Delivery Hero returns to Germany in 2021 to retake the market it sold in defeat

Delivery Hero is a DAX-listed food-delivery group spanning more than 50 countries, owner of the foodpanda brand and, since early 2021, of Korea's Woowa in a $6.9 billion takeover.

That the company it had become by 2021 — 50+ countries, 600 Dmarts, 400,000 orders a day — could retake the home market it quit in 2018.

Delivery Hero sold its German operations in December 2018 to Dutch rival Takeaway.com — now Just Eat Takeaway — to focus on Asia, the Middle East and the Americas. CEO Niklas Östberg's read on returning: 'over the last two years the service in Germany has not got any better — sometimes even a little bit worse', while Delivery Hero's own had become 'very, very good'.

The re-entry began with a June soft launch of foodpanda — the brand it knew best from Asia — in Berlin, promising deliveries in as little as seven minutes, followed in August by a broader German rollout of restaurant delivery and quick commerce served by its own warehouses and shops. Östberg set the bar at 'challenging for number one in the very long term' but refused a promotions race: the Berlin-based team's job was the best product, not bought share. Just Eat Takeaway CEO Jitse Groen tweeted back: 'We have defeated them in Holland, the UK, Poland, Ireland and Germany, and will gladly do so again' — and Lieferando announced a super-app upgrade for its 12 million German users. Investors marked both stocks down more than 3% on the prospect of a second price war, with Delivery Hero's quick-commerce margins already deeply negative.

The re-entry inverts the usual expansion logic: this was the most experienced operator in the sector attacking its own home market with a product it had refined across 50 countries.

Seven-minute deliveries made the ambition physical on day one — a claim the incumbent's service had spent two years not matching.

Östberg's refusal to run a promotions race set the test he wanted to win: customers saying the service was better than anything they had used.

Groen's five-market record gave the defence credibility, which is exactly why the investor reaction — both stocks down 3% — priced a real fight.

A market you sold in defeat can be retaken on product: re-entry is cheapest for the company whose service kept improving while the incumbent's did not.

As of the May 12, 2021 report, the Berlin soft launch was set for June with a national rollout to follow in August; the material reports no market-share or retention results from the re-entry.