The archive · Product Ideas · Product decision · 2025
iFood's Recipe for Growth turned order data into a mentor for small restaurants
iFood converted the signals in 120 million monthly orders into a free business mentor; small restaurants that used it grew sales by up to 40%.
iFood · DM9 São Paulo
What it had to solve
iFood's network depended on small restaurants, yet the campaign's own research said over half of Brazil's family-owned restaurants closed within two years. Owners saw the delivery app as a middleman taking a cut, not as something that helped them survive, and DM9 São Paulo was briefed to make iFood matter to their growth.
How it works
iFood's marketplace depended on small family restaurants, but the statistics its campaign cited were grim: over half of Brazil's family-owned restaurants closed within two years. Owners treated the delivery platform as a necessary middleman that took a commission, and iFood's B2B team, with DM9 São Paulo, wanted to prove the company could also be the reason a small business survived.
The answer was a tool rather than a campaign film. Recipe for Growth drew on iFood's pool of roughly 120 million monthly orders and turned it into hyper-local guidance for more than 3,000 small restaurants: which dishes customers were searching for, how ingredient prices were moving, what competitors were promoting, and practical support finding vetted suppliers and qualified staff. The advertising around it featured real family owners from São Paulo instead of celebrities, framing the data as an operational survival guide for people who were never trained as business managers.
The results gave the idea its proof: restaurants using the tool grew sales by up to 40 percent versus similar restaurants that did not, and new restaurant sign-ups rose 13 percent. At Cannes Lions 2025, Recipe for Growth collected a Gold in Creative Commerce, a Silver in Creative B2B and a Bronze in Creative Business Transformation, with jury members noting that the difference was measurable business impact delivered through simple use of data.
Why it lands
- The raw material already existed inside iFood — around 120 million monthly orders — so the mentor cost little to invent and was hard for a competitor to copy overnight.
- The advice was hyper-local and operational, covering dishes, prices, suppliers and staff, so an owner with no management training could act on it the same day.
- Because better-informed partners sold more, iFood's interest and the restaurants' interest pointed the same way, shifting the brand from middleman to growth partner.
- The tool lived inside the platform restaurants already used, so adopting it required no new habit, app or channel.
What it did
iFood reported that more than 3,000 small family restaurants adopted the solution and that restaurants using it grew sales by up to 40 percent compared with similar restaurants that did not. New restaurant sign-ups for the platform rose 13 percent, and at Cannes Lions 2025 the campaign won a Gold Lion in Creative Commerce, a Silver in Creative B2B and a Bronze in Creative Business Transformation.
What you can take
The growth lever is not a kinder ad about caring; it is giving the weakest partner the same intelligence the platform already holds, packaged as a free tool they use daily.
Since then
Recipe for Growth became the centerpiece of iFood's B2B story. At Cannes Lions 2025 it earned a Gold in Creative Commerce, a Silver in Creative B2B and a Bronze in Creative Business Transformation; jurors praised it for letting results lead — simple use of data that visibly changed small businesses. The initiative backed iFood's strategy of selling tools and services to partners rather than living on commissions alone, and its name became shorthand in industry commentary for turning a platform's data into utility for its smallest customers.
Sources
- iFood: Recipe for Growth by DM9 — Breakdown
- Cannes Lions winners: Brand Experience & Activation, Creative Business Transformation, Creative Commerce
- Cannes Lions 2025 — Creative B2B reconhece com GP solução de IA para pequenas empresas
- Cannes 2025: Um Leão de Bronze para o Brasil em Creative Business Transformation
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