Waitrose is to expand its Deliveroo service to 110 new shops across the country as part of a new two-year deal with the delivery service.

Up to 400 jobs will be created across Waitrose shops where the service is being introduced, where the new employees will fulfil orders ready to be collected by Deliveroo.

The supermarket retailer said it plans to increase the number of Waitrose shops on Deliveroo to 150 by the end of the summer, pushing the number of consumers using the service up to 13 million.

Now customers will be able to order from an increased range of between 750 and 1,000 products and have it delivered in as little as 20 minutes from Waitrose shops in Scotland, the North West, North East, Midlands, South West, South East and London.

New nationwide locations on Deliveroo will include shops in Cheltenham, Harrogate, Exeter, York and Sheffield.

Waitrose began a five store trial with Deliveroo in September last year and is currently available from 40 shops.

“We have grown our online business at pace in the last year, responding to huge demand for online groceries and offering more choice in when and how people want to shop with us,” said James Bailey, executive director, Waitrose. “We know convenience is key for many of our customers and the expansion of the service with Deliveroo will play an integral role in helping us make Waitrose food more convenient than ever before.”

Nina Bhatia, executive director for strategy and commercial development at the John Lewis Partnership, said that today’s announcement demonstrates the company’s plans to grow the business by developing partnerships alongside its own channels.

“Our partnership with Deliveroo has already proved extremely popular with the vast majority of customers returning week on week, helping to create a healthy balance of loyalty and attracting new and younger customers,” she said.

Carlo Mocci, chief business officer UKI at Deliveroo said that the two-year partnership is a core part of the company’s expansion strategy, which has already reached 60 per cent of the UK population. He said that this was driven by strong demand for its grocery offering.

“Waitrose is one of the most respected and well-known British companies and we are extremely proud to expand this partnership right across the country, laying the foundation for future growth,” added Mocci.

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