Portuguese 
Bruna Fernanda de Jesus Silva developed the recipe in 2019 and included it in the fixed menu in 2020. When the love strawberry went viral in July 2025, Brigaderia Chic from Araucária had to halt deliveries after selling 870 units in a single day.
Bruna Fernanda de Jesus Silva, 31, started selling sweets door-to-door 14 years ago, and in 2019 developed her version of the love strawberry. The product was added to the menu at Brigaderia Chic in Araucária, Paraná, the following year, but gained another dimension when it went viral on social media in July 2025.
Production, previously between 150 and 300 units per week, surged to an average of 350 to 400 per day. On July 24, 2025, a Thursday, the pastry shop sold 870 love strawberries and had to suspend deliveries by late afternoon. Since the 19th of that month, Bruna had earned approximately R$ 70,000 just from the dessert.
Bruna Started Selling Sweets Door-to-Door 14 Years Ago
Before running a pastry shop in Araucária, Bruna sold sweets door-to-door. She told Folha de S.Paulo in a report published by A Gazeta that she noticed from the beginning a different acceptance from the public for products made with strawberries.
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This observation was important for the path she would take years later. In 2019, Bruna developed the love strawberry, a dessert made with the fruit wrapped in white brigadeiro and sugar syrup. The following year, the recipe became part of Brigaderia Chic’s fixed menu.
The sweet already had a constant presence in the business before it became a social media phenomenon. Therefore, when demand skyrocketed in July 2025, the pastry shop did not start from scratch, but it had to quickly adapt a production that had previously functioned on a much smaller scale.
Production Jumped from 300 Units a Week to 400 a Day
Before the viral trend, Brigaderia Chic sold between 150 and 300 units per week. After the love strawberry exploded on social media, the average increased to 350 to 400 daily units, multiplying the volume that needed to be prepared, packaged, and delivered.
The change was not merely numerical. Weekly production began to be surpassed in just one day, demanding more organization from the kitchen and attention to ingredient supply. Fresh strawberries, white brigadeiro, and sugar syrup became staples in a high-demand routine.
Bruna stated that the business generated R$ 70,000 (about US$13,200) in sales from the dessert since July 19. The result shows how a product already known to pastry consumers began to concentrate a large part of the demand after gaining visibility on TikTok and other social media.
Record of 870 Units Forced Bakery to Suspend Deliveries
The peak of demand occurred on Thursday, July 24, 2025. On that day, Brigaderia Chic sold 870 love strawberries, setting a record for sales at the bakery.
The volume was so high that deliveries had to be suspended in the late afternoon. The decision illustrates a practical consequence of the product going viral: it wasn’t enough to produce more sweets. It was necessary to organize orders, packaging, stock, and logistics to serve a much larger number of consumers in just a few hours.
The high demand made visible a common limit faced by small food businesses. Even with a product trending on social media, the ability to produce and deliver depends on the team, kitchen, raw materials, and available time. In Bruna’s case, the demand surged faster than the bakery’s usual routine.
Fever Energized Small Kitchens and Chains with 400 Stores
The trend did not reach only Brigaderia Chic. Small pastry shops in different cities began to include love strawberries in their menus due to customer requests after seeing the product on social media.
In São Paulo, for example, pastry chef Neliane Carvalho dos Santos Santiago reported increasing her daily production from 20 to 130-150 units. In São Bernardo do Campo, Regiane Caruto sold over a thousand strawberries in five days, earning approximately R$ 20,000 (about US$3,600) just from the dessert.
The trend also reached large chains. Sodiê Doces, a franchise with around 400 stores in Brazil and two in the United States, launched the product and reported selling 8,000 units on the first day. Amor aos Pedaços also saw long lines of customers interested in the sweet treat.
The presence of small kitchens and national chains in the same trend revealed how social media circulation reached the entire pastry supply chain. The seemingly simple recipe began to affect the production of artisanal businesses, delivery services, and even the availability of the fruit.
Strawberry Box Price Rose from R$ 20 to R$ 50
As demand increased, strawberry prices also climbed. According to a vendor from Ceagesp interviewed for this report, a box containing four containers of strawberries, which typically cost R$ 20 during that time of year, reached R$ 50 (about US$9).
The price increase was not solely attributed to the love strawberry craze. In June 2025, strawberries had already risen by 8.2% in that month’s IPCA index and 39.89% over the year. Experts explained that supply also varies according to harvest schedules and producing regions.
Luiz Eduardo Antunes, a researcher at Embrapa, stated that the peak strawberry harvest usually occurs in August and September in the Southeast and in October and November in the South. Therefore, in July, the harvest had not yet reached its peak availability, which helps explain the pressure on prices.
For bakeries, the trend brought both increased revenue and higher raw material costs. The challenge became maintaining the production of a viral sweet while keeping an eye on ingredient costs and the potential for rapid changes in public interest.
Pastry Chefs Began Preparing Alternatives for When the Craze Passes
The explosion in sales opened up space for new versions. Some pastry chefs started testing different versions such as love grapes, love lemons, and love oranges, along with variations using chocolate brigadeiro or different filling flavors.
Bruna was already selling love strawberries, while other entrepreneurs were preparing to launch products inspired by the same concept. These alternatives aimed to take advantage of the temporary attention given to artisanal confectionery without relying exclusively on a single sweet.
Professor Carlos Honorato from FIA Business School warned that consumer trends often have a limited lifespan. According to him, businesses can capitalize on demand but should avoid placing all their hopes on a trend that may lose momentum as consumer interests shift.
The story of Brigaderia Chic illustrates how a sweet that already existed on the menu transformed into a high-volume operation following its viral spread in July 2025. In just a few days, production soared from hundreds per week to hundreds per day, with the business reaching 870 units sold on a Thursday, and Bruna accumulating R$ 70,000 in sales of the product.
Did you ever buy, sell, or make love strawberries when the sweet went viral? Share in the comments if the craze also changed the demand for confectionery in your city.
