Bringing the online food culture to all of Turkey, Yemeksepeti was founded in 2001 by Nevzat Aydın. German express order network for $589 million in 2015 delivery heroThe company sold to “The most valuable sale in the history of Turkey” was recorded as .

After 2015, things got even better for Yemeksepeti. With the strength of Delivery Hero, expanding outside of Turkey, the company became one of the pioneers of the fast market order industry in Turkey with the Banabi brand, which it would later face many competitors. not work for the company.

The beginning of a big change… The new era of Yemeksepeti started with the departure of the founder:

First of all, it should be noted that this change is normal for business. Mert Baki, who has worked for many years as a senior manager in the company, took over as CEO after the departure of founder Nevzat Aydın in November 2021. A few months later, in May 2022, Yemeksepeti, whose web and mobile application design was completely revamped, sadly remembered for the negative experiences it gave to the end users and business partners, rather than for its successes.

Before the design change, the biggest problem was data security concerns: However, it was Yemeksepeti’s attitude and not security that compounded the problem:

The crisis, which started with the claim that the data of 30 million users, which we summarized in the video above, had been seized, was a difficult entry into the new era for Yemeksepeti. However, what compounded the problem was not the data being stolen, but the company’s persistent refusal to do so. Despite the rejection, 3 months after the incident, the KVKK imposed an administrative fine of 1 million 900 thousand TL on the company, which was not a deterrent at all. After the verdict, the events were largely forgotten.

So why is it important for KVKK to impose deterrent sanctions? Actually, this has nothing to do directly with Yemeksepeti. In an environment where everything is becoming more and more digital, all companies have to take their responsibility and unfortunately it is often the sanction that triggers security investments. For example Facebook Cambridge Analytics It is still going on in the US and Europe after the scandal. However, similar incidents in our country are quickly forgotten and the legal process results in fines that will not bother large companies.

Even after such an event, the concerns did not go away: Even months later, some users stated that food had been ordered unannounced via registered credit cards:

If these security-based complaints filed in June 2022 are true, it’s clear that most of the data allegedly stolen is still in the hands of malicious parties. Nowadays, when you tell your email address, there are platforms that say whether it has been captured by hackers before, but Yemeksepeti does not provide its users with regular information and when financial complaints occur, it receives responses.

Yemeksepeti users can’t feel the company on their side right now. In the digital age, it shouldn’t be difficult to accept that data breaches are a natural consequence and take steps such as informing users who have suffered damage and warning them to change their card details.

The data breaches that will surely have happened by now, the unanswered users who claimed to be victims, the delayed corporate disclosures made with the aim of “rejecting what happened” did not excite Yemeksepeti’s users:

As a result, many people left Yemeksepeti and started using other applications as they now have other options.

However, no good steps are being taken. For example, the Muhtarlik feature, whose function could not be fully resolved, has been removed from the platform:

No one could have figured out why such a ‘gamification’ feature was used and where the points earned by ordering were different from ranking. Good thing it was removed…

In addition, the unmanned delivery robot Yemeksepeti began to run in Yebo during such a period: however, there was no initiative that received a response from the general public.

Unmanned delivery of orders in Caddebostan, Istanbul, showed that the company is not lagging behind its global competitors in new generation technologies. The news of the “ordering robot use” was not a major concern for a user who was struggling to meet their more basic delivery robot needs or concerned about information security, and this concern was not addressed by the company.

Simultaneously with all these events, there was another event that affected the overall quality and position of Yemeksepeti in the eyes of society: courier actions.

Nevzat Aydın, then head of the company, was the first to comment on working conditions that were controversial in 2021. But as economic conditions got tougher, these responses took on flesh and bone and turned into actions.

At the same time in January, couriers from companies such as Trendyol and Hepsiburada started taking action because their economic demands were not being met. For Yemeksepeti, this process took longer, about 3 months, compared to other companies. You may recall that Haluk Levent, who solved the Migros case, intervened and tried to smooth things out… Claims that the couriers were fired when interviewed with the press, were taped, and even a former courier did the statement “Even breathing is a crime”.

The actions of the couriers are not unique to Turkey or companies in our country. As the effects of the pandemic started to subside by 2022, the ordering applications we use less went into a downward trend. In fact, an investigation has been launched by the New York Department of Labor against Getir, Turkey’s first decacorn. It should be noted that an increase in the number of such cases is expected.

From the point where Yemeksepeti has come, restaurants that are business partners also started to complain:

The claim that orders were being taken from closed restaurants set a whole different agenda. Restaurant owners believe this situation will make customers suffer and may lead to wrong judgments about their own business. And they’re right… Who wants to place an order that will never come?

It was even seen that some restaurants advertised as follows due to the problems in Yemeksepeti:

There are also allegations that restaurants are not aware of the orders placed:

The perceived grievances are not just limited to the technical issues in the applications:

On LinkedIn, the situation is sometimes summarized as follows:

Some customers have also started reporting their issues to restaurants as order notes:

So, what do you think Yemeksepeti should follow? You can write your opinion in the comments section.