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Just as we have The Coffee Shop, where we talk with our clients, we are opening Livin, where we chat with our partners. In this opportunity, we will disclose an incredible conversation with Frederico Nicolay, commercial manager of iFood and "father" of iFood Card, and Diana Oliveira, sales coordinator at iFood. Also, Natalia Romero, Head of Partnerships here at Atlas, was present.

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We covered different topics during our talk until we arrived at their brightest star: iFood Card. During the pandemic, companies wanted to give employees a voucher or cash balance to enjoy a meal or happy hour during the video calls. The iFood Card was created and developed from a B2B perspective since companies working with iFood requested these benefits. Although the meal voucher was born at the same time as the iFood Card, it has a different strategy, plus they do not compete with each other.

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“Not only that, but we realized that the iFood card helps people with no access to credit cards. There are 213 million people in Brazil; 16% of the adult population is unbanked. Unbanked also means switching from traditional banking institutions to fintechs, for example. 30% of Brazilians were unbanked in 2017. Now, with iFood Card, they can access our diverse restaurants in our app, which only accepts credit card payments”, Frederico explains. “And it’s great for kids, too, since parents do not have to give them access to their credit cards. If a kid wants to order some McDonald’s, they get an iFood Card so parents will know how much their children will get charged. No surprises when they receive their credit card balance!”.

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A crystal ball colliding with savvy minds

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What happens when four bright minds click in synchro? Magic! While we were discussing the different skins of the iFood Card - pets, food, etc - Diana told us: “In Loyalty Programs, we have a lot of categories, and we have more exposition with these skins. You can still redeem the card in any category. For example, if you get the baby iFood card, the first categories showing in our app would be baby-related: diapers, stores, and so on”.

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Out of curiosity, Natalia asked if people can get a discount or cashback when they use each card in a specific category, for example, iFood Card Pet in a pet shop. Frederico was surprised, as he said: "That's the future. Not yet". As I gave my two cents exclaiming the physical iFood Card with different skins would be a great collectible item, Frederico was shocked! "You girls are really into reading minds! That's another thing we are working to release soon: "Brazil doesn't have the American culture of giving a gift card as a gift. We are ideating a nice box where you can put your iFood Card in and give it as a real gift". I don't know about you who are reading this, but it is a great idea.

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Ifood and Atlas, a partnership that blooms

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iFood and Atlas have been partners since November 2023. We already did two actions together for Saint Valentine's and Carnival. "We are excited that Atlas contacted us. It’s a great opportunity to grow and expand our gift card program to other countries and increase the B2B market. Employers are thrilled with this partnership. The carnival action was just the beginning. We think it’s already a successful case", Diana said about the expectations of our partnership.

While I researched the company for this interview, what really caught my attention was the educational programs they have for their drivers: more than 6,000 received their high school diplomas, and currently, they are studying technology in the STEAM field. Not only that, but they also have a sustainable program, with a promise that by 2025 50% of their vehicles will be fuel-free and recyclable packaging.‍

What amazes me is that iFood and Atlas share the same core values: make people's lives better.

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Do you want your company to provide benefits like this to your remote team? Do you really want to change your employees' lives? We are the first platform that offers global flexible benefits to teams that work locally or remotely. Book a free consultation with us and make the emotional salary more profitable for you and your workforce.