Deliveroo
Deliveroo is an online food delivery company based in London, England. It operates in two hundred locations across the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Puerto Rico, Hong Kong and Kuwait. A subsidiary operation, Deliveroo Editions, focuses on developing a network of ghost kitchens—kitchens located off-site from restaurants for the preparation of delivery-only meals. Deliveroo has not yet made a profit.
Business
History and basic operations
The company Deliveroo, headquartered in London, was founded in 2013 by Will Shu and Greg Orlowski. The company makes money by charging restaurants a commission fee, as well as by charging customers a fee per order. It operates in two hundred cities in the UK, and in The Netherlands, France, Belgium, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Australia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Hong Kong.Orders are placed through its app or website and then self-employed bicycle or motorcycle couriers transport orders from restaurants to customers.
In November 2017 Deliveroo introduced Deliveroo Plus, a subscription service which gives customers in the UK unlimited free delivery
Deliveroo works with some of the biggest chain restaurants across the UK, with the majority being available exclusively on the Deliveroo app along with thousands of independent restaurants. On 16 November 2016, it became known that the brewing company Heineken International had closed a deal for Deliveroo to deliver the latter's beers and ciders, initially across 15 sites in London, Bath and Cardiff. This delivery deal, whose activities started that same week, was considered the biggest one of its kind. Further expansion of these activities across the UK were planned by the end of the year 2017.
In January 2017, Deliveroo announced plans to create 300 UK tech jobs when it opens its new head office in London later in 2017. Also in January 2017, the British-born company employed more than 1,000 full-time staff.
Deliveroo’s Editions kitchens launched in April 2017. These delivery-only kitchens, sometimes known as ghost restaurants, allow restaurants to access customers in locations without needing High Street premises, thereby reducing set-up costs compared to a full-service restaurant. Deliveroo uses its data to identify areas where customer demand for certain cuisines is high and predicts which restaurants are likely to succeed there.
In mid-June 2016, the founders of Deliveroo, Will Shu and Greg Orlowski received an award for the "Best Startup Founders" as part of "The Europas Startup Conference and Awards", which are given to technology companies. The company also received Fastest Rising Startup of the Year and the Europas Grand Prix award.
Deliveroo recorded a loss of £1.4m for the year 2015. Mid-November 2016, the company reported a loss of £18.1 million for that year. In September 2017 Deliveroo recorded a growth in global revenue of 611% in 2016, with sales of £128.6 million, while "losses soared from £30.1m to £129.1m".
Deliveroo provides the delivery service as well as marketing and order taking, allowing it to provide food from restaurants that do not normally offer a delivery service. In a press release of May 2016, the German Bar Association informed the public that delivery companies such as Deliveroo, Take Eat Easy or Foodora are legally responsible for problems about the quality of the food, not the restaurants themselves.
As of 2020, Deliveroo has not yet made a profit, it loses money on every single delivery it makes.
Economic impacts in the UK
In December 2017, a study by macroeconomic consultancy Capital Economics revealed that Deliveroo has helped create 7,200 jobs across the restaurant sector since it launched in 2013, whilst also boosting the industry’s revenue by £460 million in the year to June 2017. The report also found that Deliveroo helped add £372 million in value to the UK economy in the same 12-month period, a figure which Capital Economics projects to rise to £1.5 billion in the year to June 2019.Competition
Deliveroo's main competitors are Just Eat, GrubHub and UberEATS.Early June 2016, the German Hotel and Catering Association cautioned for delivery services such as Deliveroo or Foodora, claiming that they attack their value chain without respect. In this warning, the Association wanted to prevent the market for food delivery services starting to resemble that of hotels, where businesses have become dependent on booking portals such as Booking.com or HRS but are unsatisfied with the commission fees charged by those portals.
In 2017, Just Eat announced that they were planning to compete with Deliveroo by moving into the restaurant chain market, working with local independent restaurants and chains.
