“My great grandmother fulfilled her dream of introducing natural medicine to Brazil when she began working on Lapinha in the 1950s,” observes Marianne Novaes Brepohl. “My dream today is that every Brazilian is given the opportunity to learn something about achieving a healthier lifestyle through our concept. As my father says, ‘we shouldn’t just repeat what our parents did – we should think bigger’.”
Ambitious talk for the young marketing and sales director of one of Brazil’s original medical spas. As one of the country’s leading holistic health retreats, the zero-carbon Lapinha draws on natural healing systems to address medical issues and introduce lifestyle change among its affluent clientele, all in the setting of a 550-hectare (1,360-acre) organic farm surrounded by an evergreen forest.
Natural instinct
Seven key pillars focused on natural medicine (see info panel) form the basis of the spa’s philosophy, which originated with founder Margarida Bornschein Langer, a Brazilian of German descent.
Marianne’s father, Dieter Brepohl, who inherited Lapinha and is the CEO, remembers his grandmother well. “Alert, determined and an observer of people, Margarida never had any formal training,” he explains. “She ran an embroidery business despite losing her father at 14 and having to support her younger brother. As an entrepreneur, she became the co-owner of a successful metallurgical [metals purification] company and subsequently built a real estate portfolio. In 1953, prompted by a gastric illness that wasn’t responding to traditional medicine, she travelled to a clinic in Switzerland and discovered the work of Dr Maximilian Bircher-Benner.”
It was at the Bircher-Benner medical centre that Margarida became inspired by doctors such as Ralph Bircher who advocated that nutrition could have a healing effect. Falling under the umbrella of natural medicine, where the whole person is treated rather than just the symptoms by the forces of nature, Margarida began to believe that diet, exercise and spiritual peace could combine to restore a healthy body and mind.
She returned to Brazil with a new direction, purchasing a farm in Paraná state in a region over one hour from the nearest city of Curitiba. Step by step she raised the investment to introduce electricity, communications and other integral services. Lapinha officially opened in 1972 although Margarida faced fierce criticism.
“The project was a huge risk. After all, how could she expect [São Paulo] city dwellers to fly 550km to try such new services? Her relatives seriously doubted her judgment,” says Dieter. “Small and fragile, Lapinha has slowly grown as it passed to my parents and then my wife and I. We decided to move on from our lives as Christian missionaries to assume management because we could serve Brazilians in a sustainable and curative way while maintaining our heritage.”
The Lapinha offering
Today Lapinha has 150 staff, including three doctors, two nutritionists, two physiotherapists, five fitness trainers, 10 therapists and a specialist in integrated Oriental therapy which incorporates Asian techniques such as shiatsu and acupuncture. Clients, who must commit to a minimum five-day stay, begin with medical and personal objective consultations, with goals ranging from lowering cholesterol to combating stress-related conditions. The majority go for bespoke programmes, although there are set packages, such as Detox or the top-selling Slim. The most basic, which varies seasonally from brl$2,910-5,360 (us$1,450-2,650, €1,100-2,050, £900-1,650), includes full board, medical care, lab tests, body composition evaluation, massages, educational lectures, physical training sessions and lessons in other activities from ballroom dancing and art workshops to relaxation techniques.
Most clients follow the signature egg-lacto-vegetarian detox diet, a nutritional plan that entails giving up caffeine, alcohol and sugar. There’s usually a ‘crisis of abstinence’ after two days when headaches set in, which is why clients stay for an average of eight days.
Lapinha does cater to body-conscious Brazilians, who comprise 85 per cent of clients, with weight-loss methods and non-invasive aesthetic treatments but these are integrated into programmes that also try to deal with stress factors and cell detoxification.
Just like Margarida, Dieter and his wife Margareth have drawn from their travels to introduce holistic therapies. Dieter came across the intensive Mayr-Kur digestive treatment (see sb07/3 p92) when stationed in Austria as part of a Christian mission. This is offered at Lapinha via a 10-day stay in which time participants clean and alkalise their digestive tracts by drinking mineral -enriched broths and eat basic foods such as potatoes or aged bread. More recently, on a visit to Lanserhof, an Austrian destination spa, Marianne became interested in its lactose- and glucose-intolerance testing and has brought some of this back to Brazil.
