When a delivery service becomes a real estate agent, it draws attention. The super-fast food delivery service Flink is currently advertising 40 retail spaces throughout Germany in order to save more than 210,000 euros in monthly rental costs. The warehouses were actually intended for the expansion of the start-up – but that’s currently on hold. The current economic situation is too difficult. In May, the company withdrew from some cities such as Moers or Oberhausen. A spokesman emphasizes that the company continued to grow in 2022, just not as much as planned.
It’s not just Flink at the moment. The entire industry is struggling with rising interest rates making it difficult for companies to get fresh money. The surge in demand caused by the Corona crisis has largely been used up. The high inflation makes customers more economical, the profitability of the start-ups is still a long way off. Under normal market conditions, the lack of profitability would probably not be a problem if the companies still had years to break even. “But under the current conditions, start-ups have to deliver and turn visions into reality,” says Shikha Ahluwalia, online trading expert at British venture capitalist Balderton. A consolidation of the market is therefore “unavoidable”, in the end only one or two providers per market would probably remain.