Uber Eats pushes local Swiss food couriers out

Uber Eats has captured much of Switzerland’s food delivery market, pushing local courier services to withdraw and raising concerns about working conditions, SRF reports.

Velogourmet, a food delivery service run by Basel-based Kurierzentrale, is expected to close within months. Its owner, Jérôme Thiriet, said competition from large international companies had made it nearly impossible to earn money from food deliveries. He said his company paid fair wages and followed the rules but could not compete.

Local services have left the food delivery business across Switzerland. Zurich-based Dabbavelo closed in 2023, Wiesner Gastronomie stopped deliveries two years later, and Smood withdrew in 2026. Thiriet, who also heads the national association of bicycle couriers, called it a nationwide trend.

Several unions have accused Uber of classifying many couriers as self-employed, saying this can mean social contributions are not paid and minimum-wage requirements are bypassed. In an anonymous street survey by SRF, some Uber Eats riders said they worked as self-employed couriers. One estimated that he earned about 15 francs an hour on average, citing long quiet periods. Riders said waits of two to three hours for another order were not uncommon, and that they earned nothing during that time.

Just Eat, which previously employed couriers by the hour, is also moving largely to self-employed drivers. The company plans to dismiss most of its roughly 700 couriers. Its new arrangements will vary by region: it plans to use more self-employed couriers in Zurich, Bern, Basel, Winterthur and eastern Switzerland, while working mainly with fleet partner On Duty in Ticino. In French-speaking Switzerland, couriers are to remain employees following a court ruling.

Uber said compliance with the law was a top priority and that it had adapted its operating models in every canton to changing regulations. The company also said couriers clearly preferred self-employment.

Rules differ between cantons. Unions say Geneva and Vaud regulate Uber Eats most consistently and that working conditions for couriers there are somewhat better. Thiriet, who represents the Green Party in the Basel cantonal parliament, supports a proposal calling for Basel to enforce the rules more firmly. He argues that local operators face strict checks while large platforms can bypass some requirements and send profits to the United States.