Versão portuguesa aqui.
GPS 38.69010574197172, -9.3548159
“Eduardo das Conquilhas” is an old house in the municipality of Cascais, open since January 10, 1965 with the same management and almost all of its emblematic employees.
The Mayor of Cascais, accompanied by the President of the Carcavelos/Parede Parish Council and the Parede Firefighters, sang today congratulations to the well-known businessman Eduardo Santos when he celebrated his 90th birthday. Because it happened during the Pandemic, the due removal was protected.
A typical figure in the restoration of Parede, better known as “Eduardo das Conquilhas”, the businessman was considered by Carlos Carreiras as an example of entrepreneurship and resilience.
But for the record of this great figure here is with credits @Vitor Rainho & Daniela Soares Ferreira
Day 11/08/2019 via ionline.pt
He has a prodigious memory and only hearing harms him. He knew the deepest misery, he walked barefoot in the years he was a pastor, he received a pair of shoes as ordered. He ventured into Lisbon and built his small empire in restoration. It's Eduardo Santos, from Conquilhas, in Parede.
It is a life story that reflects that of the country where millions of people starved to death during World War II, in which those who could fled from lands where there was little more to eat than a few agricultural products - at the time there were many Forced vegetarians. He fled the misery to which he was condemned and made a life path that led him to a comfortable situation, at the cost of a lot of work. Eduardo, from Conquilhas da Parede, has been a classic for many years. If his mentor managed to lift a good part of the family out of poverty, bringing them to his brewery, one of his rescued nephews became an icon of catering: António, alone, swept the main room, walking kilometers during the afternoon and evening. night, not forgetting an order or leaving anyone to thirst (always mindful of empty glasses) after leaving the bank where he worked during the day.
His voice became unmistakable to the thousands of customers who passed by Eduardo das Conquilhas: “Three imperial drinks, a plate of ham, 200 grams of shrimp, a natural cobbler for table 7”, he says while preparing another table. . But Eduardo Santos is the one who set up a small restoration empire that is now spreading, through his son's hand, to local accommodation. Here is the story of a man with a fantastic life path, with the collaboration of his son Ricardo, whom he often calls Amor.
Where was born?
I was born in Moninho, parish and municipality of Pampilhosa da Serra, district of Coimbra, on May 1, 1930, I am now 89 years old.\ And how old were you there?
There was a lot of war and a lot of famine. My father had fallen down some stairs, into the olives, and my mother, like many mothers, had nothing to feed us. I went to serve as a shepherd for Arganil, I went barefoot for a year.
At what age?
I must have been eight, nine years old. I didn't earn anything for a year. The following year I went to serve at the foot of Castanheira de Pera and there my bosses offered me some clogs. And he was also a pastor. I went for two years.
And how did he have money to feed himself?
It was pumpkin soup for lunch and another for dinner. People lived off the garden. After those two years as pastor, my mother came to see me once a year, because I was far away and they gave her something as compensation for my work. But it was all misery. I don't criticize people, it was the system. They gave her half a piece of bread or two or three eggs to take with her. One day, in the corral next to me, many coins appeared on the ground. My mother came to see me and I told her. And she told me it was to try me out, so I wouldn't touch anything. He told me that whoever had put them there would have to take them off. And they disappeared there.
And after the two years of pastor?
They found me a job near Arganil to be a house servant. He went to the woods, to the firewood, to the gardens, he just didn't go with the cattle to the mountains. When I got there my boss told me where my room was. I was amazed. At the time, he must have been 14 years old. And she asked me if I had ever seen a room. I didn't know what a room was. He showed me what a sheet was and I didn't know. I had never seen a sheet, who knew what it was. He explained to me that I had a sheet on my bed and that every day I had to wash my feet so as not to get the sheet dirty. He also told me that they had a little wooden thing, with a pipe that came from the wood stove and the water came out warm. And I washed the feet every day. In a corner, there was also a shower. And every week I took a shower. There was a gentleman, he treated me like a son. See the irony of fate. My family back in my village lived next to the chapel. We were known by Santa's. I went to a land that was Couratão, after Góis. As my employer's house was next to the chapel, he was known as Tio João da Santa. Look at this!
And what did you learn while you were there?