Bolstering the business
Although Marianne had been involved with the family business since she was 13, when she began a series of summer internships, her adult career has been in marketing and development for firms like Citibank and Toyota. But her father persuaded her to return to Lapinha in a full-time marketing role. “I wasn’t too keen on the idea initially but decided to give it two years,” admits Marianne. “When I arrived in 2010, I wanted to introduce what I’d learnt about implementing processes and quality controls. That must’ve been a challenge for my parents because I started to encourage a company culture of questioning why we did things.”
She’s also contributed to Lapinha’s business plan, including the realisation of a four-year, €5m (us$6.5m, £4m) investment phase that has bolstered the business’ line up. In addition to the refurbishment of 20 out of 38 guest rooms, other improvements have been a new 1,000sq m (10,764sq ft) technologically advanced spa building, an outdoor pool and standalone fitness centre, designed by architect Joerg Gertsch.
Previously, spa facilities were located in the main house alongside guest accommodation, but thanks to the new building everything is now conveniently altogether under one roof. Features include a caldarium, indoor and outdoor Kneipp stations, a thalassotherapy pool, 10 treatment rooms – three for aesthetic services, plus one with a Vichy shower and another with a Dermalife capsule – a beauty salon and three medical consultation rooms as well as medical monitoring facilities.
Another facet of the business – one that has evolved since 1972 – is the production of organic Lapinha food such as jam, bread, cheese and honey, which are sold onsite as well as being distributed to markets in São Paulo, Curitiba and Rio de Janeiro.
Investment money has also been poured into marketing initiatives as Marianne explains: “In Brazil, spas are still generally associated with losing weight. They have a hard image and are perceived as depressing places, with myths circulating about regimental rules. So we’ve worked on softening and renewing our brand through new visuals, more inviting language and fresh online elements. We bring journalists over to show them first-hand that Lapinha is an uplifting location in which to take care of your body and soul. We work with bloggers who talk about fashionable trends, we are present at lifestyle events catering to our target customers and we have become known as a medical spa, rather than a clinic.”
Relationships with Brazilian medical associations, homeopaths and acupuncturists have been fostered in a bid to increase awareness of natural medicine. “Holistic approaches still aren’t very popular in Brazil; rather we follow the American way and look to prescriptions to solve all our problems,” Marianne points out. More recently, she has also worked on securing an international presence by persuading her parents that Lapinha should become a member of the Healing Hotels of the World: “This wasn’t just about attracting more customers, rather I wanted to be a part of something bigger than us. I’ve developed friendships with healing spas in other parts of the world, which means I can share challenges and keep abreast of trends. Simultaneously it’s demonstrated that Brazil has something more to offer than Zumba and capoeira.”
Amplifying the vision
Marianne and her parents do find it tough to switch off even when they’re supposed to be spending personal time together. They’ve had to learn how to leave disagreements at work. Marianne acknowledges she’s had to work extra hard to negate the perception that she had the job handed to her on a plate. Still the pros have far outweighed the cons – working for a smaller business, family ties have been strengthened and Marianne admits she loves the product.
There have also been heartening business outcomes, with occupancy at Lapinha standing at 70 per cent, up 7 per cent on 2011. Income (before payments on investments) has shown a 16.4 per cent increase, which builds on the 14.8 per cent rise for 2011 over 2010.
The biggest highlight for Marianne, though, has been receiving her parents’ blessing to get creative and develop priorities for Lapinha over the next 10-20 years. Dieter confirms: “We feel that it’s crucial for Marianne to preserve the DNA of the business yet to renew and amplify our vision with her own initiatives.”
The family is currently in negotiations with the Jockey Club of São Paulo to secure a site for a medical day spa in the city, where 60 per cent of their clientele is derived from. Set in a green park, the urban outpost is expected to attract new clients while supporting existing customers in maintaining lifestyle changes after a stay at the main location; plans are afoot for a daily delivery service of nutritional food, for instance, initially to be supplied by produce from the farm although another organic source close to the city will be selected in the long-term.
Alongside the physical expansion, Marianne is developing an online community, based around a regular blog, which will deliver tips on how to introduce healthy holistic-based habits at home with little cost. One example could be how to harness the power of healing salts and warm water as inspired by hydrotherapy.
“We want to spearhead the trend for healthier living in a way that means people can relate to Lapinha even if they don’t have the time or money to visit,” Marianne concludes. “We want to expand not just as a spa but as the Lapinha concept.”
