Recorded live at the third annual Loblaw Supplier Summit, Michael LeBlanc sits down with Marcelo Braga, Co-Founder & Director of Frittos & Co., moments after the Brazilian frozen snack brand was named 2026 Small Supplier Partner of the Year. Marcelo traces the company's path from a London, Ontario incubator to roughly 2,000 stores, explains why coxinha and pizza bites can share a freezer door, and offers advice for food entrepreneurs chasing their first national listing.
There's a trophy on the table between us when this conversation starts, and that's the right place to begin. Recorded live and in person on stage at the third annual Loblaw Supplier Summit — the day at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre that brought close to 2,500 suppliers and Loblaw leaders together around partnership, value, innovation and trust — this episode of The FEED powered by Loblaw features Marcelo Braga, Co-Founder & Director of Frittos & Co., fresh off being named 2026 Small Supplier Partner of the Year.
Marcelo arrived in Canada from Brazil in 2019 and settled in London, Ontario. He met his eventual business partner, Wallace Franca, through the local Brazilian community — and discovered that Wallace's father-in-law, an obstetrician back in Brazil, had delivered Marcelo's first daughter. That coincidence turned two families into one, and eventually into a company.
The product is coxinha — the Brazilian chicken croquette that Marcelo calls the country's most popular snack — alongside cheese balls, churros filled with dulce de leche and chocolate, and a Canadian-facing line that includes pulled pork and pizza bites. The dough is the Brazilian part. The flavours are increasingly Canadian. What separates this story from most food startup stories is the sequencing. Marcelo and Wallace didn't begin at a farmers' market.
They built a compliant incubator facility first, sorted GS1 packaging and nutrition facts before anyone asked, and then went looking for customers. So when a Real Canadian Superstore manager in Windsor flagged the product and Loblaw's local food program came to visit, the answer wasn't "give us six months." It was yes. As Marcelo puts it: be ready for the opportunity before the opportunity arrives. He closes with advice for food entrepreneurs at any stage. Passion and consistency, because plenty of people will tell you the category is already crowded. The right team, because you can't scale alone. And relationships — he still drives to every new store that lists the brand, just to shake the manager's hand and say, I'm the father of this product. A warm, honest conversation about getting from a good idea to the national freezer aisle.