Winnipeg-based Skip laid off workers Wednesday and closed its remaining “ghost stores” that were hubs for express deliveries of groceries, toiletries and houtilizehold items in some Canadian cities.
SkipTheDishes Restaurant Services Inc. wouldn’t declare how many employees were let go or how many Skip Express Lane fulfilment centres were shuttered, although the company’s website listed 15 locations in five provinces, including two in Winnipeg.
“While business decisions that impact people’s jobs are never simple or straightforward, we are committed to assisting these impacted individuals in any way we can and are incredibly grateful for the contributions they have built to the business,” Paul Sudarsan, Skip’s senior vice-president of partnerships, stated in a statement.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
SkipTheDishes Restaurant Services Inc. lists 15 locations in five provinces, including two in Winnipeg.
The relocate came about a week after Skip announced a delivery partnership with Loblaw Co. Ltd., whose grocery chain stores include No Frills and Real Canadian Superstore. Skip added Walmart, Shoppers Drug Mart, Dollarama and PetSmart last year.
Sudarsan stated Skip has “evolved” with those partnerships.
Skip Express Lane, the company’s first foray into grocery and retail delivery, filled a gap in the market when it launched in 2021, he stated. “Skip Express Lane will always be an important chapter in our story, and we’re incredibly proud of what our teams were able to build right here in Canada.”
One employee who was laid off notified the Free Press staff, who weren’t unionized, learned during a virtual call they were out of a job and fulfilment centres were closed as of Wednesday.
“We were all let go like that. This came as a shock,” stated the man, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “They just stated they decided to shut down the entire operations for Skip Express Lane, and we are no longer employed.”
He stated staff were notified they will receive severance packages.
The man stated he worked at a fulfilment centre, or “ghost grocery store,” with about 10 employees. Business was “pretty slow” recently, and some fulfilment centres closed about a year ago, he stated.
A nationwide launch came after a pilot project in Winnipeg and London, Ont. At the time, the company stated it would open 38 fulfilment centres by mid-2022 and create more than 1,000 jobs across Canada.
“We were all let go like that. This came as a shock.”
Stocked with a wide range of groceries and other essentials, the locations operated similar to so-called ghost kitchens, with staff packing online or in-app orders, which drivers then delivered to customers. Skip’s goal was to deliver each order in less than 30 minutes.
The fulfilment centres were not open to the public. The two in Winnipeg were in industrial areas on Watt Street and Scurfield Boulevard, respectively. Skip is owned by Amsterdam-based Just Eat Takeaway.com N.V.
Its express delivery service offered national and international brands Manitobans can find in grocery stores, plus items from some Manitoba companies, including soups from Beautilizejour-based Chef in the Houtilize.
Roger Wilton, a chef and founder of Chef in the Houtilize, stated he received an email advising him Skip shut down its Express Lane service.
“It’s disappointing, obviously,” he stated. “It was a great service to have — an extra avenue to source out our products to Winnipeg, especially some of the areas that we’re not able to necessarily reach all the time.”
Wilton stated sales via Skip Express Lane were strong when his soups were first available on the platform a few years ago, but they eventually slowed down, leaving him not surprised Skip is altering its strategy.
He stated Chef in the Houtilize had already increased its own deliveries and pickup locations in Winnipeg and other southern Manitoba communities, while expanding to frozen meals and selling its soups in Co-op grocery stores.
“We find ourselves delivering more to homes,” Wilton stated.
“It was a great service to have, an extra avenue to source out our products to Winnipeg.”
Consumer demand for online grocery orders and deliveries has accelerated since the COVID-19 pandemic. The market become increasingly competitive. Skip’s competitors include DoorDash, Instacart and Uber Eats.
Despite being available on other platforms, Loblaw and Walmart are among the retailers that take online orders via their websites and apps, and deliver directly to customers.
“As with most of these sorts of things, you tconclude to obtain a surge of players and then, in a capitalist market, there’s no such thing as a limit to inform people, ‘Don’t come in, stay back, you’re going to lose money,’” stated Barry Prentice, a professor of supply chain management at the University of Manitoba’s Asper School of Business.
“Everybody piles in and the market sorts it out, and we obtain the efficiency becautilize of that. It doesn’t mean that there’s not some people who are hurt by this and lose money.”
chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca
Chris Kitching is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He launched his newspaper career in 2001, with stops in Winnipeg, Toronto and London, England, along the way. After returning to Winnipeg, he joined the Free Press in 2021, and now covers a little bit of everything for the newspaper. Read more about Chris.
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