Just Eat to create ‘thousands’ of UK jobs as revenues hit almost £1bn

The food delivery giant reports surge in business as pub and restaurant sales halve after reopening post-lockdown

Just Eat
AThe food delivery giant reports surge in business as pub and restaurant sales halve after reopening post-lockdown
(Image credit: Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images)

Hungry Britons were happy to Just Eat during the coronavirus lockdown, according to the food delivery company’s latest sales figures.

Just Eat, which delivers from more than 30,000 restaurants in the UK alone, has reported a 44% increase in global revenues to €1bn (£905m) in the first six months of 2020. And the UK-based firm’s total customer numbers have ballooned from 44 million to 54 million year-on-year.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

By contrast, the UK hospitality industry is struggling and redundancy numbers are soaring amid the economic fallout of Covid-19. But in a ray of hope, Just Eat chief executive Jitse Groen has told Sky News that the company is to invest “tens of millions of pounds” in the UK and create “thousands” of new jobs.

“Just Eat Takeaway.com is in the fortunate position to benefit from continuing tailwinds,” Groen said.

“On the back of the current momentum, we started an aggressive investment programme, which we believe will further strengthen our market positions.”

Although Just Eat’s expansion plan will bring some respite to the hospitality sector, The Telegraph reports that Britain’s biggest pub and restaurant chains suffered a 50% drop in year-on-year sales in July, after reopening for the first time since lockdown measures were eased.

A recent analysis by the Daily Mail suggests that 18,100 jobs in the restaurant sector are set to be axed amid an “economic armageddon” in the UK.

Explore More

Mike Starling is the former digital features editor at The Week. He started his career in 2001 in Gloucestershire as a sports reporter and sub-editor and has held various roles as a writer and editor at news, travel and B2B publications. He has spoken at a number of sports business conferences and also worked as a consultant creating sports travel content for tourism boards. International experience includes spells living and working in Dubai, UAE; Brisbane, Australia; and Beirut, Lebanon.