Photo: screengrab from the official website of Brasil 247

By Brasil 247 - 99Food officially launched operations in São Paulo and its metropolitan region on Tuesday, bringing with it a competitive plan to capture customers and restaurants. The news highlights the company's expansion strategy under Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi. The approach — heavy subsidies and sharply reduced fees — has been hailed by the company as more competitive.

At the launch event, Simeng Wang, general manager of 99 in Brazil, outlined the company's vision as it seeks to challenge established players such as iFood. "We are not concerned with profit margins. For mass platforms, there should not be high margins, but scale. That's our strategy," Wang told reporters.

In Brazil, 99 already serves more than 50 million users and works with 20,000 restaurants and 50,000 delivery couriers in São Paulo alone. The expansion to the country's largest city follows a test run in Goiânia, where, according to company figures, more than one million deliveries were completed in just 50 days, driven by the same low-margin approach.

For São Paulo, Wang forecast even greater success. The platform is offering 12 months of commission-free service to restaurants, aiming to match the profitability of in-person sales. "It has to be like the counter — bringing the same level of profitability [to restaurants]," he said. New users will also receive five coupons worth 99 reais each, and couriers are promised a minimum payout of 250 reais if they complete at least 20 trips.

The move comes amid growing scrutiny of China's food delivery sector. Earlier this month, the country's largest platforms pledged to end "disorderly competition" and scale back aggressive discount wars following warnings from regulators. They committed to halting excessive promotional practices and fostering a fairer, more sustainable market.

99Food's executives say their goal is also to influence the trend of falling food costs in Brazil. The company plans to expand beyond São Paulo, aiming to be in more than 100 cities by next year.

(Reported by Brasil 247 on August 12, 2025)