Food and grocery delivery platform Foodpanda has announced another round of job cuts, which have mainly affected its business development roles in Malaysia. The move comes as the company faces challenging global economic conditions.
Foodpanda said in a statement that it is doing everything it can to support its affected employees, including providing employee assistance programs and extended insurance benefits. However, the company did not provide further details about whether marketing teams or other countries in Asia would be affected.
This is the second time that Foodpanda has had to downsize its workforce, following the first round of cuts in September 2022, when 5% of its team members were let go. The German online food delivery service Delivery Hero owns Foodpanda. In 2022, the company reported a slightly lower-than-expected gross merchandise value.
On the marketing front, Foodpanda recently celebrated the first birthday of its brand ambassador, Pau-Pau, by launching a new brand philosophy called “live like a panda.” The new philosophy encourages consumers to free up their time and energy to pursue what really matters to them, allowing them to focus more on what is important to them.
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Foodpanda has also expanded its reach with the recent launch of its on-demand, express delivery service pandago in Thailand, Taiwan, and the Philippines. The service offers instant delivery of small parcels and was first launched in Singapore in August 2022.
The job cuts at Foodpanda come as its competitors, Deliveroo and Grab, have also had to make cost-cutting measures. Deliveroo laid off 10% of its workforce, while Grab frozen most new hires and senior management salaries and cut travel and expense budgets. Meanwhile, Zomato closed down its operations in the Philippines and Indonesia due to tough economic conditions.
The challenging global economic environment has led FoodPanda to make the difficult decision to downsize its teams, mainly affecting its business development roles in Malaysia. The company is doing its best to support its affected employees during this transition, and it remains to be seen how the job cuts will affect its marketing teams or other countries in Asia.