During those two years I learned to graft vines, cherry trees. Two years treated like a son. Then I went to my land and my mother - at the time those who had fewer gardens were poorer - they had few gardens. But he started taking care of vegetable gardens for other people who gave an x. For example, ten bushels of corn. That was the system. And I already took care of my mother's vines, these gardens. And because of that, back in my village, they nicknamed me a farmer. It was Eduardo Fazendeiro because I dedicated myself to the gardens.
And how did you come to Lisbon?
My older sister lived in Alfama and I wrote her a letter to see if she could find me a job.
At what age?
I must have been 16 years old. I bought the Jornal de Noticias, where there were advertisements asking for young men from the provinces. I went to an interview after the war. They needed three, there were more than 30 there. After the war there was no work for anyone. My sister said that I had to go to land after three months, because I couldn't stay there any longer. Her husband worked on the docks and one day she remembered a gentleman she knew in Carcavelos and we came to see if he could find me a job. He was in a coal plant, at the time there was no gas. I went to see you but he didn't have work. I slept there and the next day you went to a dairy, a dairy, a grocery store, but no one needed anyone. I left. 23 tostões cost a train ticket from Parede to Cais do Sodré and he paid me for the ticket. You didn't find me a job but you told a brother that he had a charcoal factory in Carcavelos and the next day the brother went to get me. I was so glad. And do you know where I slept? On the floor in a garage. With those sacks of coal underneath, sacks for pillows, but the man was smart and I slept there for a month or two. He was smart because he recognized that he couldn't afford to have me there. So he asked a cousin from Oeiras who had a charcoal factory if he could find me a job. Cousin said I could go because his brother had gone to the army. And so he slept in a bed.
What was the job like?
I was selling coal for Linda-a-Pastora and Linda-a-Velha, I had a cart and a donkey. He played with a bugle, people came and asked. It was like that, a difficult life. When I was called one day to inspect the Barracks in Paço de Arcos, I heard a voice say ‘Eduardo dos Santos approved for all military service’. I even jumped for joy. Life was very hard. I was soldier number 32, I never forgot my number. We were going to Timor, we went to change our uniforms and went by boat. Four days before we embarked, the company was demobilized and I no longer went to Timor.
What did you do after the troop?
I came to Oeiras with my boss, but his brother had already returned from the army, so he no longer needed me. I went to see a gentleman from my land who also had a charcoal factory in Oeiras. He looked at me, said that he already knew what was going on with me, and said that he had bought a charcoal plant with his brother in Parede and sent me there. My bedroom window is still there in these houses lying down here [see photo], where I stayed.
What was life like at that time? Did you sell a lot of coal?
There was no gas. When I came here, my bosses bought a bicycle and I learned to ride. I went in the morning to find out what the people wanted. People cooked at home with charcoal and firewood. Next to the Bafureira College, there was a pension there and they were also customers. They had a wagon and I would go in the morning to find out and then I would deliver it. He took three truckloads of firewood there a week. It was all wood and charcoal. There is a large house down here, which is even abandoned, which used to be a clinic for Doctor Cancela de Abreu. I would go there to take a load of firewood every other day. They used a lot of firewood and coal. When some girls walked around doing a gas demonstration, people started buying gas. My bosses, who were two brothers, when it came to gas, firewood and coal, began to experience a drop in sales. What was spent at home? Wood for the stove. Coal was no longer consumed. I was also going to take firewood and coal here to a tavern that is already closed and the owner of the tavern asked if I knew of someone who would take care of that because he was sick.
And did you know?
I told my bosses. They went there and bought the house for 45 contos. It was salvation, because in the meantime gas cut sales of coal and firewood. At the time the house was called Casa de Pasto. He made meals for people. Those who worked on the works paid on weekends. But everyone paid.
Coal bosses invest in the pasture house and what happens next?
I was going to take firewood and charcoal to a house here on this avenue that goes from Parede to Carcavelos and there was a family there that had many maids. And I asked the maid one day if that was a school. She said no. There were only the madam's children, 14 children, six created just for the children. ‘You know that our boss is the general director of Carris’, she told me. And I asked Madame, who knew a little Portuguese, if she could find me a job at Carris. She ordered my name, address and age and I went there to take it. Three days later I was doing the inspection in Santo Amaro for Carris. But to go to the trams, to the collector, or to the buses, you had to be 1.65 meters and I was only 1.62 meters. So I went to needlepoint. We were going with the iron bar to change the rail. Life takes so many turns. But my dream wasn't Carris and I didn't like that. My dream was trade. A gentleman friend got me a job at a dairy in Oeiras.
