Uber Eats has announced a range of initiatives in the UK to support independent restaurant owners and operators as the new national lockdown measures come into force.
The updated package includes free delivery on up to 500,000 orders over the four weeks of lockdown to help drive users towards over 15,000 small and medium businesses. This will apply on orders of £15 or more from Monday - Friday each week throughout November.
Uber Eats will also extend the previous lockdown’s opt-in programme for all restaurants on the platform. This includes offering daily payments free of charge rather than the standard weekly payment in a bid to help with cash flow until the end of the year. The commission fee for restaurant Pick-Up will also continue to be waived to further help businesses during this new lockdown period.
For restaurants looking to join the app over lockdown to help generate new revenue streams, Uber Eats will be waiving activation fees.
Toussaint Wattinne, General Manager of Uber Eats in the UK, said: “This is a very tough time for everyone in hospitality, so we are putting in place a range of initiatives to support our local restaurant partners. With everyone relying on food delivery more than ever, we are making it easier for customers to discover and support their local restaurants. We’ve also expanded our grocery offering on the app over the last few months, including with Sainsbury’s, Asda and Iceland, so that our customers will have access to even more essential items this lockdown.”
Uber Eats has introduced a number of measures to help ensure all food deliveries are safe. This includes making all deliveries contact-free by default, distributing over 800,000 free face coverings and 90,000 hand sanitisers to couriers in the UK, introducing an in-app safety checklist and educational videos, and continuing to provide free ‘partner protection’ coverage through AXA.
