Pivoting For Progress: Why Careem Turned To A 0% Commission Model For Its Food Delivery Business – Entrepreneur

Pivoting For Progress: Why Careem Turned To A 0% Commission Model For Its Food Delivery Business – Entrepreneur

March

10, 2021



4 min read











Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.





You're reading Entrepreneur Middle East, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.









Three months into 2021, and the word “recovery” is a tentative whisper for some in our region, and an enthusiastic shout for others. The enterprise I lead, Careem, is somewhere in between the two- after a tough last year, we're thankful to be firmly on the path to growth and full recovery.Our relatively new food delivery business played a big part in Careem's recovery. As our customers stayed at home during lockdowns, Careem delivered food straight to their doors. This was made possible by our partnership with tens of thousands of resilient, adaptive, hardworking people in the restaurant industry.But even with a sharp increase in demand for food delivery, restaurants in our region are struggling- they lost the majority of their in-dining customers due to lockdowns, and in some cases, were forced to shut down for good. Food delivery became a lifeline for both Careem and our restaurant partners. But at some point, the food delivery business model no longer worked for restaurants.We, like other aggregators in the Middle East, were charging restaurants a commission fee to be hosted