Amazon To Shut Restaurant Delivery Service In US

By Dave Simpson
Amazon To Shut Restaurant Delivery Service In US

Amazon.com Inc has announced that it is ending its US restaurant food delivery service on June 24, giving in to intense competition from GrubHub Inc, DoorDash, Uber Technologies' Uber Eats services.

"A small fraction of Amazon employees are affected by this decision, and many of those affected have already found new roles at Amazon. Employees will be offered personalised support to find a new role within, or outside of, the company," the company said in a statement.

Amazon Restaurants History

Amazon Restaurants was launched in 2015 in Seattle and was designed to give Prime members a way to order meals, apart from products and groceries, through the online retailer. The service was expanded to more than 20 US cities, and then to London, where the programme ended in November.

The unit was led at one point by the executive also in charge of Amazon's ticketing business, but was overseen later by an executive running its two-hour grocery delivery service, Prime Now, according to their LinkedIn profiles.

Food Delivery Ambitions

However, Amazon still has ambitions in food delivery. In May, the company took a stake in British online food delivery company Deliveroo, leading a $575 million fundraising.

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The news was first reported by Geekwire.

News by Reuters, edited by Hospitality Ireland. Click subscribe to sign up for the Hospitality Ireland print edition.