Prospect Client: Azzurri Group
“Why are restaurant bookings in decline?”
The Azzurri Group is one of the UK’s largest and most successful hospitality investment platforms. Azzurri employs nearly 6,000 people, serving over 15 million meals annually at over 240 restaurants across chains; Zizzi, ASK Italian, Coco di Mama, Boojum, and Dave’s Hot Chicken.
(Pitch: London, 2026)
The Challenge
“Why are restaurant bookings in decline?”
The Azzuri Group put out a RFP to understand why their bookings were decreasing.
The challenge was to create a UX roadmap that delivered results fast as well as putting together an overarching plan that would commit the business to growth by putting customers at the heart of Azzurri’s digital strategy.
Research
Understanding the customer ecosystem
Research proposal focused on hotjar data (online metrics), user interviews and competitor analysis.
Sample digital metrics showed customers dropped off at the date and time selector.
User interviews followed clicks through the booking process and highlighted frustrations around booking availability, slow loading, and UI issues on mobile.
“I selected my local ASK but the calendar just stays blank. Is it broken?”
“Why do I have to re-enter my location if I already clicked the restaurant on the map?”
“No tables available for 2 weeks? That can’t be right. Going to Prezzo instead.”
Proposed activities & outputs
User interviews, departmental workshops, gathering usage analytics, user journey mapping, content mapping, content analysis, information architecture, technical reviews, design review, competitor & market analysis, academic research into search psychology and behaviour.
Analysis
“Of all the issues what can we fix fast?”
Auditing the booking process against the user feedback we collated the issues in the current process as a screen by screen customer journey.
Additionally, business focused workshops with Azzurri stakeholders and restaurant managers would provide broader context to the decline in bookings.
Competitor research looked at ways that other hospitality chains dealt with bookings.
Proposed activities & outputs
Golden path user journeys and gap analysis, user archetypes, role definition, departmental need definition, technical ecosystem map, content ecosystem map, skeleton IA, problem definition statement, research response matrix (hi-lo severity, hi-lo importance) and design mood-board and workshops to validate analysis with users and stakeholders.
Solutions
“Customer focussed UX and UI”
Now:
– Reworking the booking process to align with customers priorities of time and location.
– Dealing with the existing technical failings of the booking engine.
– Integrating loyalty app SSO to make booking seamless, use persistent data and input-lite.
Near:
– Use research to understand core motivations of customers and to create a digital strategy that serves their needs, rather than just consider people as ‘covers’.
Far:
– Expand on technical innovations around personalisation and offer maximisation.
Proposed activities & outputs
Solution ideation workshops, wireframes, prototypes, user testing of solution flows, user testing of page layout, delivery workshops with technical teams, liaise with global brand leads on design, design library integration, interaction UI design, cross-departmental review, risks and issues log, alpha and beta user group definition, senior stakeholder presentation and strategic delivery sessions.
Realisation
“What are the core metrics to measure success?”
Addressing the core issues with the booking process, fundamentally putting choice and control in the hands of the customer, overcomes the blockages discovered during research.
The broader work of understanding the end-to-end CX journey, from inspiration to post-meal follow up would allow us to fully appreciate what drives customers and what types of personalisation and offers create lasting relationships with the Azzurri brands.
Proposed activities & outputs
Pilot strategy and delivery planning, stakeholder presentation, pilot and phase 1 launch agreement.
