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IFOOD EXPERIENCE
Cash Management (POS) for SME Restaurants
Launching an MVP at iFood
At iFood, I developed and delivered a point-of-sale (POS) product from scratch in just three months, fully functional and ready for testing. The project’s primary goal was to increase restaurant retention by creating an efficient and user-friendly solution. The rapid delivery and implementation of this product led to its projection for launch across Latin America, reinforcing a commitment to innovation and results in restaurant management.
About the product
iFood’s POS system is an integrated platform that streamlines restaurant management, automating processes such as orders, inventory, and finances. With this system, restaurant owners gain full control over their operations, improving efficiency and enhancing the customer experience for both dine-in and delivery services.
Main challenges
The biggest challenge at iFood was time constraints. We had to leverage eComanda’s backend and develop an MVP for the POS that addressed restaurants' key needs within a highly compressed timeline.
This required conducting discovery, research, and defining the MVP scope while maintaining focus on the company’s OKR, which involved transitioning order processing within the platform and improving restaurant retention.
Many restaurants were churning because they didn’t perceive enough value in iFood or considered commission fees too high. Therefore, the product needed to quickly resolve these pain points, delivering clear value and efficiency in order processing.
Main features developed
POS Order Management
Marketplace Order Management
Inventory Management
Payment Integration
Customer Management
Reports & Analytics
Employee Management
Printer Integration
Invoice Management
Digital Menu
Delivery System
+60M de pedidos/mês.
About the company
About the company:
iFood is the largest foodtech in Latin America, focused on revolutionizing the food industry with convenience. The company processes millions of orders monthly and
faces growth challenges alongside its partners—delivery drivers, restaurants, and customers—with the support of Movile and Just Eat.
Year of operation:
January 2019 to April 2020
Business model
B2B and B2C Marketplace
Company size
5,001 – 10,000 employees
Operating location
Osasco, SP, Brazil
Access to company networks:
Case Study
In this case study, I share a product initiative I led at iFood focused on retaining partner restaurants. The project began in response to a strategic challenge: addressing the rising churn among existing partners, driven by a limited perception of value given the high commission rates. The central hypothesis was that a native iFood POS solution, integrated into the platform's ecosystem, could deliver real operational value and act as a retention lever. Based on this, I led the acquisition of a company with established POS technology, oversaw the backend adaptation, and guided the development of a functional MVP. The solution was then tested with real restaurants to evaluate its impact on churn and its viability as a scalable product.
Situation
iFood was experiencing increasing churn from restaurants already on the platform. Many of these clients were dissatisfied with the high commission rates and didn’t perceive enough value beyond simply receiving orders through the app. A significant portion of them used third-party POS systems or operated manually, without integration. Internally, we hypothesized that iFood’s POS could be repositioned as a retention product by delivering direct value to restaurant operations. The objective was to reduce churn and turn the iFood experience into something more positive and promotive. At the same time, we wanted to test whether the POS could also attract new restaurants not yet on the platform.
Action
After the acquisition, I worked with product, engineering, and integration teams to map the acquired company’s backend and build a lean but functional version of the POS. We reduced scope to focus on core flows, such as order issuance, kitchen management, and basic integration with the iFood app. We selected a group of at-risk restaurants to test the MVP, providing close support and training to ensure adoption. In parallel, we collected structured feedback focused on perceived value and operational impact.
Task
Lead the acquisition of a company with existing POS technology, adapt its backend to iFood's systems, and develop a functional MVP. The mission was to quickly launch a viable solution that could be tested with real restaurants to assess its potential as a retention tool. The challenge included integrating an external stack, launching a working product under tight timelines, and ensuring basic adherence to operational flows during the pilot.
Result
The MVP was launched in a short timeline and tested with restaurants facing high churn risk. The pilot group showed a 25% increase in engagement with the platform and a reduction in exit intent. Restaurants reported improved order organization and operational agility. The experiment validated the POS as a retention lever when real value is delivered in daily operations. It also provided product insights based on real usage, supporting decisions for rollout expansion.
Use of tools and frameworks
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Hotjar:
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mplementation of Hotjar to conduct NPS satisfaction surveys.
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Use of session recording and mapping of user interactions within the product.
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Amplitude
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Implementation of Amplitude to analyze user behavior within the product, providing detailed insights into engagement and the customer journey, focusing on optimizing retention and conversion.
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Metabase
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Configuration of Metabase to create dynamic dashboards and enable self-service data analysis, allowing non-technical teams to generate insights without the need for complex SQL queries.
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Infographics
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Configuration of infographics to create dynamic and impactful visual representations, facilitating the communication of data and insights.
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