Menulog is set to shut down in Australia. Wagga Cafe, and MR. LAWRENCE have provided insight into how it will affect local businesses. Photo: MR. LAWRENCE.
Food delivery service Menulog has announced it will soon cease operating in Australia.
The popular website and app have been used in Australia for more than 20 years, but come midnight Wednesday 26 November, users will no longer be able to place orders.
About 120 employees are expected to be impacted, as well as about 35,000 businesses that used the platform.
A statement by Just Eat Takeaway.com, the company that operates Menulog, states the decision to close the site came after “careful consideration” following “challenging circumstances”.
“After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to cease our operations in Australia,” the statement reads.
“While Menulog has a proud 20-year history, it has been navigating challenging circumstances. This strategic decision reflects our focus on accelerating growth and investments in other markets and delivering the best experience for customers, partners and couriers.
“Altogether, this will impact approximately 120 employees. All impacted employees will be fully supported with generous redundancy packages above legal requirements and outplacement support.
“Menulog will no longer accept orders from midnight, Wednesday 26 November 2025.”
Within the Riverina, Marcello Giliberto, manager of the Wagga cafe MR. LAWRENCE, a business classified as a ‘local hero’ within Menulog, said smaller businesses would see a loss from the closure, but he was confident other delivery services would pick up the slack.
“We generally have a split of 30 per cent of sales online and 70 per cent on location, so of course, there’s going to be a little bit of revenue lost,” he said.
“Having Menulog disappear will definitely have an impact on hospitality, especially for the likes of sales and growth of smaller businesses,” he said.
“However, in terms of us as a company, it’s not going to be a massive loss having Menulog shut down and definitely not something we’re going to lose sleep over.”
Mr Giliberto said from his own experience managing MR. LAWRENCE, the likes of Uber Eats and Skip had been more reliable than Menulog.
“At the end of the day, these kinds of things are always changing. We are seeing the likes of Uber Eats and Skip try to have a more regional focus, and those are the apps we tend to get more orders through,” he said.
“We’ve recently made the jump to Uber Eats because we find that their services, their drivers and their punctuality are a lot more consistent,” he said.
“If the app says the driver is only five minutes away, generally they’re only five minutes away. We don’t generally get very many issues with them, and if we do, it’s quite easy to resolve.”
Original Article published by Jarryd Rowley on Region Riverina.
