When a restaurant joins the iFood platform, entrepreneurs have at their disposal a series of tools to improve your operation in everyday life and have access to a intelligent data analysis and its expertise in logistics.
With this, they can discover new opportunities to generate sales and have more resources to make strategic business decisions. Want to know how this happens? Discover the stories of four restaurants that grew with iFood.
Severina's House: dark kitchen of northeastern food
Severina's House is a northeastern food restaurant founded in 2018 in Rio de Janeiro (RJ). The following year, the company entered iFood, but realized that it was not producing results, says Felipe Helvio, managing partner of the establishment.
It was then that their managers realized that they were missing their homework. “We decided to strictly follow the iFood guidelines. We provided photos of the products and started to participate in campaigns carried out through the application”, explains Felipe.
From then on, A Casa da Severina took off. “With adequate publicity, the machine began to work on its own in our favor”, says Felipe. He says that one of the problems was that, in the beginning, customers had the option of assembling their dishes with different items.
“We noticed that many did not continue with the order because they were unsure about what to choose. We then started offering specific dishes already assembled, and that solved the problem”, he says.
It was such a success that, in December 2021, A Casa da Severina set up a dark kitchen to help fulfill delivery orders. “In December 2022 alone, there were 4,500 orders, a very significant number for a type of food that has no tradition in this model”, says the entrepreneur.
He considers the tools provided by the platform essential for business growth. “On peak days, we use the Easy Delivery so as not to delay orders”, says Felipe. The service helps partners deliver all the orders they usually receive through other sales channels (such as telephone, social networks and other delivery apps).
iFood Shop, a shopping platform that serves iFood partner restaurants, is also commonly used by the house. “Products like rice and oil are generally much cheaper there compared to market prices”, he highlights. “The very packaging we use helps people order a baião-de-dois or a tropeiro beans for lunch, for example.”
Kiorelle Sweets: logistical support to grow
A Kiorelle Sweets, founded in 2019 in São Paulo (SP), also took advantage of iFood's support to outline an expansion strategy during the Covid-19 pandemic.
At the time, his partners noticed that there was also a demand for savory snacks. “With the pandemic, we realized that the business still needed an arm of bakery items”, says founder Paulo Henrique Oliveira Neves.
The brand started with just the sweet shop on the iFood platform. But, when the partners told the company that they were interested in expanding the business to other kitchens, they received help to understand where there was demand. Result: today Kiorelle has four different stores on iFood — including an açaí store.
Paulo explains that this growth would not be possible without the logistical support from iFood. “In our first month of operation, we had 20 delivery orders”, he says. “On Black Friday 2022, we reached 12 thousand orders. Alone, I wouldn't have the know-how of delivery to enable an escalation of this size.”
The entrepreneur claims to have noticed significant increases in the number of requests for participation in promotions encouraged by iFood. “Our brand became well known in the north of São Paulo thanks to them”, he says.
Proper analysis of the application, he says, is also crucial to understanding the best strategies for attracting and retaining customers. “It makes more sense for me to give free shipping to customers who are within a 3 km radius of the restaurant”, he explains.
Boali: from the lounge to the dark kitchen
The healthy food restaurant franchise Boali was founded in 2016 focused on opening restaurants. In its early years, the brand focused its investments and efforts on service in the salon, says CEO, Rodrigo Barros.
In 2019, when the brand joined iFood, delivery still didn't have much expression for them. “We were very small within iFood, 98% of our revenue was concentrated at the counter”, recalls Rodrigo.
But the game soon changed when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the following year. “iFood has become our most important partner. We have increased the number of stores and cities”, says the entrepreneur, who account here his entire career with Boali.
Today, Boali not only has franchised stores but also dark kitchens —and an internationalization project. “In 2023 we expect even higher revenue. We understand that iFood is not just our delivery partner, it is a strategic partner for our growth.”
Bar do Alemão: expansion from the interior to the capital
O Bar do Alemão was born in Itu (SP), where he became famous for his steak parmigiana. And, with support from iFood, he expanded the business to other cities, including the capital. “This partnership was fundamental for the opening of two new delivery units”, says partner Joubert Steiner.
Joubert says that, using strategic data (such as consumption habits), iFood helped him make important decisions for this expansion. The new units are located in São Paulo (SP) and Santo André (SP) and are dedicated only to delivery (dark kitchen). Today, they account for 50% of the company's revenue.
He assesses that iFood's technology allows the restaurant to cope with the increase in demand caused during promotional campaigns carried out on the platform. “The system is very agile”, says the entrepreneur, who draws attention to the strength of the iFood brand as a factor that enhances the establishment’s reach.
Another tool that Joubert uses on a daily basis is the Digital Menu. For him, the tool helps in direct contact with customers and building relationships with them, at a cost that is favorable for the enterprise.
