At some point we’ve all told our inner Jamie Oliver to take a night off and have dinner delivered to our doorstep instead. The growing popularity of app-based food delivery services has seen a slew of startups entering the market, turning it into a highly competitive multi-billion industry where only the fittest can survive. One company that couldn’t take the heat is Takeaway.com, a Dutch food-delivery startup that closed its UK operations this week.
Hungry customers in the UK trying to access its website will now be redirected to food delivery rival Just Eat’s website after the company bought Takeaway.com’s UK assets for an undisclosed sum. Joris Wilton, a spokesperson for Takeaway.com, explained the decision: “We’ve had some difficulties in the market for quite a while.” Pointing to an unsatisfactory growth rate in the country, Wilton said the company was faced with the decision to either power on or focus on more sustainable markets in Europe. Takeaway.com opted for the second option, having recently purchased Just Eat’s Dutch and Belgian assets for €22.5m.
While the competitive market in the UK played into the decision to leave Blighty, Wilson is adamant that the arrival in the UK of UberEats, which is touted to become a major player, didn’t play into the decision. “I wasn’t even aware that they had decided to go into London, so this was not a part of our decision,” he said. “This is not something we decided to do last week or last month. It was already set in motion because we hadn’t seen the growth rates we are used to in the United Kingdom.”
UberEats’ arrival may not have been a factor in Takeaway.com’s decision to leave the UK but this week’s takeover highlights just how Darwinian the market has become. Welcome to the jungle. 
