Just Eat

History

Jesper Buch founded Just Eat in Denmark in 2000 and launched the service in August 2001. In 2006, Jesper Buch moved to London and set up a team headed by sales director David Buttress and launched Just Eat UK in March. The international expansion from the UK headquarters started with the Netherlands launched in July 2007, and was followed by Ireland in April 2008.

In January 2011, Just Eat established a joint venture in India. In February, the Group raised £30 ($48) million from their Series B investment, allowing it to make 7 acquisitions in a year:

In April 2012, Just Eat consolidated its position in the UK by acquiring fillmybelly.com. A week later, Just Eat announced its £40 ($64) million Series C funding round. The funds were partly used to launch the Don't Cook rebranding campaign in the UK and to acquire in October its main competitor in Spain, SinDelantal.

After nearly five years at the helm of Just Eat, the group CEO Klaus Nyengaard stepped down in February 2013 and was replaced in May by former UK MD, David Buttress.

On 3 April 2014, Just Eat floated on the London Stock Exchange. In July, Just Eat increased to 80% its stake in Alloresto. In September, Just Eat merged its Brazilian business, RestauranteWeb, with one of its competitors, iFood, to form the joint venture IF-JE in which Just Eat has a 25% stake.

In February 2015, Just Eat sold to FoodPanda its investments in their Indian JV, and continued its expansion in the Americas by launching Mexico, via a 100% acquisition of SinDelantal, and increased its stake in IF-JE, the Brazilian JV with iFood.

In May 2015, Just Eat announced that it would buy Menulog, an Australian food ordering company for $855 million Australian dollars, and would fund the deal by issuing new shares.

In July 2015, Just Eat acquired Orderit.ca, a Canadian online food ordering company, further solidifying its presence in Canada.

In August 2016, Just Eat sold its operations in the Benelux (The Netherlands & Belgium) to its Dutch competitor Takeaway.com for €22.5 million euros.

In December 2016, Just Eat announced that it was acquiring Hungryhouse from Delivery Hero for £200m (with the possibility of a further 40m if the company hits performance targets), this deal still needs to be approved by the Competition and Markets Authority. It was separately announced that they were also acquiring Canadian business SkipTheDishes in a deal worth £66.1m.

Just Eat's main competitors are Deliveroo, GrubHub, and Hungryhouse.

India

Just Eat India was founded on 26 July 2006 as HungryBangalore, by Ritesh Dwivedy. In August 2008, HungryBangalore was renamed as HungryZone. HungryZone received a first round of funding raised from the Indian Angel Network. On 17 January 2011, HungryZone announced a partnership with Just Eat. Just-Eat bought a 60% stake in HungryZone.

Ireland

Just Eat Ireland launched in April 2008. In November, Just Eat acquired 250 restaurants from Eatcity.ie. Just Eat Ireland recently commissioned economic consultants DKM to carry out research on the Irish restaurant industry and found that nearly €1.5bn is spent on takeaway/delivered food by Irish consumers in 2015. DKM said that takeaway services currently account for 57% of restaurant sales and the sector is likely to grow by 17% in the next four years.

Investment

In July 2009 Just Eat received their first Series A investment funding. Index Ventures and Venrex Capital invested £10.5 million into Just Eat Holdings Ltd. The new investment capital enabled Just Eat to increase their expansion into other markets and further develop the business. In March 2011 a second round of investment saw two leading US venture capitalists, Greylock Partners and Redpoint Ventures invest £30 million.

Greylock Partners have previously invested in Facebook, LinkedIn and Wonga. In April 2012, a third round of investment saw Vitruvian Partners and existing backers, Index Ventures, Greylock Partners and Redpoint Ventures, invest a further £40 million in Just Eat Holdings Ltd.

Brand

In 2016 Just Eat UK rebranded (including a new logo) by tweaking their branding completely, wanting to "create the world’s greatest food community".

TV Advertisements UK

In late 2009 Just Eat UK began their first television marketing campaign. The adverts starred Just-Eat’s mascots ‘Belly’ and ‘Brain’ and were narrated by ‘The Wombles’ narrator Bernard Cribbins. The first two adverts entitled “Attention Please” and “Down and Up” ran throughout 2010. At the start of 2011, a second wave of ‘Belly and Brain’ TV adverts were created, entitled “Listen and Learn” and “Boxing Clever”.

Following a complete overhaul of their global brand positioning and launch of the Don't Cook Just Eat brand campaign in September 2012, Just Eat launched a new series of TV ads. The adverts introduce audiences to Mr Mozzarella AKA “The Mozz”, Mr Basmati, Mr Sweet and Mr Sour, Mr T-Bone, Mr Sashimi and Mr Halloumi – a hapless, motley crew of rebellious takeaway chefs, who will stop at nothing to prevent amateur chefs from cooking at home. The ads, including "Leave Cooking to Professionals", "Cooking is Dangerous", "Cookbooks" and "Turn back, Cicciolina" and "The Fridge" will also air.

Sponsorship

In May 2014, it was announced that Just Eat would be the primary shirt sponsor for Derby County Football Club for the 2014–15 season. The sponsorship deal will last for three years.

On 1 July 2015, Just Eat became the primary shirt sponsor for Oud-Heverlee Leuven for the 2015–16 season. In spite of the relegation of the team to the Belgian First Division B, Just Eat and OH Leuven announced on 19 May 2016 that they would continue their partnership, although Just Eat would no longer feature on the front but rather on the back of shirts for the 2016–17 season.

Markets

As of August 2016, Just Eat operates in 13 countries in Europe and South America.