Food delivery service Deliveroo will soon be launching in its third Australian city, Brisbane, after establishing its success in Melbourne and Sydney. The UK-originated startup announced to have more than 600 restaurants in its service.
To support its launch in Brisbane, Deliveroo has partnered up with premium restaurants in the CBD, Fortitude Valley, New Farm, Teneriffe and Spring Hill. With the service, users can order food online via its app or website, and the restaurant, which initially did not offer deliveries, will take the order. Deliveroo riders will then pick up the order and deliver it to the user's front door.
Deliveroo has enjoyed a remarkable growth in Australia. According to Startup Smart, the food delivery startup experienced 30 percent week-on-week growth in the region since its initial launch last November. The startup's country manager Levi Aron admitted that the service's growth in Australian has been better than expected. "It's a pretty insane rate. We're almost creating a new business every 3-4 weeks," Aron said. He also revealed that the last two months' growth has accelerated faster than expected.
The startup's success in its two first cities in Australia has inspired Deliveroo to roll out further and invest more in the country. News.com.au reported that the startup has secured $140 million of investment in Series D round to fund its Australian operation.
In addition to over 600 restaurants partnerships in Sydney and Melbourne, the startup has teamed up with another 50 local restaurants in Brisbane. To support the service, Deliveroo also partnered up with 30 riders in the area to deliver the food orders. Typically, Deliveroo riders use bicycles and mopeds to deliver foods, equipped with a food packaging system to ensure the food stays fresh.
Despite the impressive growth with its existence in Australia, Deliveroo was faced with a criticism over its riders' pay. According to Mashable, the startup was accused of underpaying its couriers. Reports said that in some cases its riders received only A$10 per delivery.
The startup, however, has defended itself on that matter. It confirmed that the company was currently trialling a 'drop only' rate of $10 with a small test amount of freelance drivers. On the same statement, it claimed that riders earn an average of A$18-$21 an hour.
UK-based food delivery service Deliveroo is launching in Brisbane, its third Australian city. The service has been active in Australia since November 2015 and is experiencing prolonged growth as it aims to expand further in the region, as well as partners up with more restaurants and riders.
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