Meet the duo behind Brazilian frozen food brand Frittos & Co.
Although both Wallace Franca and Marcelo Braga hail from Brazil, they didn’t cross paths until after they immigrated to Canada—arriving six months apart in 2019 and settling in London, Ont. Introduced through the local Brazilian community, they quickly discovered a connection: Franca’s father-in-law, an obstetrician, delivered Braga’s daughter back in Brazil. The coincidence sparked an instant connection between their families. “We became very close and spent Christmases together,” Franca explains.
Franca had previously been working at a bank in Brazil but yearned to start his own business in Canada. After meeting Braga, who had opened and operated sushi, hot dog and burger restaurants in Brazil, the two came up with an idea for a food business. Called Frittos & Co., the venture was inspired by their love of Brazilian frozen foods that pair classic Brazilian snacks with Canadian flavours.
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Braga was responsible for recipe development. Their signature product would be variations of the coxinha, a Brazilian bite-sized croquettes (cheese, chicken, bacon and cheese, and pizza bites). Along with a dulce de leche-flavoured churro. They began selling in small grocers, focusing on Latin, Brazilian and Portuguese stores in Ontario. Braga and Franca initially made their products in a food incubator and a ghost kitchen in London. Then, in 2023, they moved to The Grove, an agri-business incubator in the city. By the end of that year, they were selling their products in about 100 store across Ontario.
As the company grew, Braga and Franca faced their fair share of hiccups. When their Brazilian-made manufacturing equipment broke down, Braga had to problem-solve by calling the manufacturer in Brazil. “The machine always break, so now I’m a technician as well,” Braga jokes. One memorably tough day, they were in the middle of an important order when a machine broke down and couldn’t be easily fixed. “We were like ‘Oh my goodness, how are we going to deliver the order?’” Franca explains. “We did one week of production manually. It was crazy.” After that, they ordered an additional machine as backup.
Braga and Franca made their foray into major grocery stores in 2024, thanks to a Loblaws’ buyer who discovered Frittos & Co. products in an independent grocer. The buyer trialled the products in four Real Canadian Superstore locations in Ontario before expanding into 37 stores across Canada. “When we see our products in big grocery store, it’s so emotional,” Franca explains. “Our company is kind of like a baby to us.”
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Frittos & Co.’s presence in major grocery stores expanded in 2025 with launches in 10 Sobeys stores and 24 Fortinos locations across Ontario. The company’s products are now available in more than 800 locations across Canada. Over the years, the company's product lineup has grown, now adding another Brazilian snack staple—cheese bread—as well as more flavours of their existing lineup such as chocolate churros and barbecue pulled pork croquettes.
The company is now busy enough that both Braga and Franca’s spouses help out with the business—Franca’s wife works on the company’s finances while Braga’s wife assists with product development. “It’s nice to spend time together,” Franca says. “But we have a rule at home—don’t talk about the business when we’re with the kids.”
In 2026, Braga and Franca hope to increase their presence in Loblaw and Sobeys stores across Canada, and launch into even more major grocers in the country. They’re planning to expand south into the United States, Mexico and Panama. “One of our goals is to be in 2,000 store by the end of 2026,” Franca states.
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It may seem like an ambitious goal, but the duo is determined. And their prior experience of aiming high and taking big risks has paid off, so far. “When we started the business, we put all the money we had into it,” Franca explains. “I sold everything I had in Brazil and Marcelo did the same. It’s a lot of risk. It was a bit scary, but we trusted the process and trusted our products. We’re still small, but we’re proud of what we’ve done.”
This article appeared in Canadian Grocer's December 2025/January 2026 issue.
