Twist: A "Twist" on the American Burger

Tucked within Barranco, a colorful community and former fishtown in Lima, Twist has managed to create good, old fashioned American burgers with a twist of Peruvian influence. On the menu, you will find a delicious alpaca burger (one of Andrew’s personal favorites) and the Barranco Burger with spicy aji based sauced on top. For a couple wayward Americans, we were in burger heaven.  

“We’ve been in business for two years now,” says Jimmy McManners, an British ex-pat and founder of Twist. “When we opened, burger joints weren’t really a thing in Lima and we were able to truly differentiate ourselves from local restaurants. We also opened Twist in the midst of an artisanal beer boom in Lima. And there’s nothing that goes better with a good burger than a good beer” (we second that statement).

Jimmy McManners in front of his delicious menu at Twist. 

Opening a business in Peru was anything but a breeze for Jimmy. “It took us a good two years to obtain a license. Most people will bribe their way through the government bureaucracy but I refused. We wound up asking the mayor for special permission to open the business without a license, so we could start operations.”

Aside from the bureaucratic red tape, Jimmy says, “maintaining amazing service has been a difficulty.” When we prodded him on the subject, he admits that he does all he can to motivate employees. “You get way more from people if you provide a fair wage and treat them well. If you don’t, they will lose their drive or quit. If you lose a good staff member in this business, you are stupid. They are hard to find! Your employees are your best asset.”

Today, competition has increased in Barranco. “four years ago, there were few restaurants here. Now they are opening and closing all the time.” The tourism industry has played a role as more and more tourists flock to Barranco and away from Miraflores. “About 50% of my customers are either tourists or ex-pats,” says Jimmy. “The reason why they are coming to Twist is Trip Advisor.” At the time of our visit, Twist was the third most recommended restaurant in Lima. 

Bondarea: Need a loan? Don't go to the bank!

“As an entrepreneur in Argentina, you’re lucky if you can get an institution to write you a loan. But when they do, interest rates often fall between 45 – 55%,” says Antonio Zavalia, Director and Co-Founder of Bondarea. “Who can afford to take out a loan at those rates?” Bondarea is remedying the lack of available or affordable loans to small businesses and individuals in Argentina through their peer-to-peer lending website and software.

What’s the difference between peer-to-peer lending and crowdfunding? While both are trying to solve capital related problems, small businesses that use crowdfunding techniques are selling a product. In return for contributing, funders receive a perk or product from the entrepreneur. When it comes to peer-to-peer financing, “entrepreneurs or individuals can ask for microloans. Loanees then bid to lend some or all of the requested loan at an interest rate dictated by the loanee.” This way, if an entrepreneur needed a loan of 16,000 Argentine Pesos, he could auction off his loan and several loanees could offer to lend different amounts at different rates. The entrepreneur could also decide to turn down an offered loan if the interest rate was not agreeable.

Overall, the average interest rate on Bondarea is 32.5%. “Competition among bids drives interest rates down,” says Antonio. While that might sound scary to an entrepreneur in the States, that’s a lot cheaper than going to a bank (interest rates fall between 45-55%). After two years in business, Bondarea says that the total percentage of late payments (those more than 30 days) is about 0.6% (only a fraction of its comparable number at local financial institutions) and to date, and no one has failed to pay back the loans.

Co-Founders Antonio (Left) and Frederico (Right) with Kaity Ersek. 

Antonio believes that these low numbers are due in part to the credit screening done by Bondarea. “It’s a mix of the backward looking factors found in the U.S. FICO score and forward looking factors, which judges how attractive a loan can be to potential loanees.” Bondarea screens each entrepreneur or individual before allowing him/her to auction off the requested loan.

However, it’s the software-as-a-service side of their business that is the most scalable and has the highest potential to affect entrepreneurs and individuals in need of a loan. “We sell the software used on our peer-to-peer lending platform to NGOs in Argentina, so they can more effectively and efficiently run their own community peer-to-peer lending programs.”

Overall, through both their peer-to-peer lending platform and software, Antonio says they’ve funded roughly 400 to 500 businesses, adding up to 6 million pesos (about 600,000 USD at the Argentine official rate) worth of loans. That’s a huge impact!

The biggest growth challenge for Bondarea is that, “people are scared to borrow or lend money in the current economic and political context… especially to a company that isn’t a household brand. It’s tough. However, as we build up a reputation for finding good credits and ensuring low borrowing costs, new users come to our platform in greater numbers.”  And yet, at the same time the lack of available loans means that there is a real potential for growth for Bondarea as both a lending platform and software.