Just Eat devours takeaway rival Hungryhouse for £200 million
They'll use their combined force to take on Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Amazon Prime Now.
Just Eat, ravenous for global expansion, has bought rivals Hungryhouse and SkipTheDishes for £266 million. The two acquisitions will help the company to consolidate its position as one of the biggest food delivery startups on the planet. In the UK, Hungryhouse is one of its biggest rivals, with close but not quite equal marketing spend and brand recognition. Buying the brand from Delivery Hero for £200 million will increase Just Eat's scale and remove any threat it once posed. Likewise, picking up SkipTheDishes will bolster its business in Canada, while removing a potentially dangerous chess piece from an increasingly cluttered board.
Indeed, Just Eat's competition is rife. Countless startups want to be the service that connects restaurants with would-be takeaway customers. Scale is critical, however, and those who fail to win the public's favour are often gobbled up by their competition. Just Eat will now be focused on Deliveroo, Uber and Amazon in the UK. All three have made efforts to connect with businesses that typically don't work with delivery startups. Deliveroo has Pizza Express, Wagamama and Gourmet Burger Kitchen, while Uber Eats has Chilango, Pho and Snog. Just Eat will need similar relationships, or something equally compelling -- cheap prices, perhaps -- to stay at the top of the food chain. Like adorable delivery robots?
