Foodora is a company founded in 2014 in Germany that specialises in food delivery by bike, moped and car. The company is now established in 19 countries in North America, Europe and Asia. Foodora has also previously been active in Australia and the Netherlands, but has as of today ceased business there. In April 2020, Foodora had around 2,000 employees in Sweden, and were established in 28 Swedish cities. [1]

The hourly wage on week days was reported in 2020 by Sydsvenska Dagbladet to be 70 SEK per hour, plus 20 SEK per finished delivery. [2] According to one bike deliverer that was interviewed in Stockholm Direkt, a single courier can finish a maximum of about three deliveries per hour. [3] The workers compete with each other for the deliveries. Since making fewer deliveries means lower wages, the hourly wage can fall to 100 SEK/hour. For comparison, bike deliverers with collective bargaining agreements have a minimum wage of 130 SEK/hour. [4]

The couriers work scheduled shifts where one shift is 5 hours long. Foodora claims that working as a courier should be seen as a sidejob, but according to one of the Foodora couriers there are a lot of people doing it full-time, and as their only source of income. The couriers have contracts that classify them as subcontractors for about 3 months at a time.

A central part of Foodora’s business model is that the company doesn’t supply any equipment needed for the work. Instead this responsibility falls onto the workers themselves, for example, the acquisition of a bicycle, as well as its maintanence. For a long time the company refused to pay for safety equipment such as winter tires, but had to cave in in the end after a decision made by the Swedish Work Environment Authority.

Foodora has been heavily criticized both by labour unions and the Swedish Work Environment Authority for poor working conditions that have resulted in serious injuries for the couriers. [5]

Outside of Sweden, Foodora has been involved in several conflicts with labor unions. In 2018 in Australia, the company was part of a legal feud with a trade union that claimed that the company’s business model, which hired workers as freelancers rather than as employees, led to exploitation of the workers. The business model has led to the workers missing out on wages, insurances and rights that come with an employment status. For example, the company refused to reimburse a courier that had injured himself in a traffic accident. When Foodora pulled out of Australia, they left a large number of couriers unpaid and with a unpaid tax deficit of 3 million Australian dollars. [6] [7]

Foodora is owned by the mother company Delivery Hero, which in Sweden owns Onlinepizza and Delivery hero is in turn owned by Rocket Internet, a venture capitalist corporation that finances start-ups.

Financially, Foodora is running with great losses.