Foodpanda has to lay off 300 employees

Following Delivery Hero's announcement that the Foodpanda brand in Germany was to be scrapped, the company is now likely to have to lay off 300 employees.

The announcement on Wednesday came as a surprise: Foodpanda is discontinuing its German business. The direct consequence is the dismissal of 300 employees. It is not known whether these are riders or HR, marketing or administrative staff. Foodpanda employs a total of 1,000 people.

How start-up scene suspects, there are fewer riders and more employees from the headquarters. The drivers could also be passed on, for example to competitor Gorillas, in which Delivery Hero has held an eight percent stake since October of this year.

The company spoke to Gründerszene about placing employees internally or with partners from the industry. From Thursday onwards, the riders will be delivering "orders for other players in the industry" as a temporary solution. It is not clear who these are.

Foodpanda announced on Wednesday that it would no longer deliver in Germany. The brand is therefore withdrawing from all cities except Berlin. An innovation center for the delivery industry is to be built there. Co-founder Niklas Östberg cited the fact that there was too much competition on the market and that there was a shortage of drivers.