Grocery Delivery Service Milkrun Is Done. Here Is Why

Grocery delivery service Milkrun wrapped up operations in Sydney and Melbourne last Friday, leaving 400 employees and riders without a job. 

The company first launched in Surry Hills during the pandemic, with a fresh, young image, and a promise that they could deliver groceries in ten minutes or less.  

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However, the founder Dany Milham sent an email to its 400 workers on Tuesday, informing the closure of the business.  

I’m writing to let you know that we have made the difficult decision to wind down the business, and as a result, Milkrun will cease trading this Friday.” 

Milham wrote in the email

So what’s happened? And could we see more gig-economy services closing up shop? Is this the end of instant food delivery in Australia? 

In today’s episode of THIS ARVO IN SYDNEY, host Sacha Barbour Gatt speaks to Listnr’s investigative journalist Joey Watson to find out the reason behind this collapse and whether the model is sustainable for grocery delivery service in Australia. 

Despite a successful launch with an $86 million investment from Atlassian’s Mike Cannon-Brookes, Mikrun has failed to sustain its business model, including living wages and its riders’ employment status. 

The 31-year-old CEO said Mikrun collapsed due to the economic and capital market conditions.  

Mikrun was losing as much as $13.00 an order in some suburbs and was spending around $57 a head to sign up new customers,”

Watson said.

Milkrun is not the first delivery service that has collapsed, similar services Send, Quicko, Voly and Deliveroo have all folded too.  

With more delivery companies’ showdown, delivery and gig workers have been suffering from redundancy. 

More than half of Australia’s food delivery workers are earning less than the minimum wage, with the majority of workers using more than one delivery app to make enough money to live,”

Watson added.

Hosted by Sacha Barbour, This Arvo in Sydney is a 10 to 12 minute daily news podcast made just for Sydney! Listen now on the Listnr app.