Hot on the heels of Deliveroo, takeaway app Just Eat have launched a rebrand of their own. Just Eat are an intermediary between the customer and the takeaway, via the web or a mobile app consumers can discover and order food from a range of local takeaways in their area.
In my graphic design day job, I work with a couple of restaurants who partner with Just Eat. Their feedback tends to be that it’s something of a poison chalice. The system undeniably drives take away custom to the restaurants but with a couple of negatives. The first being actual cost, Just Eat takes a slice of the revenue based on a percentage of each order, that hits the bottom line of some pretty tight margins once you factor in delivery drivers, fuel and the like. It’s also a platform that has your competitors on, very direct local competitors, so if loyal customers find the Just Eat ordering experience a good one, which it generally is, then they may be tempted to try an alternative one evening because it’s on the app, maybe with a special offer?. I’m not the only one who’s struggled on the phone speaking over the sounds of a busy establishment to a staff member with English as a second language, the app then cuts this out and the restaurant gets a nice neat list of what you want, no mistakes!
With a bright sunburst pattern, the main colour is a brighter red, then a rainbow of additional colours flash out from a central point. A new text mark in a chunky sans-serif with rounded corners sits boldly on the bright background and a new tag line “Find your flavour” rests below. Gone is the web startup trope of a cursor in the letter “A”, a wise choice as presumably many people aren’t using Just Eat on a screen with a mouse, but are jabbing at pizza toppings with their ever fattening fingers. There’s an idiosyncratic J that gives the text a little character.
In application, we’re treated to an array of colourful images featuring the sunburst pattern applied to taxis, delivery bikes (which is odd as in my experience, unlike deliveroo, the restaurants provide the delivery with their own staff) and takeaway materials, bags, boxes and cartons, which again seems odd as these are supplied by the establishments. They’re all bright and cheerful, suggesting not an evening slumped in front of the TV with a greasy chicken chow mien, but lunches in the park (can you deliver to the pig statue Arboretum Park please?).
The tag line also hints at their direction, discovering new tastes. They’re launching a Facebook chat-bot to help people discover different foods they fancy at that time. I wonder if the focus on the new will further put off businesses who already feel the platform allows customers to buy from rivals? Encouraging them to develop their own ordering systems and keep customers loyal? If the Just Eat experience continues to evolve and improve, remaining a better way to order than via phone or alternitive apps and sites, it will ensure that wherever eaters shop, it’ll be via Just Eat properties.
Source: VentureThree – Just Eat