Fado & Food Group

What Fado & Food Group does

Fado & Food Group is the commercial brand of José de Oliveira, Lda., a privately held Portuguese limited company headquartered in Lisbon. The group operates three historic fado houses in Lisbon — Café Luso (founded 1927, in the former cellars of a Bairro Alto palace), Adega Machado (founded 1937, Bairro Alto), and Clube de Fado (founded 1995, Alfama) — and bundles live fado performances with traditional Portuguese cuisine as a single evening experience. The company serves international tourists visiting Portugal and Lisbon residents seeking authentic cultural outings, with both segments addressed through a horizontal positioning rather than differentiated verticals.

Revenue is generated primarily through per-cover pricing on dinner-plus-show transactions, with ancillary income from beverage service (Portuguese wines and spirits), a couvert charge at certain venues, and two differentiated experience products: 'Fado Inside the Box', a daytime fado experience at Adega Machado, and 'Desgarrada Vínica', a wine tasting experience paired with live fado. Distribution is direct-to-consumer via a ZenChef-powered online booking system embedded in the company's bilingual website, supplemented by telephone, email, walk-ins, and word-of-mouth referrals from travel guides, concierges, and prior guests. The group employs 13 people and operates only in Lisbon.

The technology stack is conventional hospitality infrastructure with no proprietary platform: bookings flow through ZenChef, the website is WordPress-based, and digital marketing is limited to organic LinkedIn and Instagram. The operating entity carries €370,000 of registered share capital, has no external investors, no subsidiaries outside its three venues, and no disclosed funding history. Strategic emphasis in 2025 has been on consolidating the three venues under the unified Fado&Food Group brand, formalizing digital channels, and extending the product line with non-evening experiences rather than pursuing geographic expansion.

Name

Fado & Food Group

Legal name

José de Oliveira, Lda.

Website

https://fadoandfood.pt

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Fado & Food Group is a Lisbon-based hospitality company operating three historic fado houses (Café Luso, Adega Machado, Clube de Fado) under José de Oliveira, Lda., serving international tourists and local residents with bundled dinner and live fado experiences.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cultural Hospitality and Fado Houses

SIC

Retail-Eating Places (5812)

akta.pro primary industry

Espresso Bars & Coffee Bars (THAFADAD)

Keywords

• Fado houses
• Portuguese cuisine
• Live music venues
• Cultural dining
• Wine tasting experiences

Headquarters

HQ city

Lisbon

HQ country

Portugal

HQ region

Europe

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Restaurant and gastronomy: Revenue from food service at three restaurant establishments. Customers purchase meals (à la carte or set menu) with table service. Payment is collected at the end of the meal via cash, debit/credit card, or MB Way.
2. Fado performances: Live fado music performances are included with dinner reservations. The spectacle is an integral part of the experience and bundled with the meal. Artists perform nightly across the three venues.
3. Beverage service: Revenue from bar and beverage sales including Portuguese wines, spirits, and other drinks. Wine experiences such as 'Desgarrada Vínica' combine wine tasting with fado.
4. Special experiences: Premium experiences such as 'Fado Inside the Box' offer daytime fado experiences at Adega Machado, providing additional revenue streams beyond standard evening service.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Fado & Food Group owns and operates three historic fado houses in Lisbon — Adega Machado (1937), Café Luso (1927), and Clube de Fado (1995) — offering live fado music performances combined with traditional Portuguese cuisine and wines. The group also provides specialized experience products including 'Fado Inside the Box' (daytime fado at Adega Machado) and 'Desgarrada Vínica' (wine tasting paired with fado), targeting tourists and locals seeking authentic cultural hospitality experiences.

