foodpanda makes fresh round of cuts in Asia

Employees of food and grocery delivery platform foodpanda have had to undergo another round of cuts. According to LinkedIn posts seen by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, many of these roles are based out of Malaysia and cut across business development. 

In a statement to MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, foodpanda said: “As the global macroeconomic environment continues to be challenging, we unfortunately need to make the difficult decision to downsize some of our teams. We are doing all we can to support impacted employees during this transition; including employee assistance programmes and extended insurance benefits. To colleagues leaving us, we are truly sorry to lose you. Thank you for all the hard work -  we are extremely grateful for what you’ve done for foodpanda.”

Foodpanda did not share more if marketing teams will be impacted or which countries in Asia are particularly impacted. 

Don't miss: foodpanda confirms job cuts

The statement echoes its initial round in September last year, where foodpanda had to let go of about 5% of its team members. Foodpanda is under German online takeaway food company Delivery Hero which according to Reuters, reported slightly lower-than-expected gross merchandise value (GMV) in 2022 and saw a drop of shares of 11%.

On a marketing front, foodpanda’s brand ambassador, Pau-Pau, turned one in January 2023 and to celebrate its birthday, foodpanda launched its brand philosophy urging consumers to “live like a panda". What foodpanda means by the new philosophy is that consumers should free up their time and energy to pursue what really matters to them. According to the company, the new brand philosophy will encourage individuals to fret less about the chores of daily life and focus more on what matters most to them.

Meanwhile, foodpanda also recently launched on-demand, express delivery service pandago in Thailand, Taiwan and the Philippines. The service, which allows for the instant deliveries of small parcels, was first launched in Singapore in August 2022, and then then expanded into other regions.

While unfortunate, foodpanda's fresh round of cuts doesn't come isolated. Most recently, its competitor Deliveroo also laid off 10% of its staff recently. According to an internal memo seen by CNA, around 350 roles would be cut and 300 would be laid off. The rest would be deployed. He said that Deliveroo grew its headcount very quickly in recent years, in response to the rise in demand for food delivery amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Its fiercest competitor Grab also announced last year that it was looking to execute cost-cutting measures to weather through undetermined economic situation. While Grab has yet to announce cuts, according to the memo by Grab’s CEO, Anthony Tan, the measures comprise freeze on a majority of hires and senior managers’ salaries and a cut in travel and expense budgets.  Tan said that while the decisions were difficult to make, they were made to aid Grab to “get leaner and fitter, as [Grab] accelerate even faster towards sustainable profitable growth”.

Around the region, Zomato, a multinational restaurant aggregator, also closed down its Philippines and Indonesia operations due to tough economic conditions. Zomato, which was founded in India in 2008, aimed to “connect customers, restaurant partners and delivery partners, serving their multiple needs”, as stated on its website.

Related articles: 

Alipay+ extends foodpanda partnership to Malaysia to enhance customer experience
foodpanda nabs JLL talent as new public relations head for APAC
foodpanda expands pandago into the Philippines, Thailand and Taiwan
foodpanda MY's new verticals marketing lead Vanita Menon Kris joins Rapp
foodpanda hires GroupM head of eCommerce to build advertising partnerships