In a move that underscores how competitive the food delivery landscape is getting, UK-based service Deliveroo announced it will pull its business out of Germany on August 16, according to TechCrunch.
In an email sent to Deliveroo users, the company noted it was “on a mission to create the very best food delivery service in the world,” adding that “where we cannot do this to the level that we expect and you deserve, we won’t operate.”
As TC notes, Deliveroo had shuttered services in smaller German cities about a year ago to focus on places like Berlin, Munich, and Frankfurt. The total exit from Germany is first time the company has completely shut down service in a country.
The move comes just a couple weeks after Netherlands-based delivery service Takeaway.com acquired UK-based Just Eat for about $10 billion, thus creating one of the world’s largest food-delivery companies with a leading presence in Germany along with Britain, the Netherlands, and Canada. The new company, dubbed Just Eat Takeaway.com, also has operations across Europe as well as Brazil, Mexico, and Australia. In 2018, Delivery Hero sold its German operations to Takeaway.com.
Deliveroo’s news today is no doubt in response to the massive merger, though the company said it didn’t rule out the possibility of returning to Germany at some point in the future. Deliveroo, which raised $575 million in May, said it would refocus its efforts on other markets in Europe and APAC.
The service will operate as normal until August 16, according to the email sent to Deliveroo users.
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