Deliveroo to invest £5 million in UK restaurants as ‘innovation fund'
The online food delivery company is also set to expand its Editions delivery-only super kitchens.
To further support the UK restaurant industry, Deliveroo has announced that it is setting up a new £5 million 'innovation fund' to invest in the sector, new chefs and new restaurant concepts.
Specifically, Deliveroo says they intend to prioritize investing in restaurants the company thinks have “significant growth potential” and assist them in expand in the UK and internationally, developing new concepts “from scratch”, which would be based at the company’s delivery-only Editions kitchens, and investment in young food outlets to “help them to grow through delivery-only outlets.”
“Deliveroo is excited to be setting up this fund to invest in UK restaurants. We are committed to supporting the sector and enabling restaurants to offer consumers as many new and exciting food options as possible. At a time when there are so many barriers for chefs wanting to turn their dream into reality, Deliveroo will use our expertise to help restaurants to expand and help budding chefs to have their first shot. For consumers this is nothing but good news, with more amazing, restaurant-quality food available more of the time,” said Caleb Merkl, Deliveroo’s vice president for special projects.
Deliveroo Editions expansion
Aside from the fund, Deliveroo also announced the expansion of its delivery-only Editions kitchens programme.
In 2017, Deliveroo has added 51 new Editions kitchens in UK - taking the programme to 74 kitchens in total. Currently, the company works with nearly 40 restaurant partners in delivery-only kitchens in the country.
By the end of the year, Deliveroo expects to have 130 Editions kitchens in the UK and 250 globally. “Expanding our delivery-only sites, giving restaurants access to our super kitchens, Deliveroo will being new, exciting brands to local areas,” Merkl added.
