Delivery Hero Ends Exclusive Restaurant Deals in Norway After Competition Probe

Norway residents will soon have other ways of getting their meals delivered.

Delivery Hero, one of the biggest online food delivery companies in Europe, has been remanded for its exclusivity agreements, Forbes reported.

The Norwegian Competition Authority (NCA), the government agency responsible for ensuring competition, and the German-based delivery giant settled an anti-competitive probe into Foodora, a Delivery Hero subsidiary.

Under the terms of the agreement, Delivery Hero will refrain from imposing exclusive delivery agreements on restaurants until 2025.

The NCA’s investigation examined the agreements Foodora had with eateries to see whether its exclusive service was prohibiting other food delivery operators.

A spokesperson for Delivery Hero said the NCA and Foodora have agreed the latter will not use exclusive arrangements for three years. The deal stemmed from conversations the parties have been having since February 2021. Foodora said the company started its move away from exclusive agreements before the NCA contacted them.

In a statement, the NCA said the decision will ensure that restaurants are free to choose any food ordering platforms, which should lead to better improved services and perhaps lower costs for customers.

NCA has appointed an overseer to ensure Foodora follows through on its promise to the authority and reserved the right to re-open the probe if it fails to do so.

Delivery Hero had better news earlier this month. On its blog, the company is expected to break even during the second half of this year and become profitable in 2023.

Read more: Delivery Hero Eyes Profits by Next Year

“Delivery Hero has always been investing in growth initiatives, with the clear ambition of reaching the scale needed to achieve profitability,” Emmanuel Thomassin, chief financial officer of Delivery Hero, said in the post. “We have remained confident that through achieving the right size, we are able to bring tremendous benefits to all partners in our ecosystem, as well as to our shareholders.”