As some of you know, I’m from Brazil. And if you’re familiar with Brazilian television, you know that Rede Globo reigns supreme. For decades, it dominated the airwaves, while SBT—founded by the legendary Silvio Santos—remained perpetually in second place.
Back in the early days of the internet boom, I worked as a consultant to a director at Globo. He was pouring buckets of gold into building a SaaS platform—way ahead of its time. I was brought in to help oversee the agency working on it.
One day, in a candid conversation, he asked me:
“Do you know why Globo is bigger than any competitor?”
And without hesitation, he answered his own question:
“Because Silvio Santos is incompetent.”
I laughed. And I disagreed.
Silvio Santos is a self-made man, a hustler, a winner in his own right. But his background and approach to business were fundamentally different from the powerful family behind Globo. SBT was never truly a contender—it was just… there. Always playing catch-up.
And this conversation stuck with me. Because history repeats itself.
The SBT of Tech
Fast forward to today. We see billion-dollar tech companies armed with immense resources, burning cash, hiring “top talent”—yet some still lose the race to local competitors.
Case in point: Uber Eats in Brazil.
Uber poured money into its food delivery business, hired Brazil’s best operators, and still lost. Badly. Meanwhile, iFood—a homegrown player—took over the market.
But this isn’t a story about Uber.
This is about Wix.
Yes, you read that right. Wix—the powerhouse behind Wix Studio, which I love and use every day—had a golden opportunity to dominate another industry. And they completely fumbled it.
Dine by Wix: The Forgotten Uber Eats
If you’ve never heard of Dine by Wix, don’t worry. Most people haven’t.
It’s an Uber Eats-style food ordering platform built by Wix. And on paper, it should have been massive. Wix has millions of paying users—restaurants, cafés, and food businesses across the world. They had the infrastructure to plug in food ordering at scale.
But they failed.
Not because the product was bad. It’s actually pretty damn good.
They failed at business development, marketing, and sales.
A friend of mine from California called me the other day. He had just invested in a restaurant and needed a website that integrated with Toast. That’s when it hit me.
If Wix had executed correctly, they’d be the go-to for restaurants. Instead, businesses are stuck choosing between Toast and Square, which give them horrible websites.
Wix Needs a Better Strategy
Wix could own this space. But they need better leadership in these business units—not a Silvio Santos approach. Because in tech, if you’re always playing catch-up, you’re never really competing.
And who’s the second-largest search engine in the world? Nobody cares.
This is why Uber Eats, iFood, and many other platforms around the world have taken a big bite out of this flavorful industry.
And Wix? They’re still at the table, staring at an empty plate.
What do you think? Should Wix double down on the restaurant industry, or is it too late? Drop your thoughts in the comments!
Thanks for reading,
Juno