Deliveroo Offers £250 million to Shareholders as Profitability Nears
The best states for dog-friendly dining, Uber + Hy-Vee, Clean Eatz delivers overseas
Another day… another delivery company that’s just about profitable? This time it’s the U.K.’s Deliveroo that’s singing a happy tune, and it’s offering a £250 million ($319M) cash gift to its stockholders to celebrate. Meanwhile, Uber’s moving into Midwestern meats and cheeses, Clean Eatz Kitchen is launching overseas military meal kit delivery, and we’ve got a very fun chart of dog-friendly dining.
Today:
Deliveroo Adjusted EBDITDA Positive, Ready to Pay Back Shareholders
Uber and Hy-Vee Partner on Midwestern Groceries
Chart Time | The Best States for Dog-Friendly Dining
Clean Eatz Kitchen Brings Meal Kits to Overseas Military
3PD | Deliveroo to Return $319M to Stockholders as Profitability Nears
European delivery conglomerate Deliveroo announced it was nearing profitability, and as a sign of confidence it plans to return £250 million ($319 million) in capital to its shareholders. Adjusted earnings for the first half of the year came in at £39 million, ahead of estimates of £18.1 million. It’s overall loss slimmed down 46% to £82.9M. Total orders came in at 145.2 million, down 6% from H1 2022; while GTV inched up 1%, financial improvements were mostly driven by the company’s 9% cut to headcount in Q1, plus improvements at its ad platform, which is on track to do $69.7M in annual sales. The company also saw its restaurant partner count increase from 158,000 to 162,000 in the past six months, and it increased grocery sales to 11% of its GTV mix.
The Big Picture: After years of hemorrhaging money, it seems the food delivery industry is finally on the verge of true profitability. Delivery Hero and Uber are both running in the black, and Deliveroo expects to be fully around that corner shortly as well: it bumped its earnings guidance for the full-year to £60-80 million. With nearly a billion GBP of cash on its books, the diffusion of cash to shareholders looks to be a play to bump its languishing share price, which currently sits around £1.27 ($1.61.)
GROCERY | Uber & Hy-Vee Partner on Grocery Delivery
Uber Eats announced a new grocery partner, Midwestern supermarket chain Hy-Vee, adding 260+ stores to its delivery network across states like Iowa, Illinois and Nebraska. To celebrate the launch, Uber is giving away NFL Kickoff Tickets, tying in to its third year of partnership with the football league (hmm, maybe more in-stadium ordering contracts are in the works…)
The Big Picture: Hy-vee is only the 30th largest grocer in the U.S., with ~285 stores nationwide (which 25 aren’t a part of this partnership?) but it’s a staple of the Midwest and Plains. Uber looks to be making a play for the heartland, as it also teamed up with Meijer in December, adding another 250 or so stores across the Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin region. This Hy-Vee deal doesn’t look to be exclusive, Instacart (partners with Hy-Vee since 2018) is still listing availability, as is the grocer’s first-party Aisles Online program; check out their $99/year free delivery and fuel savings program. It’s a dog eat grocery dog world out there!
CHART TIME | Dining’s Gone to the Dogs
Yelp just released its top 100 dog-friendly places to eat for 2023, and we thought this just screamed (barked?) for some Chart Time representation. You don’t care that Tin Shed Garden Cafe was on the top of the list, or that Yellow Dog Eats and The Nauti Dawg Marina Cafe came in at #3 and 51, respectively (would you believe a lot of these places have pet puns in their names?) What you want to know is that, evidently, Arizona is the most pro-dog-dining state in the Union, with 12 restaurants on the list. Close behind is California with 10, Texas with 9, and Florida with 8. Perhaps this has something to do with the states that are also climatologically conducive to outdoor dining? Or maybe folks in Montana and North Dakota just can’t stand the sight of eating next to Fido.
MEAL KITS | Clean Eatz Ships Off to Japan
Meal kit startup Clean Eatz Kitchen launched delivery of its health-food oriented meal kits into a new market: international military bases. The first delivery went boots down in Iwakuni, Japan on August 1st. While the brand is not yet available internationally for civilians, the unusual partnership hints at broader ambitions: "Having this vote of confidence from the U.S. Government will certainly prove instrumental in maintaining… growth and expanding our boundaries as we continue moving forward,” said Jason Nista, CEO.
The Big Picture: While larger meal kit players like Blue Apron and HelloFresh have had a turbulent few years, smaller players have emerged going after specialty niches like health food or targeting folks with dietary restrictions (or seeking customers who really like spelling wordz with zeez?) Clean Eatz Kitchen is an extension of the larger Clean Eatz brick and mortar franchise-focused restaurant brand, which has 94 locations in the U.S., with another 87 in the works. Clean Eatz uses UPS for delivery of its meal kits, with ShipperHQ providing the software layer. Hope that dry ice is still cool by the time it crosses the Pacific!
A Few Good Links
“Together, Cartwheel and Toast have created a seamlessly optimized order flow. Orders come through Toast, and with Cartwheel, we're able to prioritize the use of Dlivrd as an alternative to national third-party delivery networks, supporting independent DSPs in local markets” - Cartwheel Co-Founder Magdim Metshin. Yelp ad revenue up 14%. Amazon cuts house brands in bid to deflect antitrust regulatory action. QSREvolution serves Atlanta in less than one month. Daimler Truck CFO dies in “tragic incident.” Restaurateurs and customers embrace kiosk ordering. 70% of consumers prefer free shipping over one-to-two-day delivery (but surely they’d love free one-to-two day shipping best.) RXO Last Mile loses worker wage arbitration bid.
Got a tip, feedback, or just want to say hi? Reply back to this email.