Gorillas, a grocery delivery service that claims to deliver items in as little as 10 minutes, is laying off half of its office personnel. The firm announced in a press release that it was laying off about 300 people from a “global office staff” of 600. (Around 14,400 people work in warehouses and as delivery drivers, making up the total employment.)
The corporation also intends to focus on five markets that contribute for 90% of its revenue: The United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, France, and the Netherlands. The firm also has operations in four additional European markets: Spain, Denmark, Italy, and Belgium, where it is “considering all strategic possibilities for the Gorillas brand.” That might imply exiting these markets, although Gorillas assures The Verge that no decision has been made yet.
The findings might spell implications for the rapidly expanding “instant” food market. A large number of these services have popped up across Europe in recent years, fueled by venture capital funding and pandemic lock-down orders.
These businesses all rely on the same fundamental infrastructure: warehouses full of food dispersed around cities, and legions of e-bike and scooter-riding delivery workers.
Many experts have warned that the rise of these services is fundamentally unsustainable, with VC firms underwriting lower costs in the hopes of capturing what remains of the market after a few dominating competitors emerge.
According to a story published by The Information in August, one up-and-coming player, JOKR, was losing as much as $159 on each purchase it fulfilled in the United States.
Some countries have also raised concerns about these companies’ influence on urban infrastructure. Grocery apps like Flink, Getir, and Gorillas, for example, have been compelled to limit the pace of their delivery workers’ e-bikes and keep their warehouses out of some densely populated areas in response to objections from local residents.
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