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Won Brazilian restaurant-tech relevance by building an entire digital ordering solution in seven days flat when COVID-19 hit — a company that had spent six years building in-house tablet and kiosk ordering for named brands (KFC, Spoleto) pivoted its whole business toward delivery specifically because its existing infrastructure could be repurposed almost instantly.
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MODEL
BUSINESS MODEL
SaaS, White Label
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HOW THEY BUILT IT
- Founded 2014 in Sorocaba, Brazil by Felipe M. Lo Sardo, Rafael Marcili Laganaro, and Daniel Targino Wassano, initially building tablet-based digital menu ordering solutions before developing self-service kiosks for well-known Brazilian restaurant chains including Madero, Jeronimo, Spoleto, and KFC.
- Pivoted rapidly into delivery-focused digital ordering in March 2020 when COVID-19 restrictions hit Brazil, building a complete menu-and-ordering solution routed through WhatsApp within seven days — reusing its existing tablet-ordering technology foundation rather than building delivery infrastructure from scratch.
- Positioned explicitly against traditional delivery marketplaces (iFood, Rappi, Uber Eats) that charge commissions up to 30% per order, offering a zero-commission alternative where restaurants keep 100% of order value and pay only a fixed monthly subscription fee regardless of order volume.
- Grew to serve over 500,000 food businesses (per company statements), later merging with Abrahão (formerly OiMenu, itself founded by a former Goomer customer) to combine complementary marketing/customer-acquisition strengths with Goomer's broader technology platform.
HOW TO ARCHITECT IT
1. When an external shock (a pandemic) suddenly makes an adjacent capability (delivery) urgently necessary, look for ways to repurpose your existing technology infrastructure (tablet-ordering systems) rather than building the new capability from scratch — Goomer's seven-day pivot depended entirely on reusing infrastructure it had already spent years building for a different use case.
2. Position explicitly against commission-based marketplace competitors on the specific dimension (a fixed, predictable monthly fee versus a percentage-of-order commission that scales with success) that matters most to your target customer's margin structure.
3. Consider merging with a complementary competitor (as Goomer did with Abrahão/OiMenu, itself started by a former Goomer customer) when the combination genuinely strengthens distinct capabilities (technology depth plus marketing/acquisition strength) rather than simply consolidating overlapping offerings.
DISTRIBUTION MODEL
Direct Sales, SEO Distribution, WhatsApp Distribution
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HOW THEY OPERATIONALIZED
Distributed via direct sales to restaurant owners combined with WhatsApp-based ordering (leveraging the app's near-universal adoption among Brazilian consumers) and SEO-driven content marketing targeting restaurant owners researching alternatives to commission-heavy delivery marketplaces.
HOW TO REPLICATE WHAT WORKED
What worked: repurposing existing tablet-ordering technology infrastructure to build a complete delivery ordering solution within seven days when COVID-19 made delivery suddenly urgent, rather than building delivery capability from scratch under emergency time pressure. Trap if copied blindly: positioning explicitly against commission-based marketplaces on price alone works only if your product genuinely replaces the marketplace's core value (customer discovery/acquisition) — Goomer's own CEO acknowledges restaurants still need to do their own marketing to drive traffic to a zero-commission direct ordering system, a real trade-off a founder should be transparent about rather than implying a fixed-fee model eliminates all customer-acquisition cost.
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MARKET
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MARKET TYPE
Fragmented Market
WHY THEY WON
Brazilian restaurant delivery technology is fragmented between dominant commission-based marketplaces (iFood controlling over 80% of marketplace delivery orders) and a growing number of smaller point solutions (Goomer, Consumer, KCMS, and others) offering direct-ordering alternatives. Goomer won share specifically among restaurants seeking to reduce marketplace dependency. Transferable principle: even when one marketplace dominates a category overwhelmingly, restaurants' desire to reduce commission dependency and protect margins can sustain a durable niche for direct-ordering alternatives.
ENTRY STRATEGY
Greenfield Entry
EXECUTION
Goomer entered directly via sales to Brazilian restaurant chains starting with tablet-ordering solutions, the standard entry mode for a founder-led vertical SaaS startup building from its Sorocaba, Brazil base, later pivoting its go-to-market emphasis toward delivery once COVID-19 restrictions hit.
