London-based food delivery marketplace Just Eat has announced the acquisition of City Pantry, an office catering marketplace as it entered the catering business. Founded in 2013 by Stuart Sunderland, City Pantry debuted to improve the catering options for employees in companies in London. The marketplace connects businesses and local caterers so that the former can get quality food delivered to their office.
Acquired for €18 million
Notably, the catering marketplace is also based in London. It has been acquired by Just Eat for £16 million (nearly €18 million). This is said to be an initial cash offering and it is claimed that there will be further remittances if City Pantry meets financial targets over a period of three years.
Heads up about City Pantry
Currently, this startup feeds over 120,000 people for over 1,000 corporate customers per month. And, it is working with several hundreds of suppliers to provide meals for business meetings and corporate events. Its offerings include regular employee meals, team meals, pop-ups bringing restaurants to events and offices, individual orders and catering for events and meetings. City Pantry is an alumnus of retail startup accelerator TrueStart.
Will leverage its presence in London
With this acquisition, Just Eat will be able to leverage City Pantry’s technology, brand and B2B experience to expand into London. Given that the UK market is valued around £10 billion a year, Just Eat will be able to make use of the marketplace business model to expand into international markets.