After two decades of helping Aussies order late-night kebabs, pizzas and dumplings, Sydney-born food-delivery platform Menulog is officially shutting down operations in Australia on 26 November 2025.

In a statement, its Netherlands-based parent company Just Eat Takeaway.com said:

“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 to deliver the best experience for customers, partners and couriers.”

Around 120 people in Australia (staff, couriers and partners) will be impacted by the closure. The company says all affected employees will receive redundancy packages above the legal minimums, and eligible couriers will be offered a four-week “voluntary payment”.

Menulog’s managing director, Morten Belling, described the decision as tough.

“Today is a tough day for the Menulog business, and I would like to reassure everyone this decision was not taken lightly. Our priority now is to support our customers, couriers and partners.”

Why has Menulog bowed out?

The short answer is that the food delivery bubble that blew up during COVID has well and truly burst. Back in the lockdown years, Aussies were stuck at home, glued to their phones, and hitting “add to cart” on takeaway apps faster than you could say extra sauce, please.

Delivery volumes surged, and services like Menulog, Deliveroo and DoorDash were hiring riders as fast as they could sign them up. But once restrictions lifted and the novelty of eating pad thai on the couch wore off, many customers went back to dining out or picking up directly from their local.

At the same time, the market became brutally competitive. The big global players, Uber Eats and DoorDash, had deep pockets and aggressive marketing budgets. They fought hard for restaurants and couriers, offering deals, discounts and perks to grab market share. As one industry commentator told Lightspeed, “They’re all competing for two things, restaurants and riders.”

When that tug-of-war happens, smaller or locally run platforms like Menulog end up squeezed in the middle.

The slow demise of Menulog

High commissions, rising fuel costs, and tighter consumer budgets have made the delivery model tougher to sustain. Restaurants have long complained that third-party platforms take a hefty cut, often up to 30 per cent per order, and with inflation biting, many venues are now encouraging customers to order direct instead.

It’s a story we’ve seen before. Deliveroo pulled out of Australia in 2022 after citing “challenging economic conditions”, while Foodora shut down back in 2018. Even the much-hyped grocery delivery startup Milkrun went belly-up in 2023 before being snapped up and reborn under Woolworths’ wing. The writing’s been on the wall for a while: the Australian delivery market is crowded, expensive to operate in, and notoriously hard to turn a profit.

Menulog, which was founded in Sydney in 2006 and later sold to Just Eat for around A$855 million, was the last Aussie-born major player left standing. Its exit marks the end of an era, and a reminder that even the biggest brands can’t survive on convenience alone.

Bad news for hospo businesses

Menulog’s departure leaves Uber Eats and DoorDash as the dominant players in Australia’s delivery scene. That’s bad news for competition, and potentially for restaurants that rely on these platforms to reach customers. With fewer options, eateries may have less power to negotiate commission rates or promotional deals.

For small business owners, it’s also a wake-up call to rethink how they connect with customers. Many are already shifting towards direct-to-consumer channels, through their own websites, apps, or loyalty programs, to avoid handing over a big slice of revenue to third-party platforms.

There’s also a human angle here. The closure raises familiar questions about the sustainability of gig-economy work and how delivery platforms support their riders when things go south. Menulog has promised redundancy support and payments for eligible couriers, but it’s still a tough blow for those who’ve depended on the platform for income.

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