Number of employees
One media article reported that in early August 2016, Deliveroo had 800 employees, while another article of around the same date reported there were 6,500 riders working with by the company. On 8 September 2016, Financial Times reported that 20,000 self-employed couriers were working for Deliveroo. In September 2017 Deliveroo confirmed that the company works with 30,000 riders across the globe.Technical malfunctions
On 7 September 2016, the Deliveroo website and application crashed in the city of Chelmsford, reportedly due to a high demand on the first night of launching its service in that city.On Tuesday 1 November 2016, at around 8 pm, technical problems caused the Deliveroo system to go offline for around an hour. Reportedly, thousands of customers who had already paid for their orders got upset due to a lack of clear communication being provided by the company during the incident, with some customers having to wait hours to get their food delivered.
During periods when the system is down, and therefore no deliveries are available for riders, Deliveroo pays riders a flat rate per hour until the system is restored.
Funding
In June 2014, Deliveroo raised a £2.75 million series A investment round from Index Ventures and Hoxton Ventures, as well as an assortment of angel investors. In January 2015, Roofoods Ltd, doing business as Deliveroo, received $25 million in series B funding led by Accel with participation from Index Ventures, Hummingbird Ventures and Hoxton Ventures at an estimated valuation of $100 million. At this time, Deliveroo was providing deliveries for approximately 750 restaurants. In July of that year, it secured a further $70 million in series C investment from Index Ventures and Greenoaks Capital, marking Deliveroo's third funding round in a year.In November 2015, Deliveroo raised $100 million in Series D Funding. In August 2016, Deliveroo raised a Series E of $275 million from the hedge fund Bridgepoint.
In September 2017, the company announced a $385 million Series F round. An additional $98 million was announced in November, bringing the total round to $480 million.
In May 2019, the company announced a $575 million Series G round led by Amazon, bringing the total round to $1.35 billion raised to date.
Taylor Review
In October 2016 Prime Minister Theresa May announced a review into employment practices in the modern economy, chaired by Chief Executive of the RSA Matthew Taylor. The review was criticised as corrupt as it was revealed by the Financial Times that one of its members held shares in Deliveroo, a fact that was not disclosed to the public. In its submission to the review, Deliveroo called on the Government to update legislation to allow the company to offer its riders rights - such as injury pay and sick pay - without limiting the flexibility which comes with self-employment. The company was the first in the on-demand economy to break ranks and ask for changes in legislation to enable it to offer self-employed riders more benefits. Deliveroo argued that current employment legislation means companies in the on-demand economy are forced to choose between offering riders flexible work and benefits. Deliveroo suggested that the Government either allow companies to offer entitlements to self-employed people or create a new category of employment in which benefits are calculated on the services they deliver instead of how many hours they work.Rider safety
In response to the attacks on moped drivers over the summer of 2017, Deliveroo announced a series of measures to help keep riders safe. Among the measures introduced were a new app feature that allows riders to raise security concerns, plus a trial of helmet cameras to allow Deliveroo to gather evidence and to pass on information to the police. The company also hired 50 new staff across the country who have a focus on rider safety.In December 2017, Deliveroo announced that its riders will have access to the first ever insurance scheme for food delivery riders in the UK on-demand economy. As well as sickness and accident insurance cover, cyclists will also have access to the first-of-its-kind public liability insurance.
Leaving the German market
On 12 August 2019, Deliveroo sent an email to German customers stating their decision to leave the German market stating that all services will stop from 16 August. The email cited its inability to provide a sufficient quality of service and that it would focus on other markets. The announcement came days after acquiring Scottish startup Cultivate, and three months after raising £450 million in a funding round led by Amazon.Operations in Taiwan
Deliveroo entered the Taiwan market in October 2018. In Taiwan, Deliveroo relied on contractors, according to an investigation by the Ministry of Labor. As Deliveroo workers in Taiwan were not considered employees, it was unclear if the company were required to provide labor insurance to workers. Despite not having the status of employees, Deliveroo and several courier services in Taiwan were cautioned by the labor ministry in 2019 that the still applied to contractors. Therefore, Deliveroo agreed to suspend work for riders when the government suspends work for those with employee status due to natural disasters. In October 2019, Sharing Economy Association Taiwan proposed safety regulations that were agreed to by several courier services active in Taiwan, including Deliveroo. That same month, Taiwan's Directorate General of Highways fined Deliveroo for violations of the Highway Act, as it had not applied for a business license to establish an automobile transportation enterprise. Additionally, the DGH ordered Deliveroo to cease operations. Deliveroo announced its exit from Taiwan in April 2020.Praise
In a 2016 study of the sharing economy, PwC wrote that 'the UK has also contributed one of the sharing economy's quickest-growing stars' in Deliveroo.On awarding Deliveroo with 'Best Startup Founders' in the Europas Awards 2016, TechCrunch declared that founders Will Shu and Greg Orlowski 'have proved a rock-star team, scaling a high-growth business and introducing new thinking to the market.'
