iFood is a Brazilian company which uses technology to innovate not only in the delivery sector, but also on other business fronts. One example is the iFood Benefits, created in 2020 to offer food and meal vouchers on a single card and which can now also be used for health, well-being and mobility services.
The evolution of iFood Benefits has accompanied changes in demand for this type of service. Delivery itself, before the Covid-19 pandemic, was closely linked to dinner and meals during leisure moments, such as weekends.
With the growth of remote work, people's eating habits at weekday lunches have changed. “Delivery has become a necessity in home office”, says Mariana Leite, head iFood Benefits commercial.
“We then looked for a solution so that iFood could also play a role in this context”, he says. “Our idea was to provide ease for people who were working from home.”
Difference in the pandemic
During the pandemic, iFood Benefits offered a difference: enabling the use of food and meal vouchers when purchasing food and meals online.
“The acceptance network for traditional cards within the online world was very small”, comments Mariana Leite. “The way people relate to the job market has changed, and the idea of iFood Benefits is to serve 100% of these situations, in the entirety of this universe.”
In 2021, iFood formed a partnership with Elo and expanded the acceptance network to more than 4 million establishments for in-person or online transactions.
Multi-benefit offer
The next chapter in this story was the expansion of iFood Benefícios beyond the food and meal universe.
Today, the card covers nine benefits, such as health, well-being and mobility, “for employees to adapt their benefits to what makes the most sense according to their needs”, highlights Mariana. The iFood Benefits app provides a showcase of partners with exclusive offers on food, meals, culture, education, home office and free balance.
“The main point is to put employees at the center, as decision makers. And with legal support for the company.”
The legal support that Mariana refers to is the possibility of companies being able to control the balances on cards allocated to each different type of benefit, if they choose to join the PAT (Worker's Food Program).
By the way, the program establishes changes that benefit both the worker and HR companies and small and medium-sized establishments.
Among the new measures, the portabilityand the interoperability of food assistance – that is, workers will be able to choose the operator of food and meal vouchers, in addition to having more establishment options available.
“Workers gain the power of choice and the market opens up”, says Mariana. “With the entry of new competitors, whoever has the best product and the most convenience for the customer will grow.”
These differences have been sought by iFood Benefícios since its creation, including with the help of partners – and always with a focus on innovation.
Thinking about prioritizing the well-being of employees, iFood Benefits offers the iFood Club free, which provides users with discount coupons (5 of 25% discount per month, for use in restaurants, limited to R$ 10 per order) and free shipping (for orders over R$ 65 in restaurants with delivery partners for orders placed with iFood Benefits).
Its latest launch is Colab+, an employee support program that offers medical, psychological, well-being, legal and financial support, with 100% plans subsidized by the company. “Some packages include a gym plan”, lists Mariana.