FOOTHOLD STRATEGY
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Beachhead Strategy
The beachhead was well-known Brazilian restaurant chains (Madero, Jeronimo, Spoleto, KFC) needing tablet-based and self-service kiosk ordering solutions — a reachable segment given Goomer's direct sales relationships with recognizable brands. From there, Goomer expanded into delivery ordering for a much broader base of smaller restaurants and food businesses once the pandemic made delivery capability urgent.
GROWTH CAMPAIGN
CAMPAIGNS THAT WORKED
Building the initial seven-day delivery/WhatsApp ordering solution in March 2020, the direct response to COVID-19 restrictions; positioning explicitly against iFood, Rappi, and Uber Eats's commission-based model with a zero-commission, fixed-fee alternative; the merger with Abrahão (formerly OiMenu), combining complementary marketing and technology strengths; growth to serving over 500,000 food businesses.
KEY LEARNING
If an external shock suddenly makes an adjacent capability urgently necessary for your customers, look for ways to repurpose your existing technology infrastructure rather than building the new capability entirely from scratch under emergency time pressure — and be transparent that a fixed-fee alternative to commission-based marketplaces still requires customers to invest in their own marketing and customer acquisition, since a marketplace's core value (discovery) isn't automatically replaced by a lower-cost ordering tool alone.
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MONEY
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REVENUE MODEL
Subscription
PRICING MODEL
Flat Rate Pricing
WHY THEY WON
Fixed monthly subscription fee regardless of order volume, positioned explicitly against commission-based marketplace competitors that charge a percentage of each order, letting restaurants keep 100% of order value after the flat subscription cost.
A flat monthly subscription fee scaling with feature tier (basic delivery menu vs. full tablet/kiosk/QR-code integrated solution), targeting restaurant owners who evaluate cost against the percentage-based commissions charged by traditional delivery marketplaces.
TARGET AUDIENCE
CUSTOMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR
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Independent restaurants and food businesses (buying affordable, commission-free direct ordering); restaurant chains and franchises (buying tablet and self-service kiosk ordering at scale); home-based food entrepreneurs — bakers, confectioners (buying simple digital menu tools for WhatsApp-based ordering).
Sales-assisted for larger restaurant chains, self-serve for smaller food businesses, typically triggered by frustration with marketplace commission costs or, during the pandemic specifically, urgent need for any digital ordering capability at all.
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MOTION
GROWTH EXPANSION MODEL
COMPETITIVE STRATEGY
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Product Line Expansion, Market Development
Cost Leadership
HOW THEY EXPAND
Goomer expanded from tablet-based in-restaurant ordering into QR code menus, self-service kiosks, and delivery/WhatsApp ordering, then further through its merger with Abrahão (formerly OiMenu), combining marketing/customer-acquisition strength with Goomer's broader technology platform to serve an expanded range of food business types.
HOW THEY COMPETE
Goomer's core competitive strategy centers on cost leadership relative to commission-based delivery marketplaces, a sequencing that requires restaurants to accept doing more of their own marketing and customer acquisition in exchange for avoiding the 20-30% commissions charged by dominant marketplaces like iFood.
GROWTH ENGINE
GTM
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Partnership Growth
Growth compounds through the Abrahão/OiMenu merger, combining Goomer's technology depth with a partner brand's stronger marketing and customer-acquisition capability, and through word-of-mouth within the tight-knit Brazilian restaurant owner community frustrated with marketplace commission costs. It would break down if dominant marketplaces (iFood) responded by reducing commission rates enough to remove the primary cost incentive driving restaurants toward direct-ordering alternatives.
Direct sales to restaurant chains combined with WhatsApp-based ordering leveraging near-universal Brazilian consumer adoption of the app, reinforced by SEO content marketing targeting restaurant owners researching alternatives to marketplace commissions.
SUSTAINING MOATS
Switching Costs, High Customer Lock-In, Brand Power, Technology Advantage (complex enterprise scenarios)
moat
Goomer's moat is primarily cost leadership relative to commission-based marketplaces, combined with the switching cost of migrating a restaurant's menu configuration, WhatsApp ordering setup, and staff training to a different ordering system — a moderate but real moat in a category where restaurants' primary complaint (marketplace commissions) gives Goomer a durable, specific reason for switching away from dominant incumbents.
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