In November 2016, Management Today argued that Deliveroo has become 'one of the best' in the food delivery sector 'thanks to its USP of providing a network of dedicated couriers and an ordering platform, making it easy for restaurants which wouldn't otherwise offer delivery, to do so.'
Deliveroo topped Deloitte's annual ranking of the UK's fastest growing technology companies in November 2017, with a four-year revenue growth of 107,117% - a record for the UK Technology Fast 50 awards. David Cobb, lead partner for the Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 programme, commented: 'The achievements of this year's winner are truly remarkable: Deliveroo is now the fastest-growing technology company in the history of the competition. Their relentless growth has justifiably added them to the exclusive list of UK 'unicorns'. Everyone wants a slice of the online takeaway business, but very few have found success in the same way that Deliveroo has.'
Criticisms
Australian-based employment lawyer Josh Bornstein, principal at Maurice Blackburn, examined work contracts from Deliveroo and its competitor Foodora in late March 2016 and described the contracts as "sham", designed to pay workers "below the award rates" and to "deny their basic benefits".Maurice Blackburn announced that test cases against Deliveroo, as well as against Foodora, were being prepared wherein they were "accused of under-paying their delivery riders and failing to meet minimum employment conditions". Such allegations were confirmed by the Young Workers Centre in Australia, which claimed that the contracting arrangements by those companies left workers without access to minimum pay rates, WorkCover insurance, leave and superannuation. The Centre's "Rights for Riders" campaign aims "to improve safety, pay, conditions and job security for food delivery riders".
Complaints have also been made regarding the company's failure to provide cycle training and safety equipment to its sometimes inexperienced riders. It has been argued that the need to race against the clock is another reason for risky cycling behaviour exhibited by the couriers; and that bikes should be checked for safety.
Strike
Deliveroo's London drivers held a day-long strike in August 2016 to protest a new pay plan that they claimed would result in riders earning substantially below minimum wage, and the continuing lack of sick and accident pay. The company later abandoned these plans.During these strikes, as a means of protest, London Deliveroo drivers held up signs containing the neologism "Slaveroo". The term and its corresponding social media hashtag were adopted by several news outlets, including non-English international media.
In the aftermath of these protests, Mags Dewhurst, chair of the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain Couriers and Logistics Branch, which represents couriers and delivery drivers in London, published an article in The Guardian backing the protesters, saying that Deliveroo's claims of offering freedom and flexibility, vis-à-vis its couriers, are a sham, calling them "bywords for exploitation and exhaustion".
On 8 November 2016, news headlines covered the demand of a small group of UK Deliveroo drivers to seek union recognition by the company. The Independent Workers Union of Great Britain represented the drivers in the Camden area of north London. In November 2017, the Central Arbitration Committee dismissed the challenge by the IWGB and ruled that Deliveroo riders are self-employed. Deliveroo welcomed the decision as a 'victory for riders value the flexibility that self-employment provides'.
In mid-November 2016, it was reported that Deliveroo's CEO, Will Shu, almost doubled his salary around the same time that low-paid Deliveroo drivers were demanding better employment conditions. Shu increased his pay to £102,135 in the year to December 2015, from £53,333 the year before that.
In May 2017, Deliveroo workers protested working conditions in Berlin, Germany. In January 2018, Deliveroo riders went on strike in Belgium and the Netherlands.