In my role at Deliveroo, I saw a big opportunity to improve how we brought new restaurants onto the platform. The existing process was very manual, time-consuming, and inconsistent across different markets. It also didn’t give us the data we needed to make informed business decisions.
To address this, I completely revolutionized the onboarding process. I created a systemized approach that provided a unified, joined-up process, recorded everything in one place, and generated useful data. This had a significant impact. For example, we discovered that many restaurants weren’t being onboarded quickly enough, and some were even falling out of the system. By highlighting these missed opportunities, we were able to save Deliveroo a lot of money and reduce the manual work involved, which also improved the restaurant experience. This was also the beginning of a shift towards a self-service approach for restaurants.
The main challenge was getting buy-in from the teams, as many people were very attached to the old ways of doing things and worried that automation would reduce the level of care given to restaurants. However, working with the teams to address their concerns, and showing them impactful data of just how transformative this process would be, we were able to bring everyone on the journey with us, and get their buy-in and support for the transformation.
My approach focused on understanding the current situation and rebuilding the process step-by-step in a clear and transparent way. I recognized that a one-size-fits-all solution wouldn’t work, so I built in flexibility to accommodate the differences between markets and restaurant types. This flexibility was key to the successful adoption of the new process and the collection of useful data.
This experience highlights my ability to tackle complex problems, create order from chaos, and build scalable, data-driven solutions. It also demonstrates the importance of taking a logical and humble approach, collaborating with stakeholders, and building strong foundations that last.
