Getir has shuttered a raft of dark stores over the past week, including all of its shops in Wales and South West England.
The quick delivery firm, which Charged revealed had made mass redundancies last month, has also shut stores in Birmingham and London without warning in recent days, sparking concerns that the business might be on the brink of collapse.
One source told Charged that the entire team of the Birmingham store was called in unexpectedly and were laid off on-site and forced to leave the premises immediately.
The source said: “My store had 15 staff, [they are] all now gone.”
The ordeal was described as “a frantic smash and grab job repossession”.
It is not clear whether the stores, which Getir uses to fulfill the grocery orders made online, were owned by the company or run by franchisees. As of November 2022, three-quarters of Getir’s 100 UK-based dark stores are run by franchisees.
Staff at the Birmingham store had not been consulted about the risk of redundancy and the source said they were writing to their local MP as Getir was not responding to questions.
The news follows a round of mass layoffs made across Getir last month, which was described as a “redundancy massacre”. Staff were dismissed on a daily basis via one-to-one meetings, with up to 300 jobs set to be axed.
In December, Getir acquired rival firm Gorillas in a £1bn deal amid a period of turmoil in the rapid food delivery sector as demand has dipped post-pandemic.
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This has led to downsizing and consolidation in the market, where many rival startups had been focused on driving sales rather than profitability to gain market leadership position.
Another source at Getir said that more job cuts and store closures were expected.
“The latest job cuts will be even harder as they are brutally targeting front line staff, who are surviving in the current economic climate with living costs,” he said.
Amid the turmoil, workers expressed concerns that the firm might be on the brink of collapse.
“We think Getir is going into administration. No one is even reachable at head office,” one source told Charged.
Getir has declined to comment.
3 Comments. Leave new
Payoffs are a joke…
Getir this company is a scam they will fire you for no reason.
You do not even have to ever have a write up. They do not care about the employees specially do you have riders that deliver the groceries to customers.
This is a very dangerous job. For a little bit of pay. And I know this because I used to work for them last year. I got fired for no reason.
After I scan everything in the system and put all of the groceries back in stock. I never even got a ride up.
This article is unbelievably correct.
This story also effects franchise owners like me whom has lost there livelihood whom has invested into what they though and lead to be the future in grocery app delivery.
I sincerely regret now doing business or even attending a franchisee scam networking event, meeting getir and their fraudsters.
My family has incurred financial Loss with our store now gone overnight. I was forced to let my staff go. No support from getir.
Will be taking legal action for losses incurred. Do the right thing for once and give us back our money.
This article is very frightening if they are planning on going under, other franchisee owners have a lot to lose.
I have already had limited contact since my store was closed by getir, letting my team go and literally been hearing the events unfold via the grapevine.
Already heard some stores circulating that have had the ‘smash and grab’ job to remove stock off site in hours by there ‘mob squad’ and even in 1-2 cases staff being man handled out of the store after loosing there jobs.
It’s a complete joke at the moment.
Advice to prospective investors: if your truly have any contact with getir and franchisee team believe me when I say they are trained professional con artist: you have a lot to loose if you proceed.
Current franchise owners: you shall be in my prayers that you don’t lose your livelihood and financial wealth overnight by this scam.
Get out whilst you can.