Deliveroo launches alcohol delivery

Food delivery business Deliveroo has announced it has partnered with BrewDog, Majestic and a number of independent wine merchants to bring drinks to customers.

The ever-expanding business is now offering consumers across the country the chance to to order wine and beer. Deliveroo customers will be able to order wine from eight Majestic stores across London as well as merchants including Lea & Sandeman, Vagabond Wines, The Sampler and Jeroboams and beer from 20 of BrewDog’s bars and shops nationally and companies such as Honest Brew and Caps and Taps.

Deliveroo has in fact been offering alcohol sales for some time, with customers able to order drinks from the restaurants they’ve ordered food from but this is the first time that consumers have been able to buy wine and beer from dedicated retailers and separately to their food order.

The service is identical to the company’s food delivery with customers browsing the selection offered by participating merchants and Deliveroo couriers arriving to pick up the purchases and take them on to the buyer. Couriers have been and will continue to be trained to ID customers at the point of delivery if they look underage.

The company said it began trialing the offer in the spring of this year and recorded “strong demand”.

Dan Warne, managing director of Deliveroo UK & Ireland, said: “Majestic Wines and BrewDog are perfect launch partners for us offering great pairings for meals ordered on Deliveroo and by working with independent merchants like Clapton Craft and Humble Grape we’re continuing to champion the UK’s independent businesses as well.”

Philip Beaven, managing director at The Sampler, added: We were approached by numerous delivery companies, all offering a similar service but felt Deliveroo best matched the premium positioning of our wines, this was mirrored by the excellent line up of quality restaurants on offer.

We’ve been astounded by the early adopters for this service and it continues to grow week on week. Anything that simplifies the purchase and delivery of wine to our customers will always be of benefit. We’ve seen a great uptake from the postcodes local to our stores but are also engaging with a new consumer across central London.”

James Hickson, owner of We Bought Beer, said: “Deliveroo offer us a really simple way to deliver amazing beers to our local neighbourhood. Before using Deliveroo we were unable to offer a delivery service as we didn’t have the resources or manpower to make it happen. So Deliveroo has been a real boost for both us but more importantly our customers who sometimes can’t always make it into store but don’t want to have to compromise on their beer choices!”

Independent beer and wine merchants involved in the scheme include: The Humble Grape, The Sampler, We Bought Beer, Albion Wine Shippers, Clapton Craft, Jeroboams, Fine Cocktails, Caps and Taps, White Lyan, Mother Kellys, Honest Brew, Lea & Sandeman and Vagabond.

The eight Majestic stores are located in: St John’s Wood, Guildford, Covent Garden, Battersea, Hove, Islington, Mayfair and Holland Park.

The BrewDog locations involved are: Kings Cross, Shepard’s Bush, Shoreditch, Clapham, Soho, Clerkenwell, Camden, Cardiff, Brighton, Bristol Centre, Sheffield City Centre, Manchester Central, Birmingham City Centre, Newcastle City Centre, Norwich, Aberdeen, Glasgow’s Argyle Street, Old Town in Edinburgh and Liverpool City Centre.