Meet friends and co-workers who innovated the game and treated themselves to delivery
Secret (or hidden) friends were never the same after the Covid-19 pandemic. Proof of this was a video that went viral in December, in which friends get together to treat each other in an original way: asking for iFood.
That's right: after the draw, each participant took out their cell phone and placed an order for food that had the face of their hidden friend. After some time, several motorcycles began to arrive at the home of event promoter Thiago Oliveira, 32 years old, in Belo Horizonte (MG).
He says that the idea came about because it was difficult to bring together coworkers — and get everyone to agree on what food to order. “Everyone works with events, so in the end-of-year rush there is little time to meet up and cook. When the group decided on pizza, there was always someone who wanted something else. We thought about making a secret chocolate friend, but not everyone agreed”, says Thiago.
To decide the issue, he proposed combining two solutions into one and making an iFood secret friend. “It had to be something practical. We chose iFood because of the amount of options it has. It’s very difficult not to please someone”, says the miner.
Friends embraced the idea, and on the day of the party there was everything: pizza, coxinha, sushi, esfiha (and even a delivery man who returned with a new delivery). “When in doubt, the more the merrier”, laughs Thiago, who loved the savory and sweet esfihas kit he got as a joke (his hidden friend got sushi).
After sharing the gifts with the group, there were even people who took a warm one home. “People loved it and are already asking me to do it again.”
Getting along with food
In 2020, when it was still not possible to have the end of year party in person, iFood was also a gift from a secret friend at the law firm where lawyer Ana Maria Roncaglia Iwasaki, 43 years old, worked, in São Paulo (SP).
As everyone was at home, working from home, they decided to do the draw via app and, on the agreed date, send an iFood order to the drawn friend's house. Meanwhile, they exchanged messages on the event website to talk about their food preferences.
“As there were a lot of new people at the company and many didn’t know each other, it was a great way to integrate people”, says Ana Maria. “On the day of the reveal, we sent photos of what we received in the WhatsApp group, thanking them and eating. It was very cool."
She says that her gift was a steak parmigiana (with dessert!) — in return, she sent a fancy sandwich with drink and dessert to her secret friend. “It was a lot of fun and brought everyone together. Through fun, we got to know each other better and the end of year party didn’t go unnoticed, even with the pandemic.”
