Deliveroo today announces it expects to expand its services into around 100 new towns and cities in 2021 across the UK, following a year of growth for the company in 2020. The expansion means around 4 million more people will be able to access Deliveroo for the first time in 2021.
Deliveroo will launch in new towns and cities throughout all corners of the UK, including in Yeovil and Exmouth, after seeing customer demand for delivery services rise over the past year.
Deliveroo’s logistics expertise has proven vital in helping people access hot food from thousands of restaurants who have signed up to the platform, as well as accessing essential groceries and household items during the pandemic, which has been particularly important for the vulnerable or those self-isolating.
The delivery company will also be expanding its reach in around 150 of the areas it currently operates in which, together with the around 100 new towns and cities it expects to enter, will bring the total number of people that could order from Deliveroo to almost two thirds of the entire population of the UK.
This follows the platforms’ growth in 2020, which saw thousands of restaurants move into delivery for the first time and the company’s grocery offering grow with major partners such as Aldi, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose joining. In the past year, 20,000 new restaurant partners have joined Deliveroo and the company has launched 36 new grocery partnerships, covering around 1,600 sites on the platform in the UK.
The expansion will allow households facing the new lockdown measures across the UK to access a wide selection of essential food, drink and household products from local restaurants and major grocery brands.
It will also allow restaurants without their own delivery capabilities to stay open in towns across the country and also provide opportunities to boost revenue for restaurants who are unable to offer dine-in service to customers. Deliveroo has invested heavily to support restaurants during the pandemic and introduced measures to support restaurants during the lockdowns through, for example, marketing campaigns to support local restaurants, reduced joining fees, faster payments and new services such as Table Service, as well as offering 0% commission promotions on Pickup orders.
The company also created work for an additional 25,000 riders last year, meaning the number of riders doubled from 25,000 to more than 50,000 in the UK over the course of 2020.
Alongside the expansion across the UK in 2021, the company expects to:
• Expand the Editions sites it operates worldwide
• Expand its on-demand grocery offering, which is the fastest growing part of the business
• Offer restaurant partners its new ‘Signature’ service, enabling customers to order delivery via restaurants’ own channels
• Provide greater benefits for Deliveroo Plus customers and bring Plus to new geographies
Carlo Mocci, Chief Business Officer UKI, Deliveroo said: “We are pleased to announce that we expect to launch in around 100 new towns and cities across the UK and expand our reach in existing areas throughout 2021 with the aim of reaching almost two thirds of the population. With further lockdown measures now in place across the UK, we want to do everything possible to help households get the food they need and want and play our role to make sure families across the country have a wide selection of amazing food, drink and household products in as little as 30 minutes.”
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: “With millions of us rightly staying indoors to protect our NHS and save lives, food delivery services have given us all the opportunity to support our much-loved local restaurants from the comfort of our own home. I am grateful to delivery services for protecting tens of thousands of jobs at a difficult time for the hospitality sector, while allowing many restaurants to keep on staff by operating on a takeaway basis.”
You can find out more about Deliveroo at deliveroo.co.uk.
