Food delivery company Menulog has announced job cuts just a week after rival Deliveroo went into administration in Australia, and grocery delivery company Voly shut down.
A spokesperson for Menulog said that, as part of a global restructure of parent company Just Eat Takeaway.com’s customer operations team, the company had made structural changes to “correct the ratio of managers and support roles to advisers.
“Over time, due to factors like growth, natural attrition and technology improvements, there has been a gradual skew towards the number of management and support roles in the team,” the spokesperson said.
“To ensure we are operating as efficiently as possible, we have taken the difficult decision to reduce the number of those management and support roles.”
The spokesperson did not say how many were affected, but said it was a “small number of roles” locally. Those affected would be provided assistance with redeployment options, securing future employment and “generous redundancy provisions”, the spokesperson said.
“We have the scale to continue to maintain a strong position in the market and to run a sustainable business.”
Menulog was bought out by then UK-owned Just Eat in 2015, and is now part of the Dutch-owned Just Eat Takeaway.com. The parent company reported in October that a 10% decline in third-quarter growth for the Southern Europe and ANZ region could be attributed to “significant Covid-19 restrictions in Australia”.
According to multiple surveys, Uber Eats dominates the delivery app market in Australia. A CBRE-commissioned report in 2020 suggested Uber Eats held up to 59.7% of the market share, followed by Deliveroo at 17.5% and Menulog at 12.1%.
Menulog has marketed itself in Australia and abroad with “Did Somebody Say” jingles performed by Snoop Dogg and most recently Katy Perry.
It comes just a week after Deliveroo went into voluntary administration in Australia, citing tough economic conditions. The company immediately shut down ordering in the app, shocking both riders and customers.
Sydney-based grocery delivery company Voly last week announced it had shut down, also citing the current economic conditions.
Menulog announced it would honour Deliveroo vouchers and set up a dedicated email address for Deliveroo riders to apply for work with the company.
Menulog, along with Uber, has been at the forefront of pushing for regulation for working conditions for its delivery riders in Australia.
Menulog announced in April last year it would make its delivery riders full employees, rather than contractors, which would entitle them to award wages and other protections that gig workers do not have.
The company sought for the Fair Work Commission to create an “on demand” industry award specifically for its delivery riders, but the FWC commission ruled in January this year that the Road Transport Award – which applies to truck drivers – would apply to delivery riders. The decision was welcomed by the Transport Workers’ Union.
