Could food delivery services such as Deliveroo, Just Eat or Uber East be just flashes in the retail pan?
Jonathan Doughty, head of EMEA Foodservice Consulting at JLL thinks this may be the case.
Speaking at a PropertyEU Retail Trends briefing at Mapic today he said that while millions had been poured into food delivery apps, none of them had yet made any money, and he can't see how that would change. 'The food operators using the service don't understand it and the deliver companies don't either,' Doughty said.
'The billions that have been invested in Deliveroo will not be realised for the investors,' he warned.
The food and beverage sector is changing the way the consumer is eating, he admitted, and the hospitality industry understands that. The retail industry does not.
Danish company Just Eat pioneered online food delivery in 2001. It is now listed on the London Stock Exchange and operates across 12 markets around the globe. It claims to be connecting over 15 million customers with over 60,000 restaurant partners. In the areas it operates, Deliveroo can account for 30% of a food and beverage retailer's takings, but can also charge up to 30% of the sales price, a significant price for food and beverage retailers.
