BASEAK’s Competition and Regulation team, led byPartner Şahin Ardıyok, successfully represented Yemek Sepeti Elektronik İletişim Tanıtım Pazarlama A.Ş. (Yemek Sepeti) during the oral hearing before the Turkish Competition Authority. The hearing was the final stage of the ongoing investigation into Yemek Sepeti.

Yemek Sepeti, the leading online food delivery platform, is today an extremely popular brand in Turkey, processing more than three million orders each month across its markets. In addition to operating in its domestic market, the company is notably active in the neighboring countries where its platforms provide food ordering services. The company has been recently acquired by Delivery Hero, the global leader in online and mobile food ordering, valued at US$589 million.

Established 15 years ago, Yemek Sepeti is an exemplary company with a strong e-commerce business model as Turkey’s first online food ordering platform. The investigation, in which the most-favored customer clauses available in the company’s agreements with the restaurants are examined, will be regarded as a precedent-setting investigation as this is the first time the Turkish Competition Authority has investigated these clauses.

During the oral hearing of the investigation, BASEAK team delivered a keynote presentation. The team emphasized the dynamics of innovative markets referring to the international best practices and asserted that the practices of Yemek Sepeti do not violate the Turkish Competition Act by referring to the economic rational of these clauses and compliance efforts of the company. In addition, the Co-Founder and the CEO of Yemek Sepeti, Nevzat Aydın, delivered a prominent speech about the exemplary innovative business model of Yemek Sepeti.

The oral hearing notably received wide press coverage.

BASEAK team included Partner Şahin Ardıyok, Senior Associate Belit Polat, Associate Barış Yüksel and Consultant Emin Köksal.

About Balcıoğlu Selçuk Ardıyok Keki

Balcıoğlu Selçuk Ardıyok Keki Attorney Partnership is an Istanbul-based full service law firm with a team of 130+ lawyers and economists. Our practice focuses on a wide range of areas including real estate, corporate, mergers and acquisitions, banking, project finance, capital markets, competition and anti-trust, employment, litigation and arbitration, telecommunication, regulatory and public law and intellectual property. We represent and advise Turkish and multinational clients, including Fortune 500 companies, in the banking and finance, private equity, real estate, manufacturing, hospitality and leisure, retail, automotive, energy, information technology, life sciences, luxury fashion and beauty, and media sectors.