After facing intense family disputes, which involved accusations of misappropriation of resources, tax evasion and even unhealthy conditions, Galeria dos Pães, a traditional gourmet bakery in the west zone of São Paulo, has just been sold to the Brazilian multinational Sapore, specialized in collective meals and catering (food and beverage services for events, companies and institutions).
The deal still depends on approval from Cade (Administrative Council for Economic Defense), due to the size of Sapore, which recorded net revenue of R$3.6 billion last year. Galeria dos Pães —which involves its own location in Jardins, an upscale neighborhood in the capital of São Paulo, plus the bakery Dengosa Pães e Doces (also in Jardins) and the catering service Ateliê dos Pães— had revenues of R$120 million in 2025.
“The acquisition marks Sapore’s entry into food retail, where we have a lot to learn from Galeria dos Pães and its 420 employees,” he told Sheet Daniel Mendez, founder and president of Sapore. According to the executive, Galeria dos Pães alone receives around 5,500 consumers on weekends. “There are people who have been visiting the place for decades because they recognize the excellence of the service and products”, he says.
Negotiations began about a year ago. The amounts involved were not revealed.
The family imbroglio that culminated in the sale of the business, founded in 1999 by Portuguese engineer brothers Oswaldo and Milton Guedes de Oliveira, began after Oswaldo’s death in 2008, a victim of cancer. The bakery was inherited by the widow Maysa Schoeler and two children from a previous relationship, Renata and Ricardo Guedes.
In 2024, the heirs hired Gois Advogados to try to remove Milton from the day-to-day running of the business. In the criminal report, lawyer Adolfo Gois said that Milton had evaded “millions and millions of state and federal taxes” — the figure of which exceeds R$ 155 million —, diverted “other thousands of reais from the company’s cash flow to his personal assets” and sold spoiled and expired products.
During this period, Milton Guedes was removed from the business. When he won an injunction to resume management, he identified transfers worth R$4.2 million from the heirs to pay the fees of the office of Adolfo Gois, who represented them.
According to a clause in Galeria dos Pães’ articles of association, expenses exceeding R$800,000 can only be generated with “prior and express approval from the partners representing three quarters of the share capital.” As Milton has 50% of the project, the expense could not be carried out without his consent.
At the end of 2024, the Civil Police opened an investigation to investigate the operation, identified by Milton as a theft. The case is also investigated by the MP-SP (Public Ministry of São Paulo) and was recently made public following a report by the Metrópoles portal.
Maysa, Oswaldo’s widow, in turn, accused Milton of embezzling R$71 million from the company’s cash. The audit hired by the heirs would also have pointed out an unusual difference between gross salary values and salary recorded in the group’s units.
The dispute between Milton and the partners was ended through an agreement in November 2025, but the case remains in court due to the police indictment.
Sapore says it carried out due diligence before finalizing the purchase of the project and that it found no irregularities.
In a statement, Galeria dos Pães said that the “allegations presented in those processes were not based on evidence and did not correspond to the company’s reality” and reinforces that “the lawyer responsible for the initial formulation of those demands no longer represented the authors themselves”.
LAWYER IS KNOWN FOR CONTROVERSY
In November 2024, Adolfo Gois received R$4.2 million to issue three actions in order to hold Milton Guedes’ management at Galeria dos Pães civilly, criminally and at the Federal Revenue responsible. After 15 days, the heirs decided to withdraw two actions against the founding partner. Gois then said he had returned R$2 million of the amount he had received to the establishment’s account.
“Ms. Maysa, then administrator, upon receiving back the R$2 million, should have done so as a down payment, also informing accounting that the amount entered the personal accounts of two partners to, at the appropriate opportunity, be deducted from any dividends and profits to be paid”, says Gois to Sheet.
The lawyer, who has already been involved in controversial cases, claims to be a victim of persecution in legal circles. Gois was the target of reprisal from legal entities after alleging that a judge, who judged a corporate dispute involving a pharmaceutical distributor, made decisions with “hormonal effects” and “menopause imbalances”.
In another case, Gois became the target of a homophobia lawsuit against a counselor from the São Paulo section of the OAB (Brazilian Bar Association) in São Paulo. The lawyer wrote, in the case file, that the counselor had a “personality deviation” and suggested that the rapporteur, who is gay, would have “unorthodox choices” and “extremely sweet passions.”
