The Grocer – 20 July 2019

Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk 20 July 2019 | The Grocer | 7

Just Eat has begun pub-
lishing the food hygiene
rating of every restau-
rant it lists, in a move
welcomed by the Food
Standards Agency.
A link accompanying
menus on Just Eat’s web-
site and app leads to the
FSA’s rating out of five,
together with the date of
the latest inspection. It
gives customers access to
the food hygiene ratings
of 30,000 restaurants
and takeaways, and fol-
lows a trial with 600 in
Northern Ireland, accord-
ing to Just Eat.
“I am pleased to see
Just Eat publishing the
food hygiene ratings for
businesses on their web-
site,” said FSA chairman
Heather Hancock.
“Having this transpar-
ency allows consumers
to consider food safety
and will help drive up
standards.”

Just Eat adds

food hygiene

ratings for all

restaurants

Deliveroo accused of

ditching cycle couriers

Deliveroo is prioritising motorised vehicles over cyclists

Steve Farrell

Deliveroo has been

accused of “abandoning

bicycle delivery” over a

new policy of prioritising

workers with motorised

vehicles.

The change means car

drivers, motorcyclists

and scooter riders are

likely to get first pickings

of the delivery hours they

work for the company,

leaving fewer for cyclists.

Workers book their

hours on Mondays for

the following week using

a Deliveroo app, which

accepts the bookings in

three waves, at 11am,

3pm and 5pm.

A change to the app

means that cyclists

are more likely to be

excluded from the first

wave, at 11am, and

pushed on to 3pm or even

5pm, by which time fewer

hours are left to choose

from, according to the

Independent Workers

Union of Great Britain.

Deliveroo has attrib-

uted the change to a need

to improve choice for

customers by delivering

from restaurants further

afield.

‘You may have noticed

that your self-service

booking statistics now

include a small priority

for motorised vehicles,’

the company said in an

email to riders. ‘With

increasing customer

demand for long-distance

deliveries, this change

will help to ensure that

we have a good balance

of bikes and motorised

vehicles in order to ser-

vice these orders.’

The IWGB staged

a rider strike in

Nottingham on 12 July,

demanding Deliveroo

reverse the change.

A spokesman for the

union accused Deliveroo

of abandoning cyclists,

having developed “an

eco-friendly PR image

with the faces of cyclists

plastered on marketing”.

A Deliveroo spokes-

man said: “We have

made a small change

which will mean that,

as we create even more

work for riders across the

UK, we will have enough

vehicles capable of mak-

ing the longer-distance

orders that customers

want.

“Deliveroo will always

rely on pedal power.”

Waitrose drivers deliver

while customers are out

Waitrose wants to extend
a London trial of deliver-
ing groceries while cus-
tomers are out to other
parts of the country.
The service was being
offered to more homes
“with the intention to
hopefully roll out to the
whole of London and,
ideally, the broader UK”
said a spokesman.
Waitrose launched
the ‘While You’re Away’
trial last October. In May,
The Grocer revealed the
supermarket was looking
for more consumers to
take part, and last week
the number of homes

Waitrose aims to deliver ‘While

You’re Away’ beyond London

involved in the scheme

increased from 50 to 150.

The spokesman said

the initial 50-home trial

had been a way to iden-

tify any teething issues.

Changes to the service

were being tested now

with the additional 100

homes, ahead of the

wider rollout.

For now, the delivery

area has been expanded

from 300 to 818 post-

codes in Coulsdon and

West Ealing, with orders

served from Waitrose’s

Coulsdon fulfilment cen-

tre. Waitrose is asking for

more customers to regis-

ter their interest at wya.

waitrose.com, even if

their address is not cur-

rently eligible for the

service.

Customer feedback

from the initial trial

had been positive, the

spokesman added.

The Food Warehouse has

launched its first online

delivery service from

nine stores, with more to

follow suit.

The nine stores are

spread across the UK,

including Hyde in

Manchester, Street in

Somerset and Perth in

Scotland.

Plans for ‘rolling out

online picking across

The Food Warehouse

stores’ were revealed in

Iceland’s results in June.

However, no marketing

or announcement has

accompanied the rollout.

Owner Iceland has

First deliveries for

The Food Warehouse

added the stores to those

providing delivery on

its website, but custom-

ers will only know when

they enter an eligible

postcode and are shown

the branch from which

they are ordering.

The Food Warehouse

was launched in 2014,

with a range including

exclusive products and

bigger pack sizes.

Currently the online

range consists of prod-

ucts also available at

Iceland, but the retailer is

said to be looking at the

viability of adding Food

Warehouse exclusives.

BICYCLE BENEFIT

Deliveroo has constructed an eco-friendly PR image

with the faces of cyclists plastered on marketing –

IWGB spokesman