Description
CoopCycle is a federation of bike delivery cooperatives, mostly in France and Spain but also in Germany, the UK, Belgium, Italy, Mexico and Canada. Its members deliver meals from local restaurants, groceries and parcels, and share one piece of delivery software for orders, route planning, billing and online shops.
The federation began as an association in 2016, during the Nuit debout movement. Its code is public, but its “Coopyleft” licence reserves commercial use to cooperatives and non-profit structures, and the federation asks its members to employ their riders instead of paying self-employed couriers per delivery. Members pay €49 a month in the first year, then 2 % of the delivery turnover made through the platform. The map on its website lists about 70 member structures in 11 countries.
The local cooperatives are small: in 2021 they had five or six employees in Bordeaux, Montpellier or Strasbourg. A Strasbourg restaurant owner said that year that Kooglof, the local member, took 18 to 25 % commission against about 30 % at Deliveroo or Just Eat, with no set-up fee.
Strengths
- Riders are employees of their cooperative, not self-employed workers paid per order.
- Deliveries by bike, from local restaurants and shops.
- Lower commissions for restaurants: 18 to 25 % in one Strasbourg example, against about 30 % on the big apps.
Weaknesses
- Only in some towns, and each cooperative works with far fewer restaurants than Uber Eats or Deliveroo.
- Small teams mean smaller delivery areas and shorter hours.
Who it is for
Town dwellers who order meals or parcels and want the rider to have a proper contract, and restaurants and shops looking for a local delivery partner without high commissions.
Sources
- CoopCycle: Home, Coopératives, Logiciel, Fédération, checked November 2026
- Welcome to the Jungle: Livreurs à vélo, le bonheur est dans la coopérative (January 2021)
- RTBF: Livreurs à vélo, « impossibles à salarier » ? (January 2020)
- Reporterre: Des coursiers à vélo veulent dépasser l’ubérisation par la coopération (September 2017)