How long were you at the dairy? What were you doing?
I had the dream of having a coffee brewery but mine alone, I didn't want to have partners. I knew brother and sister partners who got angry. One day, to make a call at the time, you lifted the handset and on the other side said 'did you have a number?', they were the telephone operators. Everywhere there was a switchboard. Back in Oeiras, he asked for imperial every other day. ‘Did you have a number?’ and he would say the number of the brewery, he would ask for two or three kegs. One day I picked up the receiver and there was such a nice voice and I told her her voice was very beautiful. It's called Odette. After talking so many times, we agreed to meet in person. The meeting was at Oeiras Station. She was wearing a polka dot blouse and a pleated skirt. And I was wearing a brown suit, the only one I had. She said she only had four hours until she got to work and we went to the casino's garden, which at the time had a lot of flowers, even tulips from Holland. Then we came and stayed here in Parede. And this store [where Eduardo das Conquilhas is] had written the number. At the time it did not say for rent. I made a note on the phone, called the landlord who was a lawyer. He came to me where I was in Oeiras. I asked my bosses to go to him. The rent was a conto 150 escudos and there was a gentleman who had a cake factory here who I had asked if he would lend me money to have a house of my own, he said that when I had the shop to go to him. And I went there happy. I paid two months' rent and already had the deed marked at the Oeiras notary. He said he was going to see the space to lend me the money. He had a friend with him who looked over and told him that lending money there was a non-repayable fund, he never saw him again. And he didn't lend me anything. Then I started to cry. It's not bad for a man to cry.
What did you do next?
I went to see the landlord, Dr Ramalho Afonso de Matos. I told him I was going to hand over the key to the store because I was going to Africa. He immediately asked me who had gotten me a letter of invitation and I said that it had been a person from my land. Lie. Then he asked me to hand over the key. Who rented the store was a gentleman who was a builder. But my dream was there. After being in Oeiras for eight months, I came to him, offered him five contos for the key and he said it was not much. He asked me where I was, I told him and he said that the building they were building in the area where I was was his. Then I offered him ten contos. But he didn't tell me it was little. One day I plucked up courage, put five contos in my pants pocket and came here to meet him. I said, 'Mister Andrade, can I tell you a true story?' And I told him that the shop used to be mine. I told him the story. ‘And now I’ll give you 20 contos for the key’, I told him. And he asked me why I didn't tell the story sooner. I said to make a promise contract and I had to go talk to the landlord, to whom I also told the truth. Who lent me the money he had already promised me was a gentleman who supplied me in Oeiras, Américo Ferreira. That was in April, but he couldn't lend me the money until the end of September. And I bought a couch and slept there in the corner of the store. In Oeiras I earned 1 conto 500, I paid 1 conto 400 here. I delivered the little room in Oeiras and bought a divan on credit, put it in a corner, I worked in Oeiras and came at night. I had to save. Mr. Américo Ferreira lent me 25 contos. I then called a mason who was required by the council to cover 1 and a half meters of tiles around it.
And when did it open its doors to the public?
January 10, 1965. He is now 54 years old.
What did you sell at first?
When I was about to open my house I ran out of money. At the time, I put in a wedding announcement, that's how it was done. I married a girl aged 25 to 30 who would help me settle down. But I forgot about the commercial part. I went to pick up 87 letters to Rossio. It was like that. I had an interview in Cais do Sodré with six girls but they didn't understand. They were also tense like me. I also had an interview with a girl who parked her car in front of Jerónimos. There she spoke. She had two daughters, she was a teacher, her husband had died in an accident and she needed someone to help her monetarily. He had a house on the coast. I didn't say it, only at the end. I told him I was going to try my luck in Parede, that I had goods but no money. I told him I had an apartment in Cascais, two in Estoril, in Quinta da Marinha. I told him I was very rich in goods but had nothing. She asked if she couldn't sell something and I told her no because if I sold it I would lose money and I left.
And how did you get money?
