California Pizza Kitchen
California Pizza Kitchen
Revitalizing an iconic California brand with a fresh .com
The Brief
California Pizza Kitchen was in a bit of a rut. Their online ordering experience was converting far below the industry average. With 20 clicks to order a pizza, it was no surprise. And their branding was dated and missing the mark on epitomizing California fresh. They came to YML to revamp the CPK digital experience and bring their progressive heritage back to life.
YML | Lead UX Designer | 2020
Bringing the California back to California Pizza Kitchen
Our big insight from talking with stakeholders was that we needed to make CPK feel fresh and progressive again. California is a state of mind — and we wanted to bring that mindset to every customer who comes through CPK’s digital doorway. We started by developing experience principles that would drive our design decisions from day one.
Structured for speed
The old CPK .com was designed around the organization of the business, with marketing promotions and company info taking center stage. Ordering felt like an add on with customers being routed to another third-party site to create their order. We restructured the information architecture with a focus on customer intentions — find a location, and order food. The navigation was designed to guide different customer types, whether repeat or new, in creating and completing their order as quickly as possible. We reduced the fastest ordering experience from 20 to 5 clicks.
Fast casual, but make it custom
The ‘fast-casual’ restuarant space in the US has seen incredible growth in recent years. A plethora of new options combined with online ordering becoming commonplace has changed peoples’ expectations and dining desires. People want high-quality food, they want it to suit their unique dietary preferences and of course — they want it fast. To modernize CPK’s dining experience, we leaned heavily into customization and ordering velocity.
The best customers are the ones you already have
In a sea of competition for the lunch crowd, casual weeknight dinners or family pizza night — creating repeat customers is key for business. We baked in thoughtful features to build loyalty and make customers feel like CPK knows them and ‘the usual’. So CPK would become their go-to neighborhood spot.
