Uber in Ukraine did not provide comments for this article.

The order came from above

Nobody knew that Uber Eats would be closed in Ukraine. On April 14, the food delivery service was launched in Dnipro, and the management was preparing to launch in several other Ukrainian cities this year alone.

On May 4, the company’s partners in Ukraine – cafes and restaurants – began to receive messages that Uber Eats will stop working in the country on June 3. Later, users of the service started to receive the same messages.

“In this company, they do everything without ceremony,” says one of AIN.UA’s interviewees who wished to remain anonymous. “Nobody warned anyone. The local management knew nothing. Everything was prepared and done at the global office level. Ordinary employees found out that the company was closing 5 minutes before sending the newsletter to partners. At one point, they blocked computers, accounts, mail. And they fired everyone.”

According to AIN.UA, neither partners, nor agents, nor customers/users had been warned in advance. Everyone found out about the closure of the service at the same time.

The country still has the team responsible for Uber and Uber Shuttle, although the operations have been controlled for several years from Warsaw, where the region’s central office is located.

Weak performance

In addition to Ukraine, Uber has shut down the food delivery service in 6 other countries: Romania, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay, and Honduras. Uber will redirect resources from these countries to other, more preferred markets. The company makes no secret of this.

In other words, Uber Eats in Ukraine did not manage to reach the indicators that would make the management of the IPO company continue investing resources in the development of the service. 

This is not the first such story for Uber: previously the service left, for example, from China and Russia, losing to stronger local players. 

In Ukraine, Glovo became such a strong player in the delivery market. It started earlier, receiving the benefit of the doubt from users, while the launch of Uber Eats took place after a series of delays. In addition, it provided its customers with a wider range of services: delivery from pharmacies, supermarkets, courier services, and not just restaurants and cafes. The international company Uber in Ukraine failed to beat the Glovo startup.

What went wrong

Besides the fact that Glovo started earlier, the service had another undeniable advantage – McDonald’s. According to a source from the food delivery market, only this chain of restaurants can generate from 60 to 80 percent of all orders:

“Look at the cities where Glovo was launched in Ukraine — almost every city has McDonald’s restaurants. This allows them to enter a new city and hire couriers for a single restaurant chain. But it is the coolest and generates the most leads.”

Uber Eats failed to close a deal with McDonald’s, despite almost a year of negotiations. As a result, the service was left without a major source of orders. 

Another fact is the almost complete lack of marketing, while competitors actively advertised, launched promotions, and ad campaigns. 

Besides, no one expected that Raketa, a local player, would play so hard against Uber Eats. Despite all the capabilities of Uber, in just a few months, “Raketa took off” and pushed Uber Eats from the second place: now it is Glovo and Raketa that are leading the market. What helped achieve that was also free delivery (which is no longer available) and a wider range of restaurants. 

The quarantine also made things worse for Uber Eats. The volume of deliveries, according to AIN.UA, grew only slightly: people began to order more products from Glovo and Zakaz.ua, while Uber’s food delivery service could not offer this. 

There’s still a lucrative slice of pie

Local players do not disclose their performance indicators. According to AIN.UA, by the end of 2020, the volume of orders in Ukraine may amount to 1 million units per month. The average bill is about UAH 300. As a result, this is a market of more than 3.5 billion hryvnias. Uber will no longer fight for it. 

Uber stays in Ukraine and will continue to engage in passenger transportation services Uber and Uber Shuttle. The company does not indicate whether the company’s global redundancy policy will affect the Ukrainian office, but according to AIN.UA, no major changes are expected in the local office. 

Closing the service will not affect the company’s ridesharing application: Uber will continue to operate in Ukraine.

“We are sad that Uber Eats will no longer be available in Ukraine, however, our ridesharing service will continue to operate, as before,” the company said.

Currently, our priority is to minimize the consequences of closing down the service for our employees, restaurants, couriers, partners, and users.”

Uber Eats is a food delivery platform created by Uber. The service was launched under its current name back in 2015 and currently operates in dozens of cities across Europe, Asia, North and South America. In Ukraine, the service was launched on February 6, 2018, and today it is represented in 6 cities of the country.

Reasons for closing down Uber Eats in Ukraine

According to the information that the company provided to AIN.UA, the decision to terminate the service in our country was made based on the business performance indicators of Uber Eats in the food delivery market. “As a global player, we must reasonably assess the relevance of the product to the market and how we distribute resources globally,” the company’s commentary reads.

The resources saved as a result of the closure of the service in Ukraine will be redirected to other markets in Europe and around the world, where Uber Eats is growing faster.