I was here one day and the sister of the lady who washed my clothes, who hadn't paid her for who knows how many months, knocked on my door. He came to get my dirty laundry. The other day he asked me when it was supposed to open. And I don't know why, I sent her in and told her what was going on with me. That night, she came here with her husband, said that she had spoken with her sister, that she had known me for many years and that she said that I was a very serious person and they lent me 22 contos. Oh Jesus, I went to call the mason - who I had said was going to my land and it was a lie - and I finished the work. This lady was an angel that appeared to me. Do you know how I paid him? Already after it was open here, a tale and 10 a month, the husband would come here to receive it.
When it finally opened, what was it selling?
Coffees, soft drinks, nails, hot dogs and steaks. I asked my first employee, whose name is Isabel and who I think is still alive, for a favor. She earned 600 escudos and I said I didn't have the money to pay her for the whole month. I asked her to pay her half right then and the other half on the 15th. She asked to speak to her husband and he gave me permission. The other day, Isabel told me that she had spoken with her husband and that I wasn't going to be able to earn money to pay off my debts by selling what I was selling. I was full of debts, everyone trusted me. She suggested that I sell shellfish and even though I said I didn't understand any of that, she promised to help. He even said that we should create the speciality, which are Eduardo conquilhas. Her husband, who also worked in catering, was off work the next day and went to the market to pick up two kilos of shellfish. The shop next door, which was a typography, helped me make papers for the young people to take to the beach. ‘If you haven’t tasted it yet, come and taste the famous Conquilhas à Eduardo’.
Son: This is because Parede beach was a sanatorium where many people from the country came. Because the beach was rich in iodine, doctors all over the country sent people here. Trains all stopped here. And there was hardly anyone there. There were huge boards where they did therapeutic massages and everything. Parede was a multitude of people, it was the beach with the most people on the line.
And were the clams successful?
I started to go to Ribeira every day to buy the shellfish. I bought cockles and mussels. Clams were already expensive. Isabel would put a little bit on the counter with a little bit of salt. They were Eduardo's clams. And who started coming here with groups of 20, 30 people that we closed the space just for them? Maestro Lopes Graça, who lived here in Parede. One day the maestro told me to buy clams too because there were many of his colleagues who also liked them. And I started bringing it. I had nothing to pay and I felt sorry for it. Later I spoke with the lady who sold seafood and she started to trust me with seafood and would come here at the end of the month to receive it. How did I pay? I was already studying letters. I started paying with bills. They would come here to do the math, I would pass a bill, the bank would pay and then I would pay the bank. But there's one thing that's very important to me: I've never reformed a lyric. Do you know why? The bank lent me 10 contos, the other bank lent me 20, I kept 10 and paid 15. I had the credit I wanted at the bank because I didn't miss a bill.
Did you still need money at that time?
That's how my business started to go up.
And the coffee story?
I came from Oeiras and there I spent coffee from Caféeira. And then a gentleman came here to spend Chave d’Ouro coffee but I needed credit. What I used, they gave me half a year without paying and then I paid. I faced people. I went to Janelas Verdes to see the father of that guy from Benfica [Manuel Vilarinho] to ask him to give me half a year of credit. He looked at me and said he already knew from the salesman that I was at the beginning of my life. He told me to spend as much coffee and sugar as I needed and one day, when I could, I'd pay. I came away so happy. I spent three years without paying for coffee or sugar. I paid in letters. It all paid off, thank God.
How could an old pastor be deceiving with a few white lies?
When I started getting bank credit, I arranged lies like that and you believed them. I used to say that I was very rich back home, but there was nothing there. “You don't mind if I pay you before Christmas, in the middle of summer? It's just that I sell my olive oil, I have many olive trees there”, I said. And there wasn't even one there. I put it together, took out a bank loan and paid for everything. Did you not believe? And he also said that at the end of June I would pay all the bills because I had the resin and the bleeding in my land. Used these lies. I couldn't sleep at night thinking about it. But at the end of June I paid them all. It was only then that I had money because I had sold all the sangrias, I told them. I paid for everything and people believed. But it was bank money.
And which bank lent you the most money?
