Deliveroo flying with a little help from Verify2 Dec 2019 07:44
ONDON, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Food delivery platforms are
helping independent and chain restaurants in London, Paris,
Madrid and Warsaw serve more meals every week, boosting the
sector's revenue and profit, according to a Deloitte report
commissioned by Uber Eats.
Food delivery has grown rapidly across Europe, initially
driven by companies such as Just Eat and Takeaway.com
that offered marketplaces for restaurants that had
their own delivery services.
Uber Eats, a unit of the ride-hailing service,
Britain's Deliveroo and Spain's Glovo expanded the market by
supplying their own delivery to both independent and chain
restaurants.
The share of restaurants that reported an overall increase
in sales after joining the Uber Eats was 69% in London, 74% in
Paris, 67% in Warsaw and 59% in Madrid, according to the report.
Uber Eats' European head Stephane Ficaja said the survey was
commissioned to gauge the impact the company was having on the
60,000 restaurants that had joined its platform in 250 cities
across Europe in little over three years.
"We were hoping to see top line and bottom line growth, that
means that restaurants generate not only more revenue thanks to
food delivery but also more profit," he said in an interview.
The growth was seen by small independents and big chains,
which were able to compete on a level playing field on the
platform, he said.
The biggest number of extra meals delivered as a result of
third-party platforms was seen in London, where 606,000 servings
were made by chain restaurants and 305,000 through independents
weekly, resulting in a 323 million pound ($414 million) increase
in annual revenue and 189 million pounds of extra profit a year,
it said.
A 4.7% rise in meals served was seen in Paris, while there
was a 1.5% increase across the board in Madrid and a 1.9% rise
in Warsaw, the survey found.
The food delivery sector has already started to consolidate,
and two Netherlands-based companies - Just Eat and
Prosus - are competing to buy Britain's Just Eat.
Uber Eats, like its parent, is loss making. Its revenue
increased by 64% to $645 million in the third quarter but its
loss on the adjusted earnings level widened by 67% to $316
million.
"We are still in front of a big business opportunity. We
still have a lot of markets where delivery is not mature where
we need to invest," Ficaja said.
($1 = 0.7794 pounds)
(Reporting by Paul Sandle)