website: Hoccaorlando.net
- Instagram: @hoccaorlando
- Facebook: hoccaorlando
- Yelp: Hoccaorlando
