A unified menu management tool for partners to keep their menus accurate in real time, replacing a fragmented set of legacy platforms across multiple markets.
Senior Product Designer, owning menu management within the broader order fulfillment landscape initiative
Challenge
Consolidate fragmented OOS management across different systems
Constraint
Multiple legacy platforms, diverse partner types, in-store hardware limits, and item registration boundaries in Partner Hub
context
In a 28-day period, over 66,500 orders were cancelled due to menu items being out of stock, resulting in £1.23M in lost revenue and £184,700 in lost JET commission. The root cause wasn't just that items ran out. It was that partners had no fast, reliable way to update their menus when it happened.
Orders lost to OOS items in a 28-day sample
Revenue lost — AOV £18.50
Approximate JET commission lost in the same period
partners reality
Before designing anything, it was important to understand how partners actually managed their menus during a shift, not how the system assumed they did. The pattern was consistent across partner types: a preparation ritual before service, a reactive process mid-shift, and a recovery step that often got forgotten.
Daily routine
Pre-service check
Partners run through the inventory before opening, verifying sauces, add-ons, and key items are available. A critical but entirely manual ritual.
High-pressure moment
Item runs out mid-shift
An ingredient or dish runs out during peak service. The partner needs to mark it offline, but they're busy, distracted, and switching between tools.
Gap: most common failure
Menu update gets skipped
During peak times, updating the menu is forgotten. A new order arrives for the OOS item. The partner must choose between a substitution or cancellation, and then navigate a phone-masking system to reach the customer.
Gap: second most common failure
Item stays offline unintentionally
Once the item is back in stock, it often stays marked offline. Partners forget who updated it, or assume someone else put it back. Revenue is lost on every order that doesn't come in.
Daily routine
Next shift: starts again
The cycle repeats. Without a clear OOS overview or reminders, the pre-service check has to catch what the last shift missed.
The hidden complexity: Taking one item offline doesn't cascade to meal deals or combos it appears in. A burger marked OOS is still available as part of a combo, meaning orders still come in for it, and the problem compounds silently.
the fragmentation problem
Each legacy platform had a different subset of menu management features. No single tool could do everything partners needed. The result was inconsistency across markets and partner types and a support burden for JET every time a partner switched platforms.Each legacy platform offered a distinct set of menu management features, and no single tool met all the needs of the partners. This led to inconsistencies across different markets and partner types.
Features
Live Orders
T-Connect
Orderpad
Items categorised into sections
Items can be offlined
Items offline for a day or longer
Can offline modifiers / add-ons
Related items affected alert
Search bar
Show out of stock filter
Menu accessible via reject order flow
The design brief that emerged is to combine the strengths of all three platforms, address their shortcomings, and deliver a unified experience that caters to every partner without being limited by the capabilities of any single legacy system.
design challenge
Each menu item can have different varieties, such as sizes and options, each with its own set of add-ons that can be controlled independently. For a partner with 326 items across multiple categories, it was essential to find and update the correct item quickly, clearly, and with flexibility during a shift.
Category
E.g Burgers
Item
E.g Cheese Burger
Variety
E.g Medium (150g) / Large (300g)
Add-ons
E.g Lettuce, Tomato, Sauce
We conducted user testing with 12 participants from the food and restaurant sectors in the UK, Germany, and the Netherlands, using both mobile and tablet devices. The results showed strong task completion rates and high usability scores. Notably, the participants had never seen the interface before this test.
Usability score — tablet
Usability score — mobile
Task completion rate
impact
The most significant outcome wasn't a single metric, it was the elimination of fragmentation itself. Partners across restaurants and groceries, legacy Just Eat and legacy Takeaway markets, tablet and mobile, now have one consistent tool. No more platform-specific workarounds. No more split support across legacy tools.
