Fortune 500 Digital Transformation
2018-2019
The Challenge
Casey’s General Stores—a Fortune 500 food service and convenience chain with a rabidly loyal legacy user base—faced an investor revolt over perceived underperformance and a failure to keep pace with competitors. The goal was to modernize the entire digital footprint—including branding, responsive web, native apps, and even internal tools—without alienating the core customers who cherished their hometown shop.
At the time, Casey’s relied on third-party platforms for both their desktop website and their native app…which was really just a Gas Buddy implementation with a knock-off Flappy Birds game attached.
The Ecosystem Approach
B2C interfaces aren’t the only aspects of an experience that need thoughtful design attention. Beyond the consumer-facing interface, the project required a complete reinvention of the kitchen Order Management System (OMS). This internal mission-critical tool was the backbone of the transformation, ensuring that increased digital demand translated into efficient, real-world delivery. Up until this point, Casey’s was still relying on literal pencil and paper for order taking and having associates then transcribe the paper order slips to the cash register. Mind you, this was the fifth-largest pizza chain in the country.
Strategy
I managed a cross-functional, 18 month effort to implement User-Centered Design (UCD) methodologies across all platforms. Prioritized responsive web platform based on user insights and go-to-market priorities. By focusing on maintaining trust through the brand shift and optimizing the internal operational tools, we ensured the system could scale as sales increased and that product quality and customer service wouldn’t suffer.
The OMS
Large UI was essential in the OMS to support muscle memory operation and accuracy at speed.
Imagery or iconography for every menu item were problematic from both a scalability and a differentiation standpoint; large, simple labels were more effective.
High contrast designs supported accuracy at speed for power users and visibility in the bright lights of kitchen workspaces.
Lighter backgrounds were used to differentiate transactional screens from food-centric ones.
One of the best enhancements enabled by the OMS system: customer data retention and reorder capability!
The fixed scope and familiarity of drink brands made this one of the few locations where imagery was more effective than text labels.
The system had to account for both modern displays and legacy, capacitative screens that didn't allow for modern interactions like swiping to scroll.
The B2C Interface & Rebrand
Working directly with the new CMO, I created an entirely new design language and brand aesthetic for Casey's that they would unexpectedly become their entire brand design, not just digital.
Pizza ordering requires surprisingly complex information architecture.
What happens when a competitor buys a patent that everyone intuitively associates with pizza ordering? You solve the problem, on the fly, FAST.
ABU: Always Be Upselling
The slate background is only for food; transactional screens get the off-white – "Mozz" as we called it.
The old Casey's logo simply didn't render or scale well in digital applications.
A usable interface won't get people to buy gross looking food. I art directed a photo shoot of all of Casey's menu items to ensure the new experience put Casey's best foot forward.
New color palette that subtly leans into Americana while also feeling adjacent to the original brand customers were so familiar with.
All-new custom iconography by me.
New brand typography (simplified from the original 11 fonts they were using).
New brand textures
Impact
Sales Growth
Tripled sales growth from 20% to nearly 60% within the first 6 months of launch, as validated by corporate earnings reports.
Operational Insight
Deployed to more than 2000 locations, the OMS allowed Casey’s to immediately gain improved insight into processes, inventory, and offline sales – reducing shrinkage and driving strategic refinement capability.
Pure Profit
The entire engagement was structured with reduced fees from our side in exchange for 20¢ of each pizza sold via the new system for 3 years. Success was so immediate, Caseys bought out that revenue share contract within the first year.