Nandoca app blog
The making of the Nandoca app
Ever since we first launched the Nandoca app to our 2 amazing test restaurants (shout out to Old Street and Bexleyheath!) we’ve been receiving emails about lost passwords and forgotten usernames. A few days ago we released a new version of the app with a major change that we’re super excited about: Nandocas can now log in much faster, more easily, and more securely using only their mobile number!
Most people probably won’t have thought much about the technologies that go into delivering something like the Nandoca app, and that’s fine. If we’ve done our job right, you shouldn’t ever need to be aware of what’s going on behind the scenes.
We love to share stuff though, and creating opportunities for Nandocas to learn, develop and progress, both within Nando’s and beyond, is one of the things we’re really excited about doing with the app. With that in mind, for those who are interested, here’s a whistle-stop tour of some of the technologies we’re using. We’ve included some links to where you might start if you wanted to pick up some of this stuff yourself. If you have any questions, we’d love to hear from you - you can contact our app team at nandoca@nandos.co.uk.
From day one, our philosophy has always been to focus on making something Nandocas will love. To achieve that, we’re committed to launching early and often to learn how people use the app, and then make changes to meet their needs. This allows us to iterate and improve quickly, but it also means the app won’t be 100% perfect and bug-free, at least initially
Over the past five months we've been designing and building an app that aims to inspire and enable all Nandocas to be the best they can be. We've been speaking to Nandocas and visiting restaurants trying to get under the skin of what it means to be a Nandoca and how we can make their lives better.
Well, hold on just a second there. Right now we're working with a couple of select restaurants (shout out to the amazing testers at Nando's Old Street and Nando's Bexleyheath) to refine an early prototype version of the app. That means that some of the features have been built, but many of them require lots of time-consuming manual work, so it's not really ready for wide release just yet.
When the prototype is ready, we'll start doing 'Alpha' releases to a select group of restaurants in order to help us learn what is required for the app to work for a greater numbers of users. Finally, when we're happy with it, we'll do a companywide 'Beta' release for all Nandocas. We're hoping to have the Beta release in early 2017. We'll post in greater detail soon about what these terms mean, but for now watch this space for updates.
