Johnny Lunn

KOALA

Koala is an ordering platform in which restaurants can create a custom, branded experience for their guests. The platform integrates with other vendors that many restaurant franchises already use, such as Olo and Punchh.

As the lead product designer on the Koala team I worked with product managers, engineers, and sales to iterate on their native iOS, in-store kiosk, and web platforms.

One of the things I enjoyed most about working with the Koala platform was its unique position as a B2B and B2C company. This meant balancing our own business needs with clients’ business needs and making sure we provided users with a functional, expressive experience.

UX Improvements

Koala had a version of the iOS experience already implemented and running for one client. However the build for this version was very specific and lacked many personal account features. This inhibited Koala from selling the iOS platform as fully customizable. To improve this we redesigned and rebuilt the iOS experience to be consistent with a unified design system, as well as integrated with loyalty vendor Punchh.

Examples of the iOS experience before the redesign

Account Features

Goal: Increase sign up and sign in rate

Since there was not a dashboard or home screen in the current logged in experience, there was very little incentive for users to log in or create an account.

I explored adding a home screen that users would see after logging in to welcome and anchor them in the experience as well as track personal information like available rewards, loyalty points and messages before entering the ordering flow.

Integrating with Punchh allowed us to offer more loyalty features. This gave users the opportunity to gain rewards with their orders and also provided more incentive to return to their accounts to track progress. This integration also allowed Koala to tap into the hundreds of brands currently using Punchh as a potential market to tap into.

Home screen before and after redesign

Loyalty and account flow (Punchh integration)

Menu Features

Goal: Give brands more opportunity for visual expression

Koala had one template for menu viewing before the redesign, and menus looked very similar across brands. Our goal was to add more variety to the platform by adding more menu templates for brands to choose from. Along with this we also added allergen filters, so users could flag any dietary restrictions.

Additional menu templates

Allergen flow

Prototype

Final white-label designs and transitions prototype of the loyalty and ordering experience.

Design System

To ensure consistency in UI, I cleaned up all the current and new styles and components. This ensured consistency in UI for the user, but also provided a much needed refresh for the internal team. This gave us the materials to streamline our communication from product, design, and engineering whenever referencing current tasks.

Customization

By editing colors, type styles, and messaging through the Koala CMS any brand can create a custom and unique experience. MOD Pizza's, the first brand on the redesigned platform, instance is shown below.

White-label Koala home screen and customized MOD Pizza home screen

MOD Pizza ordering flow

Lasting Impact

After implementation of the new UX enhancements we saw a strong increase in sign in and sign up rates, as well as an increase in average order size.

Now equipped with a unified design language through the design system, the sales team was also able to bring on 10 new brands to the platform.

Koala continued to expand it’s platform and now serves over 40 brands across their mobile, kiosk, and web experiences spanning more than 4,000 restaurant locations.

Equipped with the redesigned iOS mobile, strengthening their product offerings, in February 2023 Koala was acquired by the restaurant tech company, Chowly. The combined business now represents over 16,000 restaurant locations and processes over 350,000 orders per day.