The takeaway company Just Eat is planning to open a customer service site in north-east England, which will employ 1,500 people as it brings jobs back from India and Bulgaria.
The business said that it would invest £100m in the region over the next five years, with staff working partly from home and partly from its new Sunderland-based office.
Its UK managing director, Andrew Kenny, said the company would shoulder the extra cost of bringing staff in-house because it allowed Just Eat to provide better service.
Much of its customer service had been run from Bulgaria and India, but bosses have already seen an increase in customer satisfaction among those who dealt with the 300 people already hired in Sunderland.
“Our experience of operating this model across numerous other geographies around the world shows that the overall service that we provide to both our customers and restaurants increases very meaningfully,” he said.
“We’re already seeing a very material increase in customer satisfaction scores from the agents that we already have in Sunderland.”
Bringing the jobs into the company will also allow Just Eat to respond more quickly to feedback and patterns, he said.
The workers who join Just Eat will work under a hybrid model, partly from home and partly in the office in Houghton-le-Spring, Sunderland.
“We absolutely believe in the role that the office environment plays in our culture and in driving innovation as we move forward,” Mr Kenny said.
“But equally, we don’t want to move fully away from some of the more positive aspects that working from home has brought to people’s personal lives and family lives.”
The office is 20,000 sq metres (24,000 sq yards) and was formerly occupied by Npower. Just Eat is upgrading the site with a gym, catering area and a lounge.
Graeme Miller, the leader of Sunderland city council, said: “We’re thrilled to have supported Just Eat to make its move to Sunderland, joining a dynamic business community and creating jobs and opportunities for people across the city.
“We’re very proud of what Sunderland offers as a place to do business, and it is vindication of that offer when brands like Just Eat are drawn to the city.”
News of Just Eat’s UK investment comes as the firm is expected to leave the FTSE 100 when the index of blue chip stocks is reshuffled on 1 September.
FTSE Russell, the global index provider that recommends which listed companies should join or be removed from London’s premier index, has ruled that Just Eat should change its nationality from the UK to the Netherlands.
Since it completed the takeover of its US peer Grubhub this year, Just Eat has maintained listings on exchanges in the US, Amsterdam and London. It is conducting a review of its stock markets, and warned shareholders in July that this might not be completed in time for the next Russell review in August.
