Hot stuff.

Just over a year ago, Empada Ranch was little more than a lunch truck selling snacks in Sao Paulo. Today, the truck is retired, the business has become a franchise and the chain has eight stores across the city. Behind this transformation is Rodrigo Reed Rocha, 26, a son of one of the partners, who saw the potential of selling more of the traditional meat- and cheese-filled pastries. "By the end of the year we'll have 10 stores," says Rocha, now the chain's administrator.

Franchises cost US$80,000; Empada Ranch's managers now talk of conquering foreign shores. We've already received proposals from Miami, San Francisco and New York. Americans don't know what empadas are and it's really cool to be able to bring a product so typically Brazilian overseas," says Rocha.

The company has seen proposals from Italy and Portugal, too, but plans to build the business in Brazil first. "Franchising is an opportunity to expand the business, but you need to have the capacity to support the franchisees," says Patricia Mayana, a consultant for Sebrae, a government-funded entity that supports small businesses in Brazil.

The culture of the empada goes back a long way in Brazil, but it was until recently something you only did at home in your kitchen. Now the company sells 8,000 empadas a day for $1 apiece. Customers flood the flagship shop in Sao Paulo's Vila Mariana neighborhood. "The empada is really good and the service is fast," says businessman Estevao Bottini, once a lunch-truck regular.