It was Banco Espírito Santo and Pinto & Sotto Mayor. When Banco Espírito Santo opened here in Parede, it was account number 2. One day there was a manager named Antunes. When it came to buying the building here, I went to the bank and told them how we were going to do it. He put 100 thousand contos in my account and I only paid interest on what I spent. Did you not believe that I had goods on earth? They believed.
When do you start to be more successful?
The seafood later caught on and Lopes Graça started to bring many people. We only sold clams, cockles, mussels and clams. One day, I already had a car, and I went with my wife to the Sesimbra dock. And I told Margarida that we were going to take six shoemakers to see if we could sell them. I was told they cooked it in 18, 20 minutes. It was 12 years without ever closing but at that time it was already closed on Wednesdays. That weekend they were all sold out. We went back there and brought 20 more. We went to the auction and I told the gentleman that the shoemakers had given up their paws. I explained to him that I cooked them for 20 minutes but he said he had to kill them first. And he explained to me that he had to put vinegar in the shoemaker's mouth. Then it dies and only then can I cook it, that way they stay whole. That's when we started spending more. A gentleman who had nurseries in Setúbal started to come there with a van, he already had 50 crabs, lobsters and lobsters. A company from Cascais also started to come here to supply shoe racks. And I paid with the letters. But I paid for everything, I started selling slowly.
How did you manage to buy your first car?
A customer one day asked me if I had a driving license. I replied that neither letter nor money to pay for it, and the customer told me that he was an instructor at a school in Algés and that he lent me money to buy it and I took the letter. Then a car salesman in Cascais wanted to sell me one and pay for it in three and a half years, I bought the car and paid for everything in cash.
And did more people come here other than Lopes Graça?
He brought a lot of people. We closed the house just for them. But many more people came. A girl came here with a couple to have coffee. One day I asked the lady who the girl was. It was her niece, she was taking out the sewing code. He shook hands, gave dating and gave marriage. It was my wife Margaret. One day the gentleman who sold coffee asked me when I was getting married. I wanted to get married but I had no money. I wanted to have a church wedding with treadmills and everything. And he said he'd loan me the money. I had the letters saved but I said 35 contos and he said he would bring me the money the next day. And brought. He asked me if I had godparents, I said no and he said he was going to be my godfather with his wife. We were married in the Igreja da Parede, married by Father Zé. Me and the bride Maria Margarida. And isn't my maid of honor also called Maria Margarida? It was so cute.
Where does António, the most emblematic employee of the brewery, come in?
When I was about to open my casita, my brother asked me to bring Tonito here because he had already completed fourth grade. It was so that he wouldn't go to the bush and firewood and starve like we did. Tonito is my nephew and he came here when he was 11 years old. I didn't have any money so I bought a divan for one and a half people, had a ladder made and my Tonito slept more. We slept there for a year or so. At the time it closed at two in the morning, you had to pay your license at the Cascais police from midnight to two. And authorization was needed from the neighbors, everyone signed. Eduardo's life was very difficult.
Didn't António actually work at the bank?
Son: Yes, until seven or eight years ago, I accumulated both. He entered the bank at 8:00 am and left here at 3:00 am. I slept four hours a night, or three and a half hours.
At that time, he began to have more customers.
People started to come from everywhere. They came, they liked it and they brought friends and Eduardo went up.
Then he expanded the brewery by buying the spaces next door.
The shop next door was our lease for 25 years. Then I got them to sell it to me. I didn't want to, but my Ricardinho came up with the idea.
Your son has been a great help.
There are real life stories worth telling. We were at a congress in the Azores. The president of our association [AHRESP] asked my son what he was studying and what he wanted to do. Ricardo said he hadn't decided yet. His children had studied hotel management and it was a course where there was no lack of work. And Ricardinho took this course and then restaurant management. And he went to Coimbra, then he wanted to go abroad. On vacations and days off we would go to see Ricardo. We slept at Quinta das Lágrimas. One day the girl at the reception, who already knew us, said that we only had the queen's suite available. We premiered the suite but didn't even want to know the price, we just paid at the end. My son told me that he met a girl from Leiria while studying, and that he didn't know if he was going to date. There was dating, there was marriage, she finished her course in Alcoitão and her clinic is here [next to the brewery]. My Ricardinho no longer went abroad, it was my luck.
