Deliveroo Ireland, the local arm of the international restaurant food delivery platform, grew its revenues sevenfold last year as it rolled out the service to the five main cities on the island.
Accounts recently filed for the company show sales of €2.9 million, which comprises the fees generated for the company for the use of its platform. It does not include users’ spend on food, which goes directly to the restaurants.
Deliveroo Ireland made a loss of €2.4 million as it incurred heavy costs scaling up its service. It now has more than 400 delivery riders in Ireland – a fifth of them on motorbikes and the rest cyclists – although these are not staff members and work as self-employed contractors.
The Irish Deliveroo division had just eight direct staff, who were paid an average of €60,000 each. It is run by former Google executive Liam Keenan.
The company, which began operations in 2015, has accumulated losses of €3.5 million in the Irish market, which can be offset against future profits when calculating its corporation tax bill.
Deliveroo recently announced that its new algorithm to matches riders with delivery jobs, which it has named Frank, has cut delivery times by 20 per cent so far this year.
It also plans to introduce to Ireland Deliveroo Editions, which involves opening satellite kitchens to serve areas where there are plenty of residents but few restaurants, at the beginning of next year.
It is also working on a plan to deliver alcohol to the homes of customers from off licences, although Mr Keenan says the rollout has been delayed.
