Portuguese 
Spanish 
A discovery made while reading a label led Mariana Basaure to switch from nursing to artisanal chocolate, improvise equipment at home, and transform Majucau into a brand recognized for working with Brazilian cocoa, awards, and presence in markets across the country.
Nursing technician Mariana Basaure turned a doubt about the composition of a common chocolate bar into an award-winning Brazilian brand, created in São Paulo alongside her husband, Paulo Junior.
From production started at home, Majucau began selling chocolates in physical stores, e-commerce, and corporate channels, in a journey marked by study, improvisation, and appreciation of Brazilian cocoa.
The turning point began in 2018, when Mariana observed the label of a popular chocolate and found it strange that cocoa was low on the list of ingredients, which led her to research ways to produce with more control over the raw material.
-
How Recycling is Becoming a Billion-Dollar Industry and Boosting the Circular Economy in Brazil
-
Brazil’s Federal Revenue Auction: iPhone 13 for $95, PlayStation 4 for $80, and Volkswagen Jetta for $2,600 Among 232 Lots Available
-
Tech Giant Oracle Lays Off 21,000 Employees and Invests $70 Billion in Artificial Intelligence
-
Chilean Giant Acquires St. Marche, Expanding from Discount to Premium Supermarkets in São Paulo’s High-End Retail Market
According to the Sebrae News Agency, that realization brought the then nursing technician closer to the bean to bar model, in which the manufacturer oversees the process from the purchase of the beans to the final bar.
“When I saw that list of ingredients, I stopped eating a food I liked exactly because of what was in it,” Mariana told Sebrae Agency, explaining the discomfort that gave rise to the business.
From this discovery, the couple began to study the world of artisanal chocolate and sought to understand how to transform cocoa into a final product without relying on ready-made bases or common industry processes.
Bean to bar chocolate was born in the living room
Before reaching the shelves, Majucau was born far from a structured factory, with Mariana and Junior using their living room in São Paulo as a testing space for recipes, roasting, grinding, texture, and flavor.
Without proper machines at the beginning, the couple resorted to improvised solutions to advance in the production stages, combining research, practical attempts, and simple adaptations to handle cocoa processing.
Among the examples cited by the Sebrae Agency is the assembly of a cocoa shell separator made with PVC pipes and a vacuum cleaner, used before purchasing more appropriate equipment.
The business’s progress also required significant financial decisions, as Junior sold the car to buy small machines and allow production to continue, still in a phase marked by testing and learning.
After approximately a year of attempts, Mariana and Junior reached, in 2019, a chocolate that pleased their own palate and decided to enter the product in a competition.
The first recognition came at this initial stage and gave the couple more confidence to continue investing in the brand, which was still seeking to consolidate processes, expand technical knowledge, and organize artisanal production.
Formalization boosted Majucau
With the growth of orders and the need to better structure the operation, Mariana and Junior formalized the business as individual micro-entrepreneurs in 2019, according to information released by the Sebrae Agency.
The change to a microenterprise occurred in 2021 and accompanied a new phase of Majucau, now more organized, with expanding production and greater attention to administrative and operational routines.
Mariana stated that the period as an MEI helped the couple gain time to prepare the company, study management, and better understand the demands of a growing food business.
In addition to formalization, consultancies contributed to the advancement of internal controls and changes in the physical structure, in a process that led the company to move from an area of 40 square meters to another of 120 square meters.
This expansion marked a stage of professionalization for Majucau, without breaking with the artisanal approach that had guided the brand since homemade production and the first tests with cocoa.
Award-winning chocolate reaches markets in Brazil
In 2024, the Sebrae Agency recorded that Majucau had six employees, accumulated awards, and presence on physical and virtual shelves, as well as operations outside the state of São Paulo.
At that time, the brand had already reached Rio de Janeiro, Acre, and Rio Grande do Sul, expanding the reach of a business that started in a domestic environment and began to compete in the special chocolate market.
In February 2026, a report from Diário do Comércio informed that the company was present in more than 130 points of sale throughout Brazil, in addition to operating with e-commerce, corporate sales, and commercial partnerships.
The publication also recorded Majucau’s participation in the Brasil Mais Produtivo program, an initiative that helped the brand review internal stages and improve production organization.
According to Diário do Comércio, the support received through the program increased the brand’s productivity and stock by 50%, with simple adjustments identified from measuring the production stages.
Mariana stated that the experience allowed them to identify bottlenecks, save time, and improve the operation, at a stage where the company sought to serve more points of sale without losing control over the artisanal process.
Brazilian cocoa guides artisanal production
In addition to commercial expansion, Majucau began to explore ingredients associated with Brazilian biodiversity, such as cupuaçu, baru, cumaru, and passion fruit, mentioned by Mariana in an interview with Diário do Comércio.
In the model adopted by the brand, the chocolate is not made from ready-made bars just melted and reshaped, as the process starts with the cocoa bean and involves choices about supplier, origin, formulation, and finishing.
This form of production differentiates Majucau’s proposal from conventional large-scale products by bringing the brand closer to a chain that values fine Brazilian cocoa and the control of each stage.
Mariana also linked the company’s work to concern for suppliers, stating to Agência Sebrae that bean to bar requires care to verify the origin of the product and avoid links to labor exploitation or deforestation.
Majucau’s trajectory combines professional change, family entrepreneurship, self-investment, and gradual expansion, with a simple starting point: reading a label that led Mariana to question what was inside a common chocolate bar.
