Deliveroo, the U.K. delivery service locked in a cutthroat battle with rival Just Eat, will let restaurants use their riders for orders that are placed through its food app.
Reuters, citing comments Deliveroo co-founder and chief executive Will Shu made to reporters, reported the change — which Deliveroo dubbed Marketplace+ and will launch in July — is aimed at boosting the number of restaurants from 10,000 to 15,000 by the end of 2018. What’s more, Reuters noted thousands more riders are likely to come as a result of the new service.
With the service, restaurants will be able to accept the orders through the delivery app and either have their own driver deliver the food or use one of the riders on the Deliveroo platform. “Traditionally we’ve been unable to work with those restaurants … because they already have their own delivery fleet and so they thought ‘well we don’t really need Deliveroo,’”Shu said, according to Reuters. “We’re changing the game. We’re enabling these restaurants to tap into our delivery fleet.” The executive noted that while the company isn’t taking the notion of an initial public offering off the table, it’s not an immediate focus. “It’s definitely something that we’ll consider, but just not now. We’re not in any rush, we’re heads-down on trying to really grow this business,” Shu said, noted the report. Deliveroo launched in London back in 2013, and since then has expanded the service to eleven additional countries and is aiming to enter new markets soon. That expansion prompted the question about the potential for an IPO, noted Reuters.
The move to enable restaurants to use their own delivery fleet or access a rider from Deliveroo comes at a time when competition with Just Eat is heating up. In March, Just Eat announced plans to spend $67 million in 2018 to push back against competition from the likes of Deliveroo and Uber Eats.
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