Lithuania’s food delivery platforms Wolt and Bolt Food have suspended their cooperation with restaurants owned by the Amber Food group, which is linked to Kaunas Mayor Visvaldas Matijošaitis.
Matijošaitis has come under heavy criticism because of the failure of Vičiūnai Group, one of the largest Lithuanian food production groups owned by Kaunas Mayor, to close its factories in Russia in the wake of the war in Ukraine.
Amber Food, which manages several restaurant chains in Lithuania, is also indirectly owned by Matijošaitis through the company Deltos Investicijos (Delta Investments).
Amber Food Group owns Charlie Pizza, Sugamour, Manami, Katpėdėlė, La Crepe, and Guacamole restaurant chains in Lithuania.
On Wednesday, Wolt announced the company’s decision to suspend its partnerships with restaurants and shops the management of which is linked to Russian government structures.
According to Liis Ristal, Managing Director of Wolt for the Baltics, this was the reasoning behind Wolt’s suspension of cooperation with Amber Food.
"Unfortunately, according to several reliable sources, Vičiūnai Group is continuing its production in Russia, while Amber Food’s links to certain organisations and Russia are unclear,” Ristal told LRT.lt.
“As a result, our cooperation with Amber Food has been suspended as of April 19. There will be no Amber Food restaurants on our platforms for the foreseeable future,” she added.
Justinas Bambalas, head of Bolt Food in Lithuania, said that the company has been monitoring the situation regarding the Amber Food group for some time.
“Links to Russia are not acceptable to us or most of our clients. However, we tend to trust each of our partner restaurants, which is why we have previously taken note of [Vičiūnai Group’s] statements about suspending operations in Russia,” Bambalas told LRT.lt.
“Today we see that there is no fundamental change in this situation. Therefore, the cooperation has been suspended. Until any doubts about links to Russia are dispelled, we do not see any possibility of returning the restaurants to Bolt Food,” he added.
According to Vičiūnai Group, the company’s withdrawal from Russia could take up to four months.
Read more: Kaunas mayor’s business vows to wrap up operations in Russia within 4 months
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