Deliveroo Supports 5,100 Jobs in the UAE Economy
A major new study commissioned by Deliveroo reveals the critical role that delivery services like Deliveroo had on the UAE and Kuwait restaurant sectors at the height of the pandemic earlier this year.
As the region faces potential further restrictions on the hospitality sector, the report underlines why services such as Deliveroo’s will be so vital for the sector to maintain some trading activity, to protect jobs and prevent mass closures.
The study found that, in 2019/20, Deliveroo’s operations in the UAE supported 5,100 jobs across the UAE economy 1,200 of which were in small, independent restaurants and their supply chains, 3,600 of which were in larger chain restaurants and their supply chains.
During 2019/20 Deliveroo generated an additional AED 861 million in revenue for the UAE economy.
The new report by Capital Economics, ‘The Value of Delivery Services’, surveyed Deliveroo’s restaurant partners and found that the ability to provide delivery services from platforms such as Deliveroo protected thousands of jobs in Deliveroo’s partner restaurants globally from being lost or furloughed over the period between April and June.
The report estimates that the ability to provide delivery services has supported around 24,500 jobs in Deliveroo’s partner restaurants in UAE, and an associated turnover of AED 2.3 billion for partner restaurants in UAE over the period between April and June.
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The survey shows that Deliveroo’s partner restaurants used the furlough scheme at a lower rate than the hospitality sector as a whole, underlining the value of the trade generated by delivery services to both restaurants and to the exchequer.
Capital Economics states: “Our survey suggests that delivery services like Deliveroo have been as important as either types of government support and government furlough schemes in keeping restaurants afloat during lockdown.”
On average, 38% of employees in Deliveroo’s partner restaurants said they continued to work because of delivery services, which is higher than the 17% that continued to work because of government schemes, again underlining the critical role of delivery in sustaining economic activity.
The Capital Economics report states, “Delivery services have helped to keep parts of the hospitality sector operating in a challenging environment and the cost to the government would have been even higher without them. They have helped to keep more people at work in the hospitality sector which has been one of the hardest hit sectors from lockdown restrictions and changes in peoples’ behaviour.”
Since the lockdown, Deliveroo has on boarded 2,600 new partners on to the platform for the first time to offer delivery services with a total of 4300 restaurants on the platform.
Globally, Deliveroo supports 100,000 jobs in the restaurant sectors in the markets in which it operates and generated over $4 billion in revenue for those sectors.
Anis Harb, GM Deliveroo GCC, said: “Deliveroo in the UAE is constantly going from strength to strength. We are driven by supporting our brilliant restaurant partners and are proud to have played our part in supporting so many jobs and contributing to wider economic growth.
"2020 was unique in the sense that we were not just a business that was delivering food but also an essential service that was keeping the city fed, keeping partners’ businesses operating and providing an invaluable source of work.”
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