Foodora

Foodora is an online food delivery brand owned by Delivery Hero. It was founded in Munich, Germany, and operates in Austria, Sweden, Norway, Hungary and the Czech Republic.[1][2][3]

History

Foodora was founded under the name Volo GmbH in Munich in February 2014. It relocated to Berlin when Rocket Internet acquired the majority of the company in April 2015.[4] In June 2015, it also acquired food delivery services Hurrier (in Canada), Suppertime (in Australia), and Heimschmecker (in Austria), which all operate under the Foodora brand. In September 2015, Delivery Hero

Geographical presence

Foodora currently operates in Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Norway, Sweden.[3]

It formerly operated in Denmark (late 2022–14 June 2024),[9] Germany (2014–2019), Finland (2015–2026), France (2015–2018), Italy (2015–2018) the Netherlands (2015–2018)[10] and Slovakia (2021–4 April 2024).[11][12] Outside Europe it maintained services in Australia (2015–2018) and Canada (2015–2020).

Australia

Foodora had expanded over the Australian market in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. In September 2015, it acquired a local delivery company named Suppertime, later re-branding it to Foodora in May.[13] On 1 August 2018, Foodora announced that it was closing operations in Australia on 20 August 2018, citing a focus on markets with higher potentials for growth.[14][15] Unions called out Foodora's decision to leave the country during various disputes with workers, including over alleged unfair dismissal and millions of dollars of back pay, which had led to the Fair Work ombudsman taking the company to federal court a few months earlier.[16][14] In November 2018, Foodora admitted that workers owed more than $5 million in unpaid wages were "more likely than not" employees.

Canada

In July 2015, Foodora entered the Canadian market by acquiring Toronto-based delivery company Hurrier.[17] They expanded to Montreal in October 2015 and later re-branded both cities to Foodora in January 2016. An expansion to Vancouver occurred in 2016. They expanded to Ottawa in early 2019.

In February 2020, deliverers in Toronto and Mississauga were granted the right to unionize with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.[18] Two months later, Foodora filed for bankruptcy in Canada and exited the market. Observers noted that Foodora's bankruptcy filing shortly after a successful unionization effort resembled the company's behavior in Australia.[19] CUPW noted that Delivery Hero's profitability had doubled between 2019 and 2020, and later reached a settlement for former workers, with Foodora paying the union $3.46 million.[18][20]

Sweden

Foodora is the largest restaurant delivery service in Sweden, where one third of its employees have a collective agreement, negotiated with the Transport Workers' Union.[21] In March 2021, the company introduced the first Foodora's delivery robot into its fleet in Stockholm. The droid, called Doora, will work in quick commerce, delivering household goods, groceries, pharmaceuticals, and electronics.[22]

In 2023, in response to an investigative report by media outlet Breakit citing employees' concerns over work conditions in the company, Foodora announced it would hire an external investigator to examine its compliance and governance structure.[23][24]

type	Private
industry	Online food ordering
founded	2014 in Munich
hq location city	Berlin
hq location country	Germany
areas served	Sweden Norway Hungary Austria Czech Republic
founders	Konstantin Mehl, Emanuel Pallua, Manuel Thurner, Stefan Rothlehner
key people	Pedram Assadi Jana Senner Camille Hadjéri Herbert Haas Prashant Søegaard Hans Skruvfors Niklas Östberg
parent	Delivery Hero
homepage	foodora.com

History

Operations

Geographical presence

Australia

Canada

Sweden

Controversies

External links

References