David Buttress, a venture partner at 83North and former CEO of Just Eat, joined the startup in its early days. After a successful stint with Coca-Cola, Buttress took the reins of Just Eat in 2006, leading the company to an initial public offering (IPO) on the London Stock Exchange, which gave it a market valuation of £1.5 billion. Today, Just Eat boasts over 26 million customers and over 3,600 employees globally.
The Idea that Changed the Food Industry
The business model of Just Eat was born out of the necessity to support struggling independent restaurants. There was no digital platform for these establishments, and their primary mode of advertising was through physical flyers. Identifying this opportunity, Just Eat created a platform to digitally transform this fragmented restaurant landscape.
The Journey Begins
Buttress met Jesper Buch, Just Eat's founder, in a bar. Despite initial hesitations, Buttress resigned from Coca-Cola to build the business with Buch in the UK. Their first victory was signing up a local takeaway in East London, marking the beginning of a journey that would transform the food industry.
The Building Blocks of Success
Just Eat's success can be attributed to its strong organisational culture, instilled with energy, understanding, motivation, and transparent information sharing. Despite the challenges faced during the IPO, the company maintained its commitment to transparency, using a colour-coding system for key performance metrics.
Harnessing the Power of Data
Just Eat's business thrived on data, using it to understand customer preferences, predict order volumes, and plan business strategies. With the advent of artificial intelligence, the company leveraged data to make predictions, enhancing its efficiency and service.
The Future of Just Eat
Today, Just Eat is a high-tech company, constantly innovating to provide an exceptional user experience. In the future, they plan on extending their services into digital media players and gaming experiences, incorporating technology to inform customers about ingredients and food provenance.
The Expansion of Just Eat
Just Eat has grown exponentially over the last decade, expanding its operations into 13 countries and employing over 1,000 people. With this growth came complexities in reporting, lead generation, and collaboration. However, with the help of Salesforce, the company was able to automate processes, increase efficiency, and encourage collaboration.
Streamlining with Salesforce
Salesforce enabled Just Eat to replace spreadsheets with a more flexible and social approach. This change led to increased efficiency, with reporting being completely automated, saving managers several hours a week.
The Power of Mobile Access
Providing mobile access to Sales Cloud via tablet and smartphone devices, Salesforce helped Just Eat streamline its operations. This meant that sales teams could onboard a customer instantly, cutting the time it took to bring a new restaurant online by half.
Encouraging Collaboration
Just Eat utilised Chatter, a Salesforce tool, to connect its geographically dispersed sales force. This facilitated the sharing of ideas and helped maintain the company's unique culture, keeping its original values and vision alive.
Customer Engagement
With eight million registered users and 1.8 million Facebook fans worldwide, it was crucial for Just Eat to stay connected with its growing customer base. Salesforce provided visibility of the most popular restaurants across their network, helping them sign up restaurants that customers wanted to order from.
The Future is Bright
Generating food sales of more than £700 million per year for its partner restaurants, Just Eat has become the champion of online takeaway ordering. With only a small percentage of orders worldwide being made online, there is still a massive market to tap into. As the company continues to empower consumers, it is poised to become a true international success story.
In conclusion, Just Eat's journey from a small operation in a Danish basement to a global online takeaway ordering giant is a testament to the power of innovation, perseverance, and a strong organisational culture. It's a story that continues to inspire entrepreneurs and startups around the world.