“Our main priority now is to do everything possible to minimize the impact on our employees, partner restaurants, delivery partners, and consumers who supported us,” the company emphasized.

The message to partners reads that couriers who have made at least one delivery from April 1 to 30 will receive compensation payments. The amount and payment procedure have not been detailed.

Partners will also be able to receive compensation for special clothing bearing Uber Eats logo that they purchased for their couriers. At the same time, Uber reserves the right to collect money that partners could owe to the company and its affiliates.

Will they terminate Uber in Ukraine too?

No, the Uber taxi application in Ukraine will continue to operate normally. Moreover, the service will continue to develop, investing in new programs.

“For example, we have recently launched the Uber Pro loyalty program, which offers drivers in Ukraine a wide range of benefits. We will continue to expand this program with additional offers in the coming months,” Uber says.

Besides, the company provides doctors with free trips with Uber Shuttle during the quarantine, and supplies masks and disinfectants to its drivers.

• Kharkiv will become the fourth city in Ukraine, where the service was launched. Uber Eats also operates in Kyiv, Lviv, and Odesa.
• You can read about Uber Eats and how it works here.
• You can become a courier by clicking on the website of UberDRIVE partner.
• Information on how much you can earn working as a courier at Uber Eats is available in our previous article

The main competitor of Uber Eats – Glovo – has been working in Kharkiv since March 2019. In total, Glovo operates across 14 cities in Ukraine.

• This is the third city in Ukraine, where the service is currently operating. Uber Eats also operates in Kyiv and Lviv.
• You can register as a courier in Odesa by clicking here.
• The income can be about 850 UAH per day.
• For some time, the service will work only in the central districts of the city. Later the coverage area will be extended.

Uber Eats is a food delivery platform created by Uber. Under the current name, the service was launched in 2015 and currently operates in dozens of cities in Europe, Asia, North, and South America. The service was launched in Ukraine on February 6, 2018.

The main competitor of Uber Eats – Glovo service – has been working in Odesa since April this year. In total, Glovo operates in 11 cities in Ukraine.

In the beginning, the service area will include the historical part of the city, as well as the central and adjacent streets.

• Lviv is the second city after Kyiv to welcome Uber Eats.
• You can become a courier by clicking here. Information on how much you can earn working as a courier at Uber Eats is available in our previous article.

The main competitor of Uber Eats – Glovo – has been working in Lviv since April of the current year. In total, Glovo operates across 11 cities in Ukraine.

On the occasion of the launch of the service, Uber Eats offers free delivery of an unlimited number of orders until the end of February with the promotional code HELLOKYIV. Uber Eats delivery cost without the promo code is 30 UAH, regardless of the size of an order. Food prices are set by restaurants.  Restaurants that want to work with the service can sign up on the official website.

At first, delivery may take longer, but the goal of the service is to deliver food around the city within 35 minutes. In Kyiv, the service already cooperates with 200 restaurants, including Mimosa Brooklyn Pizza, Milk Bar, Musafir, Gogi, ORANG+UTAN and Bistro Bistro.

Initially, the service will be available from 10.00 a.m. till 10.00 p.m. in the center of Kyiv and partially in the surrounding districts of the city, such as Shevchenkivskyi, Podolskyi, Pecherskyi, and Solomianskyi. Orders can be planned in advance: for the period from an hour to a week. Real-time delivery monitoring is also available in the application.

Uber Eats is a food delivery service from restaurants and cafes. To make an order, you have to download the application on your mobile device, and sing in with your Uber account.

You can apply on the website of Uber Drive partner to become a courier of the company. The company also offers a bicycle rental service, saying that it is one of the most popular ways to deliver orders in other countries.

CB Insights has published a large report of the financial condition of the global company Uber. According to this article, only the food delivery service brings $1.5 billion of revenue, which is about 15% of all income of the company. Now Uber Eats is the most profitable direction in Uber, and the company is actively developing it.

The first information about the launching of food delivery service from Uber in Ukraine appeared in early 2018.

Uber Eats is a food delivery service from restaurants and cafes. To place an order, you will need to download a separate application of the same name, however, the same account can be used as the one for ordering Uber cars.

The launch will be gradual, at first only in the central part of Kyiv. At the start, they promise to connect more than 100 restaurants to the service.

Not so long ago, the service received a manager, Anton Shulyk. Meanwhile, the couriers are being recruited. There will be several options of transportation: by motorcycle / bicycle, as well as by car. Income will vary from 11,000 to 25,000 UAH/month.