UberEats launching program to fill market gaps and aid restaurant expansion
The company is planning the accelerator in partnership with Karma Kitchen, a kitchen-space provider in East London, Quartz reports.
Between five and seven restaurant concepts will be picked by Uber to join the accelerator program, based on selection gaps it identifies on its platform that occur within two miles of Karma Kitchen.
The accelerator program will work intensively with restaurateurs on operations, branding and marketing, as well as help with navigating the hiring process, streamlining workflows to keep delivery times low, and using accounting software.
At the end of the process, Uber says it will ensure that restaurants graduating from the accelerator will receive enough demand and orders to meet basic costs like rent, but won’t directly subsidise businesses.
Toussaint Wattinne, UberEats’s general manager for the UK and Ireland, has told Quartz the accelerator is designed to help successful restaurants with at least one location expand their business.
“We want to really aim for the partner that already has very strong operating metrics,” he says.
“We want to help them and support them in expanding because they might not have the financial capabilities, they might not have the confidence to do that by themselves.”
Restaurants taking part in the accelerator will also receive help with passing a food hygiene inspection.
This follows on from revisions recently made by UberEats to its food hygiene policy, which means that only businesses with a Scores on the Doors rating of two stars or above can now apply to trade through the service.
Last week, BigHospitality reported that sales at US-founded fast casual chain The Halal Guys’ first UK site have been hit by 20% after it was delisted by UberEats because it has yet to receive a food hygiene rating from Westminster Council.
As a result, ITICO F+B director Whitney Myrus, one of the managing partners overseeing the UK rollout of The Halal Guys, accused UberEats of “adopting a policy that doesn’t support start-up restaurant businesses”.
In response a spokesperson for UberEats said: “UberEats is passionate about its industry, and we want to champion innovation and entrepreneurship within the restaurant sector. As such we’re now actively working with the FSA [which is responsible for the Scores on the Doors scheme] to understand how we can continue to support new restaurants that want to be serving customers as soon as possible, without compromising on our food safety values.”
