iFood: Recipe for Growth
iFood faced a high churn rate among its primary partners, as over half of Brazil's family-owned restaurants closed within two years. DM9 São Paulo was tasked with strengthening the brand's relationship with these small businesses. The goal was to move beyond being a delivery app and prove iFood's commitment to the long-term success and growth of local entrepreneurs.
Creative Idea
Turned delivery data into a free digital business mentor for struggling family-owned restaurants.
iFood transformed its massive delivery data into a digital business mentor for struggling family-owned restaurants. By providing small owners with corporate-level insights on trends and pricing, the platform turned a delivery app into an essential partner for small business survival.
Turning Delivery Data Into A Survival Guide
120 Million Monthly Data Points
The campaign functioned as a sophisticated digital business mentor integrated directly into the iFood app. By leveraging a massive pool of 120 million monthly orders, the tool utilized AI to provide hyper - local insights to over 3,000 small family - owned restaurants. It analyzed real - time variables such as dish search trends, ingredient price fluctuations, and competitor promotions. Beyond marketing, the system acted as an operational "survival guide," helping non - professional owners find vetted suppliers and qualified staff to stabilize their businesses.
Real Owners Over Famous Faces
The Engine Powering The Story
The initiative delivered a 40% increase in sales for participating restaurants compared to those not using the tool. This tangible success drove a 13% rise in new restaurant sign - ups for the platform. Jury President Gabriel Schmitt noted that the work was significant because it turned data from a mere "proof point" into the "engine powering the entire story." While the phrase "Recipe for Growth" later became an industry buzzword used by brands like Chipotle, iFood’s 2025 iteration remains the definitive case study for Creative Commerce and data utility.
Creative Strategy Deconstructed
Company
iFood possessed billions of data points from 120 million monthly orders across Brazil's diverse food landscape.
Category
Delivery platforms are often seen as predatory middlemen that squeeze margins rather than helping small businesses thrive.
Customer
Small restaurant owners felt overwhelmed by business management and lacked the data to compete with large chains.
Culture
High failure rates for family businesses created a need for accessible, professional-grade tools to ensure economic survival.
Company
iFood possessed billions of data points from 120 million monthly orders across Brazil's diverse food landscape.
Category
Delivery platforms are often seen as predatory middlemen that squeeze margins rather than helping small businesses thrive.
Strategy:
Democratize big data to empower small-scale partners, transforming a transactional platform into a vital business survival engine.
Customer
Small restaurant owners felt overwhelmed by business management and lacked the data to compete with large chains.
Culture
High failure rates for family businesses created a need for accessible, professional-grade tools to ensure economic survival.
Strategy:
Democratize big data to empower small-scale partners, transforming a transactional platform into a vital business survival engine.
Results
The 'Recipe for Growth' campaign has achieved significant impact for small businesses in Brazil. It has helped 3,000 small family-owned restaurants manage their businesses more effectively. The initiative led to an +18% increase in small restaurant sign-ups to the iFood platform. Most notably, restaurants utilizing the 'Recipe for Growth' tool are seeing up to 40% more sales compared to those not yet using it. The campaign focuses on three key pillars: driving sales growth, increasing profit margins, and decreasing waste.
40%
increase in sales for participating restaurants
3,000
small family-owned restaurants supported
+18%
increase in small restaurant sign-ups
Strategy Technique
Build an Utility, Not an Ad
Instead of just telling restaurants they care, iFood built a data-driven tool that solves real operational problems. This shifted the brand's role from a service provider to a vital business partner.
Explore Technique
Creative Technique
Unexpected Utility
iFood moved beyond being a simple delivery middleman by creating a functional business management tool. This unexpected value transformed the brand's relationship with its partners from transactional to supportive.
Explore Technique
Craft Breakdown
The campaign excels by turning complex big data into a simple, human-centric utility that solves a real-world economic problem for small businesses. The integration of high-level technology with grassroots entrepreneurship is handled with great empathy.
The creation of a bespoke data-processing tool that translates billions of points of delivery data into specific, localized business advice for non-technical users.
The visual representation of data flowing from the app into actionable business nodes effectively communicates the scale and utility of the platform.
The narrative framing—contrasting the 'art of cooking' with the 'science of business'—creates a compelling and relatable hook for the audience.
The seamless visual transition between the gritty, authentic world of small kitchens and the slick, red-and-white digital interface of iFood.
The synergy between the advanced data technology and the human-centric storytelling makes the 'big data' feel accessible and benevolent rather than cold or intrusive.
