Despite perceptions of Marxist Cuba being hostile toward capitalism, it will embrace certain aspects of capitalism when needed. That’s certainly been the case with franchising.

Cigar smokers have come across Casa del Habano retail stores around the world, from Toronto to Hong Kong. Set up by famed cigar maker Habanos SA (with various international entrepreneurs being the franchisees), it’s perhaps Cuba’s best-known franchise.

However, it’s not the only one in existence.

The Old Havana watering hole “La Bodeguita del Medio” — which opened its doors in 1942 and was made famous by author Ernest Hemingway — is still frequented today by tourists seeking out its revered mojitos.

The Castro regime, seeing that Cuban culture was becoming a viable global commodity, thanks in part to the revival of music groups like Buena Vista Social Club, decided to set up franchising agreements with interested foreign partners.

By the late 1990s, La Bodeguita restaurants were popping up in London, Paris, Dubai, Milan, Sydney and even Beirut.

La Bodeguita’s largest overseas presence is in Mexico, a product of a 1997 franchise agreement between Cuba’s Gran Caribe SA and the Mexican entity Operadora Maesta SA. Soon after, a Bodeguita restaurant opened in Mexico City’s Colonia Roma district.

La Bodeguita later secured new Mexican partners – another privately owned firm called Grupo Son SA, which expanded into popular tourist resorts like Playa del Carmen and Puerto Vallarta.

Along with outlets in Monterrey and Guadalajara, there are now five outlets in Mexico. “We are doing very well,” said Alejandro González de la Peña, one of Grupo Son’s current partners, during a visit to New York.

The Mexican businessman noted that Cuban cuisine, a departure from his country’s corn-based diet, has been a very good sell among both middle and upper-class locals looking for culinary variety, as well as with foreign visitors.

La Bodeguita also holds Cuban art exhibits and other Cuban-themed cultural events, making it, in effect, a home-away-from home for Cubans residing in Mexico.

While declining to disclose the restaurant’s annual revenues in Mexico or the franchisor’s cut of the proceeds, González de la Peña did mention a key element in his group’s commercial success with the Cubans: “We don’t get political with them; it’s all business.”

Back in 2001, when La Bodeguita expanded into Warsaw, then-president of FTB Roberto Marron Duque de Estrada told the Miami-based site CubaNet what his firm needs to set up a new franchise: the right for the franchisee to use the “Bodeguita” trademark, the availability of five Cuban staffers with expertise in cocktail and bar service, Cuban décor (including furniture), Havana Club rum, brand-name premium Cuban cigars, and local training in Cuban customs.

“In exchange for this, the franchise holder pays ‘an up-front fee’ (undisclosed) and a monthly royalty equivalent to 5% of their sales,” Marron Duque told CubaNet. Since then, Grupo Palmares has supervised the Bodeguita franchise on behalf of the Cuban government’s behalf, as well as that of fellow Cuban-themed restaurant El Floridita.

CubaNews mentioned to González de la Peña the problems that certain Canadian and  European investors had encountered in Cuba in recent years, including the arrest of businessmen like Cy Tokmakjian, Amado Fahkre and Stephen Purvis on corruption charges.

González de la Peña’s response was simply that his venture is based in Mexico, not Cuba — implying that whatever problems might occur would also be solved in Mexico.

There’s little doubt Grupo Son has maintained good relations with the Cubans throughout the years – even during Mexican President Vicente Fox’s term (2000-06), when bilateral ties were at their worst.

In fact, Luís Quirantes Bouza, the Cuban consul in Monterrey, attended La Bodeguita’s November 2011 inauguration in that city.

Things must be going well; González de la Peña told us that his group will soon launch a sixth Bodeguita restaurant in Mexico.