Food Delivery Leader Needed to Reinvent Itself in Crisis

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In times of social isolation and restaurant shutdowns, the population began to store food for home cooking and use delivery services.

A leader in online food and beverage delivery, iFood is originally from Brazil, with approximately 150,000 partner restaurants in over a thousand cities, and is also present in Mexico and Colombia.

As a consequence of the pandemic, the company noticed growth in demand, which was approximately 30 million orders per month.

The rapid spread of the coronavirus has impacted the cash flow of many companies and the difficult economic climate has required unpleasant measures. Despite being a technology company and focused on a market that cannot stop, iFood also needed to adjust to this new time.

To ensure the safety of deliverers who have not ceased to do their jobs, risking becoming infected, the company distributed sanitizer gel kits and information material in São Paulo.

This action will also be expanded to Rio de Janeiro, Fortaleza, Brasília, Porto Alegre, and Curitiba, where there is a higher concentration of people and 77 percent of Covid-19 cases in Brazil.

Also concerned about the well being of its delivery partners, a solidarity fund of R$2 million (US$400,000) was set up.

Half of the amount is aimed at those who need to be quarantined and the other half is for risk groups that need to remain in isolation. These are people over 65 years of age, with lung conditions, heart disease, diabetes, immunosuppression, and other conditions.

The company will allocate R$50 million to a restaurant assistance fund, specifically for small and medium-sized establishments.

The platform also intends to provide a service to the population, by establishing a permanent donation area. The plan is to provide 250,000 meals in 15 days to some 30,000 financially and socially vulnerable people.

Although this text may seem more like an iFood advertisement, the goal is to show how companies are reacting to this challenging economic moment.

Even those who have apparently seen an increase in revenues are showing solidarity and seeking to tackle pain with compassion.

Hopefully, everyone is learning from this time and solidarity actions will be continued when this is all over.

Source: InfoMoney

More: Brazil news in English, every day from The Rio Times.