Deliveroo boosts restaurant numbers as virus forces diversification

Deliveroo increased the number of restaurants on its platform by half in the first half of this year as restaurants moved to diversify their offering having been shuttered due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The food delivery group now has more than 1,800 restaurant partners, leaving it on track to meet the 2,000 restaurant target it set for itself earlier this year.

More than 600 new restaurants signed up to the platform in the first six months of 2020 with 64 per cent of the new sign ups in Dublin, 11 per cent in Cork, 6 per cent in Galway and 4 per cent in Limerick.

New additions to the platform including pop-up restaurant Lucky Tortoise, fried chicken restaurant Mad Egg, sichuan restaurant M&L Chinese and Offbeat Donuts.

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Between January and June, Mexican food was the most popular on the company’s platform. By consequence, burrito bowls and burritos had the biggest percentage increase in sales in June 2020 compared to the same month last year.

American, Italian, British and Indian were the other cuisine categories which filled out the top five across Dublin, Galway, Limerick and Cork.

Although many restaurants established an online presence as the Government imposed lockdown closed eateries for some months, restaurateurs have said that sales were lower in the period.

Deliveroo has assigned more staff to help new restaurant partners offer their wares on the platform and dropped fees for those joining the company for the first time.

“We are working with restaurants to optimise their operations for delivery, and we are doing everything we can to make sure people still have access to the food they want,” said Deliveroo chief executive Will Shu.

The group said before the Covid-19 pandemic that it wants to increase the number of restaurants on its platform to 2,000 this year. Its plans to expand into suburban Dublin will mean it reaches an additional 100,000 consumers this year, adding to the 1.4 million it now services.