Around the world, the main reason for ordering food is to not have to cook — that was 25%'s response from respondents in a survey conducted by Kantar consultancy. In Brazil, this could be the reality in the very near future.
“My vision for 5 or 10 years from now is that ordering quality, healthy food will be as cheap as making it at home”, says Fabricio Bloisi, CEO of iFood. “The iFood app has the best restaurants and also has cheap options, to solve your everyday lunch, for example.”
This change in behavior already appears on the list of most requested items on iFood. In 2023, the lunchboxes were the most requested in the app — pasta dishes (3O place), meats (4O place) and chicken (5O place) were also well placed in the preference of Brazilians.
For many people, this transformation came with the pandemic. At the height of confinement, 66% of Brazilians ordered food delivery at least once a week — before that it was 40%, according to the research Online Consumption in Brazil, carried out by PayPal in 2021.
But Fabricio considers that the pandemic was the moment to consolidate a habit that was already becoming popular among Brazilians: ordering food to consume in the comfort of your home. “This is a trend that started a few years before the pandemic and has continued to grow”, says the CEO of iFood.
In Brazil, delivery penetration increased from 80% in 2020 to 89% in 2022, according to consultancy Kantar. “iFood today has enormous penetration in the upper classes, but it is also becoming increasingly popular. We want to have new consumers because this helps us deliver increasingly cheaper food, distributed more widely”, says Fabricio. “This is essential for us to continue growing.”
