SkipTheDishes’ CEO says the food delivery service and its parent company are laying off hundreds of Canadian employees.
Paul Burns says 100 Canada-based employees will leave SkipTheDishes.
Around 700 employees of Canadian owner Just Eat Takeaway.com will also lose their jobs.
Burns announced the news in a LinkedIn post, saying the cuts were the result of a comprehensive review and restructuring.
Sylvain Charlebois, executive director of Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab, said inflation likely played a role in the cuts.
“I know a lot of people think food prices are a lot higher, but on the menus they are a lot higher … which discourages people from using apps like Skip or Uber or things like that,” he said.
“It’s unfortunate that some people are losing their jobs, but I think that was unfortunately completely predictable.”
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According to Statistics Canada, food services were a major contributor to inflation last year, with prices rising 3.8 percent from July 2023.
In the food retail sector, however, prices rose by only about two percent during the same period.
Although Charlebois believes that Skip and other companies like it are likely to face further cuts, things could eventually turn out for the better.
“At some point the economy will pick up, people will start spending more on restaurants, and I suspect Skip – or other businesses – will come back and provide the same service,” he said.
In an emailed statement, Kelly Fournel, CEO of Tech Manitoba, which includes SkipTheDishes, said the announcement did not impact her organization but was “actually a surprise.”
“Skip recently renewed his membership with us, they (fortunately) still have a member of their leadership team on our board, and they are still interested in providing mentors for our Pembina Trails Early College program, which we offer for grades 9 through 12,” she said.
Burns said the decision to cut staff was not an easy one, but was necessary to ensure the company had the right resources and structure to drive growth.
SkipTheDishes was founded in Winnipeg in 2012 and acquired by Just Eat in December 2016, which merged with Takeaway.com in 2020.
— with files by Daisy Woelk from Global
© 2024 The Canadian Press