Product overview

Fado & Food Group operates a portfolio of three historic fado houses in Lisbon — Adega Machado (1937), Café Luso (1927), and Clube de Fado (1995) — offering immersive experiences combining authentic fado performances with traditional Portuguese cuisine. The group also offers specialized experience products: Fado Inside the Box (daytime fado experience) and Desgarrada Vínica (wine tasting with fado). Reservations are managed through the Zenchef booking platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Adega Machado Historic fado house founded in 1937 in Bairro Alto, Lisbon, known for its welcoming, sophisticated, and romantic atmosphere. Offers high-quality live fado performances across three floors combined with traditional Portuguese gastronomy and wines. Open to individual guests, couples, groups, and special events.
• Café Luso Historic fado house founded in 1927, located in the former cellars of a palace in Bairro Alto, Lisbon. Recognized for its unique acoustics in a vaulted room and traditional atmosphere. Offers live fado performances combined with traditional Portuguese cuisine.
• Clube de Fado Fado house founded in 1995 in the Alfama neighborhood of Lisbon, offering a more relaxed and colorful atmosphere. Maintains quality live fado performances and Portuguese gastronomy. Targets both individual diners and small groups.
• Fado Inside the Box

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• ZenChefcoreTechnology or IntegrationZenChef provides the online booking platform and reservation management system for all three Fado & Food Group establishments. Customers book through ZenChef-powered booking pages integrated into the company's website. This is a critical operational technology partnership enabling the group's reservation workflow.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Pestana Hotel Group: Pestana is Portugal's largest hotel group, operating four- and five-star properties across Portugal and abroad. It is comparable as a Portuguese multi-unit hospitality operator that captures international tourist spend in Lisbon through a different but adjacent product (lodging vs. dining-experience).
• Ibersol SGPS: Ibersol is a Portuguese publicly-listed restaurant group operating multiple food-service brands across Portugal and internationally. While not a fado-specific operator, it is comparable as a multi-venue Portuguese restaurant company sharing target market and operating geography.

Direct peers

• A Baiuca: A Baiuca is a traditional fado house located in the Alfama district, featuring nightly fado performances with Portuguese cuisine. It directly competes with Clube de Fado for the Alfama tourist market and shares the bundled dinner-plus-fado experience model.
• O Faia: O Faia is a historic fado house in Lisbon's Bairro Alto offering nightly fado performances with traditional Portuguese food and wine. It shares the same combined dinner-and-fado-show format and historic Bairro Alto neighborhood market as Adega Machado and Café Luso.
• Parreirinha de Alfama: Parreirinha de Alfama is one of Lisbon's oldest and most authentic fado houses in Alfama, known for traditional Portuguese guitar and voice performances paired with regional cuisine. It overlaps with Fado & Food Group's Clube de Fado in target customer and product offering.
• Sr. Vinho: Sr. Vinho is a renowned fado house in the Alfama district with a long history, offering live fado performances paired with Portuguese cuisine and wine. It competes directly with Fado & Food Group's three venues for the cultural-experience-seeking tourist segment.
• Mesa de Frades: Mesa de Frades is a traditional fado house in Alfama, housed in a historic azulejo-tiled chapel, offering intimate fado performances with Portuguese tapas and wine. It targets the same premium cultural-tourist segment as Fado & Food Group's venues.
• Tasca do Chico: Tasca do Chico is a well-known traditional fado house in Lisbon's Bairro Alto, offering live fado performances with Portuguese food and drinks. It directly competes with Adega Machado and Café Luso for the same tourist and local cultural-enthusiast customer base.

Regional players

• Yellow Bus Tours (Carris Turismo): Yellow Bus Tours is a Lisbon-based sightseeing tour operator offering hop-on-hop-off bus routes and thematic tours. It captures the same international tourist segment in Lisbon but does not compete in fado dining; comparable as a complementary distribution channel and tourist-experience competitor for cultural evening bookings.

Others

• Lisbon Walker Tours: Lisbon Walker Tours is a Lisbon-based tour operator offering walking tours, food tours, and cultural experiences. It is an ecosystem participant feeding tourist demand into cultural venues like Fado & Food Group and is comparable in target customer (cultural tourists visiting Lisbon).

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/fadoandfoodgroup
• Instagraminstagram.com/fadoandfoodgroup/#

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Fado & Food Group