Digital Experience Designer
Jemmy's Catering
How an event catering business pivoted its services for longterm profitability.
The Client Brief
Due to the shutdowns caused by COVID-19, Jemmy's catering was halted with near-zero revenues. The business knew it had to pivot or shutdown.
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The business had already begun offering take-our services but results were mixed.
Threats
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Fast Food Stores
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Asian Food Stores
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Indian Food Stores
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Online Delivery Services
Opportunities
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Jemmy’s presently has two separate active websites with different URLs.
functions as a corporate website.
Bounce Rate: 17%
is an e-commerce site.
Bounce Rate: 94%
The Actual Problem
East-London residents of West African descent love to eat West African spicy food but find it time-consuming to prepare and getting take-out is cumbersome with the best store miles away. Due to this most of them end up eating more fast food.
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Without a time & cost-effective means of getting their spicy west African food fix, customers would gradually find alternatives. Perhaps they would switch to Asians and Indian foods shops which are closer to most residential areas.
Timeline
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3 Weeks
My Role
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Research, Wireframing and Design
Goals
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Minimize face to face “word of mouth” marketing
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Grow online orders by 100% and consequently quarterly revenue by at least 30%
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Become the preferred West African food takeout service in South-East London
My Role
I was the user researcher and UX/UI designer. Conducted customer interviews and carried out user testing unearthing insights which led to solutions fixing both the short and long term pain points for Jemmy's customers.
As the UX/UI designer, I developed customer flows, wireframes and prototypes based on the research outcomes.
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This project required my ability to adapt as a generalist in unconventional times and was executed at the height of the lockdowns, as such most of the research was done through digital resources.
Finding the Customer/User
I was initially briefed to help develop a social media presence as Jemmy's, expected the solution to a successful pivot was in being "instagramable".
However, customer surveys and interviews proved differently.
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5 out of 10 customers said the e-commerce website was weird
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8 out of 10 said they preferred to order at the takeout store
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1 out of 10 said they never visited the e-commerce website
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1 out of 10 said they regularly use the e-commerce website
“I need to feed my family with good Nigerian food but I hate spending hours cooking every single weekend.
I really need to stop feeding them so much fast food.”
Lola Kingston
Lawyer | Married with two children
The primary customer
Lola Kingston
Who is she?
Lola is a 32-year-old first-generation migrant of Nigerian origin. She came to London 9 years ago to study law. After graduating in 2016, she has specialised in Family Law. She is a strong advocate of female empowerment. When working remotely, she prefers the mobility of her Samsung Galaxy Tab instead of her laptop.
What is her lifestyle?
She lives in the suburbs but works in central London. Getting stuck in traffic has become an accepted part of her workdays. Due to her job, she works long hours 4 days a week, frequently travels across the country and happily looks forward to long weekends with her family. She is married with a set of 4-year-old twin boys. They all love Suya.
What are her concerns?
Her husband is a self-employed tax accountant who works from home but also travels frequently. She is uncomfortable with the volume and frequency of fast-food her kids eat. She wants to maximize the time they spend together whenever she’s not working.
She is frequently “homesick” for Nigeria and fearful that her children won’t grow up with a meaningful connection to the country she grew up in.
“Why should I waste time cooking when I can just ask Siri to get me a quick meal?
As long as the food is hot, spicy and fresh, I’m happy”.
Kofi Boateng
Student of Architecture
The secondary customer
Kofi Boateng
Who is he?
Kofi is a 19-year-old 3rd-generation Ghanian-Briton. He is a sophomore at the Bartlett School of Architecture. He constantly comes up with thought-provoking high tech concepts on his Apple iMac Pro. He had lofty dreams of starting his own practice and has already been nominated for several awards.
What is his lifestyle?
Although he grew up in a serviced apartment in North London, Kofi prefers the calmness of the country. He believes ideas are born in calmer settings. He plans to design and build dual-purpose dwellings hoping this will reduce traffic congestion. He tends to play lots of games on his XBOX but doesn’t like mobile games.
When working on group projects, Kofi and his friends usually order pizza which they combine with charcoal chicken and Ghanian spices. For Kofi, project nights are an excuse to indulge in a blend of cultures. He believes food can unite the world.
What are his concerns?
He thinks his parents believe he’s becoming entitled. Just because he doesn’t like mundane things doesn’t mean he’s entitled. After all, we live in the age of globalisation and tech.
Exploring Solutions
Journey mapping
​During a 2 week period, 7 frequent customers and 3 prospects were interviewed. The scope of discovery was limited to their individual experiences with Jemmy's - the food, the service and their feelings during and after the entire experience.
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They were nudged with questions which revealed their motivations, feelings and opinions. I was able to narrow down why they patronised Jemmys and what they perceived as the most important things they "needed" from the business.
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Plotting out their existing journey with Jemmys, we redefined, adapted and iterated the experience to better suit a digital delivery.
What the research proved
Business Insights
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If Jemmy’s made getting food easier and faster for customers, orders would increase.
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If Jemmy’s scaled back event catering, word of mouth would become more important.
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The takeout store remains critical to short term revenue
QUICK WINS (Reduce Cost & Sustain Revenue)
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Discontinue the e-commerce website
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Ensure the corporate website is responsive
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Integrate online ordering into the corporate website
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Offer loyalty discounts for online customer referrals
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Partner with a food delivery service or take online pre-orders and self deliver
BIG WINS (Delight Customers & Grow Revenue)
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Rebrand as “Jemmy’s” creating a new logo with existing brand colours
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Create an Instagram campaign targeting young and adult West Africans in London
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Develop a mobile-friendly online ordering system
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Offer loyalty discounts for online customer referrals
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Plan for video marketing via Youtube or Instagram Stories
Designing Jemmy's
If Jemmy’s made getting food easier and faster for customers, orders would increase and revenue would grow.
In order to solve the issue which most affected Jemmys and it's customers need for easy access, Jemmy's enrolled with local food delivery service but had a long term plan to deploy an in-house solution.
It was time for "Jemmy's". An African food ordering service. The first iteration of this would be focused on ordering speed and simplicity of design.
Customer Flows
Emphasis was given to a simplified experience. Removing any probable barriers to the purchasing experience was critical. We aimed for an ordering system that would limit food ordering to 5 steps.
Initial Product Wireframes
If Jemmy’s made getting food easier and faster for customers, orders would increase and revenue would grow.
In order to solve the issue which most affected Jemmys and it's customers need for easy access, Jemmy's enrolled with local food delivery service but had a long term plan to deploy an in-house solution.
It was time for "Jemmy's". An African food ordering service.
Outcomes
Quick Wins
Since Jemmy’s implemented the Quick Wins, the business has recorded a 15% rise in revenue within the first two weeks. However, further data will be reviewed fortnightly to ascertain what improvements will be needed at this phase.
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Big Wins
The mid-fidelity prototype is presently being User Tested but has not gone live. 15 customers signed up to try out the new ordering system and feedback has so far been promising with 62% of existing customers indicating a preference for the system. 19% of customers said they would rather order by phone.
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The project will be revised post-launch after we analyse live data.