Enlarge image
Gorillas drivers in Berlin
Photo: TOBIAS SCHWARZ / AFP
Everyone who used the app could see in the past few weeks that the fast delivery service Gorillas sometimes has considerable problems finding enough employees.
The start-up actually promises groceries in ten minutes.
In fact, waiting times of over an hour and a half were the order of the day in the winter months, and some districts even had to be temporarily closed.
Now boss Kağan Sümer is lucky: Just a few days ago, the industry giant Delivery Hero announced its withdrawal from the German market.
The company, which is also involved in Gorillas, started with the Foodpanda brand in six cities last summer and gave up the adventure a few days ago.
But this will free hundreds of bicycle couriers - a gift for Sümer and his company, which recently fired dozens of striking employees.
Smooth transition?
For the 800 bicycle couriers who worked for Foodpanda, little has changed for the time being. They were informed by email that in the future they should deliver gorillas for the express delivery service, albeit with an employer that has not yet been clarified. "In the medium term, your employment relationship can be transferred to gorillas," says the letter that drivers made public on social networks. Until then, you will continue to work for the subsidiary pandalogistics.
The competition in the delivery business is getting stronger and stronger.
In addition to the market leader Just Eat Takeaway (Lieferando), the US travel agent Uber is currently also planning to gain a stronger foothold in Germany with its Uber Eats service.
In addition, the US vendor Doordash is striving, among other things, with the planned acquisition of the Finnish vendor Wolt to Europe and Germany, but has recently started under its own flag in Stuttgart.