It seems that the lights have gone out for food delivery service Time to Eat, as its website has gone offline and customers are unable to make use of it. 

Launched in 2013, Time to Eat was the first food delivery service in Malta which launched the concept of having a ‘marketplace’ of food delivery options available at the tap of a smartphone. 

However, on Friday, neither its website nor its app were functioning. 

Attempts to contact the company via the listed phone number also proved to be fruitless.

Meanwhile, food couriers working for operators such as Bolt and Wolt have flooded the streets.  

The company still maintains its social media platforms, however, and while attempts to make contact there were not successful, Time to Eat appeared to still be maintaining an active social media presence last August.

Comments dating back seven to 10 weeks indicate that users had already been experiencing difficulties accessing the service, while others complained that they had funds trapped in the app that they could no longer access. 

The company has made no official statement on whether they have ceased operations. 

While Food Solutions Limited, the company operating the business, still has an active profile on the Malta Business Registry, the last annual return for the company was filed in July of 2020. 

According to BusinessNow.mt, the local courier company that Time to Eat used to fulfil its deliveries, Door2Door, said that it no longer had a working relationship with Time to Eat. 

Attempts to contact Time to Eat co-founder and CEO Peter Thorslund Hansen were unsuccessful, although his LinkedIn profile currently lists him as “open to work”. 

For the majority of its operations Time to Eat enjoyed the majority of the food delivery market with sparse competition.

However, in 2020 international delivery companies Bolt Food and Wolt began operating in Malta, with Time to Eat facing stiff competition. 

Last year, Times of Malta reported how employment contracts for food couriers were under review, with their legality being thrown into question. 

Under Malta’s employment rules, third-country nationals must be employed on a full-time contract basis, but many drivers and couriers working for companies like Bolt and Wolt are self-employed or engaged part-time. 

In February, government sources indicated that Malta’s employment agencies were going to crack down on some 1,200 “illegal contracts”.