Gobble: Food, Friends & Rewards

Challenge

How might we design a food ordering experience centered around human connections?

UX designer leading the design of key user flows, homepage, reward system for the consumer-facing mobile app and merchant-facing app

My role

Overview

Gobble, an emerging food ordering platform, emphasised the social dimension of dining. In its initial phase, two primary objectives were prioritized:

1. Seamless Food Ordering Flow: As a food ordering platform, the fundamental process of ordering had to be effortless and efficient.

2. Gobble Party: Gobble distinguished itself through its innovative "Gobble Party" feature, facilitating group orders for enhanced savings, akin to a group buy. This social aspect set Gobble apart from traditional food ordering platforms.

3. Food Gifting: Focusing on the social aspect of food, the platform aimed to empower users to easily send food gifts – a behavoir that boomed during the Covid pandemic.
   

User acquisition was a critical focus during this phase. To incentivise growth, users were further rewarded when they share their rewards with others, fostering a sense of community and collaboration.

Despite these efforts, the changes in the product strategy led to the cessation of Gobble's operations in April 2023.

Default Map view

Unlike most food ordering apps, the Gobble homepage defaults to the "Maps" view, while providing visual cues on the restaurant's type of cuisine.

Default Maps view
Considering our user demographic of students/office workers who prefer nearby food options, we set "Maps" as the default view. Since Gobble was limited to self-pickup only at that time, highlighting a 10-minute walking distance radius was essential.

Quick filters
To aid decision-making, we implemented quick filters upfront. Our hypothesis focused on users' primary interest in cuisine types, dietary restrictions and prep time required.

Familiar design patterns
Users can access specific restaurant details by tapping on the icon and selecting the chosen restaurant in the carousel. This navigation pattern closely resembles that of Google Maps. Employing familiar design patterns helps users to navigate the app with confidence.

Menu labelling
Given Gobble's innovative concept of social food commerce, the use of generic icons like a house, a bowl of noodles, and a medal does not communicate their respective functionalities to users effectively.

Hence, I pushed for the business team to prioritise clarity over aesthetic by employing clearer icons with accompanying labels

Prioritising Gobble's unique benefits

With so many food ordering platforms in the Singapore market, I designed the Gobble's merchant menu page to highlight the rich features that sets Gobble apart. This includes Gobble Gains - Gobble's reward card system, Gobble parties and the ability to select a dine-in option.

Gobble Gains: Reward cards
Our reward cards on the platform address common issues such as the loss of physical cards or forgetting their whereabouts. Placed prominently, these cards serve as a visual reminder, motivating users to order by highlighting their progress toward the next reward.

Enjoy Gobble rewards even while dining in
Acknowledging its lunchtime clientele's preference for dining out when space permits. Gobble provides a dine-in option where users can order through Gobble by entering their table number at the respective restaurant and receiving their orders promptly while benefiting from Gobble's rewards at the same time.

Gobble parties
Gobble parties are live group buying events where hosts await additional participants to join the order and enjoy savings.

This section was introduced with a badge count of the number of active parties. Customers who have time and are interested in additional cost savings can join a party while those seeking a quick purchase can scroll down for the menu.

Sharing is caring

The social aspect was an important part of Gobble. Gobble rewards their users when they share their rewards with friends, further promoting and sharing the app.

Emojis
To infuse a youthful and playful vibe, we used emojis as a consistent visual element across the application. This not only cultivates a lively atmosphere but also streamlines feature launches and testing, enabling the team to prioritize usability over designing graphic elements from scratch.

Sharing reward stamps with contacts
Users have the flexibility to share their two free stamps. They can opt to split the stamps, giving one to each contact, or allocate both stamps to a single recipient.

Thanks for reading!