Just Eat, the publicly listed takeout marketplace that has faced fierce competition from UberEats and Deliveroo in recent years, has made a round of layoffs in the U.K. and Ireland, TechCrunch has learned.
The redundancies, of which a source says a U.K. portion were announced internally on Friday, are part of a reorganisation over the last few months that is seeing Just Eat’s customer and restaurant operation teams merged. It it not clear exactly how many employees are being laid off, although I understand it is several dozen, while one source says it could be as many as 100 staff overall.
Confirming the re-org, a Just Eat spokesperson declined to comment on the exact number. The company is also disputing the timing of the internal communication. Instead, TechCrunch was provided with the following statement:
At our full year results we talked about organising and energising the business to execute our strategy at pace. In order to ensure our operations are set up to deliver the best possible service we have merged our existing customer and restaurant operations teams into one global unified team. This has resulted in a number of redundancies in the UK and Ireland. Our people are a priority for us and we will of course support all those affected during this time.
Separately, while Just Eat remains without a permanent CEO after Peter Plumb stepped down in January and was replaced by interim CEO Peter Duffy, TechCrunch has learned that Graham Corfield, previously U.K. managing director, has been appointed as Just Eat chief operating officer. The promotion also sees Andrew Kenny, previously U.K. commercial director, moved into the role of U.K. managing director.
In a further statement issued to TechCrunch, Duffy said: “I am delighted to confirm Graham Corfield’s appointment to Chief Operating Officer for Just Eat. Graham joined the business in 2011, and as UK MD for the past six years, has overseen countless success stories for us including driving UK order growth, evolving the Just Eat brand to be the nation’s favourite takeaway destination, and championing our restaurant partners to drive their success.”
Meanwhile, today’s layoff news comes a week after Just Eat announced the acquisition of City Pantry, the office catering marketplace that lets you order in food for staff, company events and meetings.
Just Eat acquired the U.K. startup for an initial cash offering of £16 million, with a possible further payout due if City Pantry achieves agreed operational and financial targets over the next three years.
The premise of the acquisition is to enable Just Eat, which has traditionally been focused on consumers, to further expand into the U.K. corporate catering market by leveraging City Pantry’s brand, technology and sector knowledge. City Pantry claims around 1,000 monthly corporate customers.