Dine out staying home: How food delivery survives lockdown 

Across Kyiv, restaurants are deserted. Shopping malls are shuttered. And the city’s busy Sofiivska Street appears eerily quiet for a weekday in spring.

Quarantine measures to halt the spread of COVID-19 have sucked the life out of some of the Ukrainian capital’s most lively places. Instead of venturing out, most Ukraianians are sitting at home. That is an economic disaster for many people and companies in Ukraine.

But for food delivery services and restaurants with takeaway, the shutdown holds much promise. 

Delivery service Raketa, for example, has seen a 30% surge in the number of orders via its app. Other popular companies that deliver goods from supermarkets, pharmacies and restaurants have also reported an increase in the number of orders.

But delivery companies claim their revenues have stayed put, as they are increasing their budgets for protective equipment for couriers and launching free services to encourage new customers and support local businesses, said Raketa spokesperson Sergiy Koloskov.

Popular app-based company Uber Eats, for example, offers new restaurants to join the service without paying a registration fee and start deliveries as soon as possible.

“With these new initiatives, we want to support local enterprises,” said Igor Kovalov, Uber Eats’ general manager in Ukraine.

Booming sector

Online food delivery services are gaining momentum worldwide. Their revenue is expected to reach $86 million in 2024, according to e-commerce think tank Digital Market Outlook.

Delivery companies are adapting to the pandemic by introducing contact-free options, supporting restaurants and giving out special promo codes for discounts.

So far, the results look positive.

Since the beginning of the quarantine, on-demand courier service Glovo, which works in 17 Ukrainian cities, has reported a 35% increase in orders for goods from supermarkets and pharmacies.

The company says that users now spend 25% more on goods in these categories, and demand is growing for essentials: cereals, canned food, hand sanitizers, face masks and fever-reducers like paracetamol.

Ukrainian delivery service Raketa, which operates in Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Dnipro and Kharkiv, has seen a particular increase in demand for home cuisine like salads, bowls, coffee and deserts.

Menu.ua, a delivery-service in Kyiv and Dnipro, said that, in the first week of the quarantine, the number of orders increased by 25%. The company expects it will continue to rise.

UberEats has not disclosed its numbers.

To stimulate demand and support businesses, Uber Eats has launched a “takeaway” service that works without couriers. It allows users to order a meal via the Uber Eats app in advance and then come to the restaurant at a particular time to take it away.

“The new function reduces the time spent standing in line and ensures social distancing,” the company stated on Facebook.

By the end of March, the service will also make its delivery free for those ordering online to encourage customers to use less cash to prevent the spread of the virus. 

Need to adjust

For the app-based services, the quarantine has turned into an opportunity to increase productivity. But for their partners – cafes and restaurants – it’s more about survival than profits.

“It’s a very, very hard time,” Leonid Ostaltsev, a war veteran and founder of the Veterano Pizza restaurant chain, told the Kyiv Post. “Now we earn five times less and work just to pay salaries. We can’t talk about profits anymore.” 

The restrictive quarantine measures imposed by the government have left virtually all eateries and restaurants in a dire situation. 

During the first four days of the coronavirus lockdown, which began on March 12, sales in Ukrainian restaurants shrank by 26%, according to a survey by Poster, a digital platform that helps to run food services and retail businesses.

To adjust to the new reality, Ukrainian eateries turned to popular delivery services like Glovo and Uber Eats or started their own delivery.

Veterano Pizza founder Ostaltsev said that there are four times fewer people working in Veterano’s restaurant on Sofiivska Street than before, and some of them need to learn how to do the delivery.

Other major restaurateurs in Kyiv also reported that they cannot provide work for all their employees, even doing their own deliveries.

“Nothing will remain the same. We all have returned to the start-up stage and will try to pave our way in this new reality,” Dima Borysov, the owner of a prominent restaurant company, wrote on Facebook.

Safe option

Although major sit-down restaurants have turned into delivery services, consumers are still worried about whether it is safe to order food during the pandemic.

The answer is yes, according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

It is highly unlikely to contract the coronavirus from food or food packaging. Any real risk would come from the workers handing out the food if they are not properly protected.

For this reason, popular courier-based delivery services and restaurants have introduced contact-free delivery — the option to have the order left at the customer’s doorstep – to provide services to self-isolators and safeguard their own staff. 

Companies supply couriers with protective masks, gloves and hand sanitizers. Glovo and Uber told the Kyiv Post that they have launched a campaign to inform contractors about recent coronavirus recommendations via daily newsletters.

To protect both workers and customers, restaurants have also made disinfection their new daily routine. 

“Every evening we sanitize rooms with a UV lamp and do cleaning in the morning,” Ostaltsev from Veterano Pizza said.

Uncertain future

The Ukrainian government has prolonged the quarantine until April 24. Until then, many consumers will rely on courier services to purchase goods and receive fresh food straight to their doorsteps. 

Despite the closure of or restrictions on many forms of public transport, the delivery time has not changed, as couriers use private cars, bikes, and scooters.

But fulfilling the growing demand for delivery while following all anti-epidemic measures puts increased pressure on the current corps of couriers. For this reason, companies are encouraging new workers to join the platforms.

“It is an opportunity to get extra income in such a difficult time for the country’s economy,” Glovo’s press service stated.