Son: I've been working here since I was 13 and when we expanded the brewery we did a proper project, a modern kitchen, because we only had a three-burner stove. We destroyed everything, leaving only the walls with those 1.50m tiles and the handpainting and then we built our first normal kitchen. We've already put in a lot of new technology. Later we opened this room here and in 2000 we introduced more technology, more seafood, fried prawns, tigers...
You have your own nurseries.
Son: Yes, we have the tanks inside, we buy them and store them directly here, despite always going through an intermediary. We have a large amount stored, alive. We opened Eduardo dos Petiscos and Sushi do Mercado in Carcavelos, everything is still open. And then we entered the hotel and tourism sector, with local accommodation. We have a very nice accommodation next door with all different rooms, themed after different actresses, it's really cute. And today we are finishing a rooftop all in pink with a pool that is something from another planet. The restaurant next door will support this, all with sofas, hamburgers, salad, everything for the young crowd, with internet, music.
And is there a maxim that you have learned that you have never forgotten?
When we did the first expansion works, two couples called me to the counter and asked me what works I was going to do. I said I was going to make a bigger kitchen and they advised me to continue with my paper towels and not use the cloth ones. They told me, 'Don't change, Eduardo. You are so happy in this house that all social categories enter here’. Who told me? Doctor Luís Filipe Pereira who was the Minister of Health at the time, our client. And that Mr. António Gaspar, who was from Pampilhosa da Serra, at the time president of the Supreme Court of Justice.
Son: We had ministers here, bricklayers, taxi drivers or Benfica and Sporting players. It was very normal. We have a lot of people who come to Eduardo's today and if they have to queue for an hour, they are, like Professor Carlos Queirós, Leonardo Jardim. People who are famous and don't need this for anything, but they come, they're in line, they talk to everyone. Marinho Peres also came a lot. And Benfica players all came here. Our weekend customers wait. The queue is long but they wait. There is something very important: we always have fresh seafood, everything is fresh, everything is cooked here, everything comes here alive.
And how is the other brewery Eduardo, in Carcavelos?
Son: We still have a space for sushi and snacks. Squids, cuttlefish, woodpeckers, crabs. It's great for those who don't like sushi and those who do can eat at the same table. It's a very cool success. There are few places but the location is great.
Is the company almost family-run?
Only my father-in-law and a brother-in-law came to my wedding who were going to Angola in three days. When he came from Angola, he had a girlfriend back home but he didn't want to go back to the Douro, to the vineyards, because life there is difficult. I went there to his wedding, my wife and I were best men. I met my wife's sisters and brothers at that time. And at that time he said to me: “If God gives me luck in my business, I will get all these people out of here”. It was total poverty. My business grew and I got them all out. They all work here. Manuel came here straight away, he didn't leave here nor did the troop. Laurinda came later, Carmita came right and Francisco too. I gave work to everyone.
Son: Even today, the workers here are 80% family.
He started as a pastor and got to know the whole world as an AHRESP associate.
Son. Most of the trips that my father made around the world were through the association of restaurants in Portugal, at the time, in addition to the tourist part, they were received by similar associations in the countries where they went and by the respective ambassadors: Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chicago, New York , Thailand, Macau, Timor, Thailand, Tokyo, Canada, in all these trips they went to know good local restaurants, there were congresses etc... but the most important thing was the experience between the partners.
Have you been around the world a lot?
I know many countries in the world. Japan, Thailand...
But on business?
On vacation. I went to Brazil four times. I even went to many countries. New York, Chicago... Look, when they knocked down the Twin Towers we had dinner there a month before. I was also in Argentina, but I can't remember them all anymore. The first capital of Japan was Kyoto and we went there from Hong Kong. The girl who picked us up had been with tourists in Cascais, spoke a little Portuguese. The world is so small. We were held in high esteem in Kyoto. Listen to what I'm going to tell you now. Do you know who called me and brought groups here? Eugénio Salvador of the theater. Those charming chorus girls from the theater would bring 30 of them. We would close the door. Wasn't it cute? We were all happy when Salvador called and brought all the girls here.
Son: When they wanted to sing songs that were prohibited by the PIDE at the time, we closed all the doors and they could sing as they pleased. That's why they loved coming here. Then inside, we had some wine barrels and they had chalk and every time they filled the jar they made a line on the barrel. And in the end, it was all about adding up the risks.
