Just Eat Takeaway cut 800 roles in Canada after a pandemic hiring bet reversed.

SkipTheDishes, the Winnipeg-founded food delivery service acquired by Just Eat in 2016, announced in August 2024 that it would cut about 100 Canada-based corporate roles. Its parent, Just Eat Takeaway.com, planned to cut another 700 operations employees in Canada at the same time — roughly 800 Canadian jobs in a single restructuring. CEO Paul Burns called the decision the result of a comprehensive review and restructure needed to give the business the right resources and structure to drive growth.

The cuts came after a decade of consolidation that had turned a local Canadian platform into a North American outpost of a Dutch giant. Just Eat merged with Takeaway.com in 2020 in a $7.6 billion deal, then bought Grubhub in the U.S. for $7.3 billion in 2021 while demand was still surging under lockdowns. By 2024 the company was unwinding that expansion: it sold Grubhub to Wonder for $650 million — a roughly 91% write-down — and its 2024 annual results credited workforce reductions in Canada and the US with helping North American adjusted EBITDA rise 35%.

The decision error was treating a pandemic demand spike as a durable reason to build. Just Eat Takeaway.com had staffed up for a permanently larger delivery market; when inflation pushed menu prices higher and order growth slowed, the Canadian operation had more people than orders. The layoffs were the correction.

They staffed for a permanently bigger delivery market, but when demand faded, they cut 800 jobs; Grubhub was sold at a 91% write-down.

The parent company paid $7.3 billion for Grubhub at the top of the pandemic delivery boom, assuming the new normal would last.

North American headcount was built for growth that reversed; by 2024 the region needed workforce reductions to restore margins.

SkipTheDishes had already been absorbed into a global structure, so its Canadian team became redundant when the parent consolidated.

The cuts were publicly described as sustainable growth, but they followed a hiring spree that mistook temporary demand for structural expansion.

Hiring for a demand spike is a call option on permanence; when the spike fades, the payroll becomes the problem.

Just Eat Takeaway.com reported a 2024 net loss of €1.645 billion, driven mainly by €1.002 billion in non-cash impairment losses tied to Grubhub. Following the Grubhub sale, the company refocused on Europe and the UK and Ireland, which it said accounted for 85% of gross transaction value.