Menulog Business Model- How Australia’s largest food delivery app lured Gen Z

Food delivery all over the world has been quite popular and everyone knows the industry touched heights of success during the pandemic. 

Today, we will be talking about Menulog, an Australian app which has existed for a quite a long time now and can be easily termed as a trendsetter in this industry.

To give you an introduction, Menulog is an app-based food ordering and delivery platform headquartered in Australia. One can order a wide range of cuisines through multiple restaurants across the country on the platform. 

The company connects more than 3.8 million active customers to 30,000 local restaurants. 

Menulog serves more than 92% of the addressable population in Australia and New Zealand which makes it one of the biggest players in the region. 

The company was created in Sydney in 2006 and these days it is a part of Just Eat Takeaway.com. which is one of the leading global online food delivery marketplaces. 

According to Menulog’s official website, “It supports restaurants and businesses of all shapes and sizes; from independent restaurants and cafes to some of the world’s favourite brands, such as McDonalds, KFC, Hungry Jack’s, Subway, Oporto and more.”

DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Deliveroo are their main competitors. 

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The “Nokia” of food delivery?

Menulog has been quite popular among the local customers and restaurants but when Uber entered the market, it completely changed the mentality in food delivery. 

They had their drivers for delivery and were armed with a cool brand. They also acquired restaurants that appealed more to the youth. 

Meanwhile, Menulog had more traditional family restaurants on their list. It began to appear that Menulog would quickly become the “Nokia” of food delivery. So, a complete overhaul of the brand position was envisaged.

How they faced this challenge could be of great use to businesses who are willing to cater to Gen Z. Follow us as we take you through the 4 steps they took to capture the attention of Gen Z.

1. Creating content for channels relevant to Gen Z

Menulog realised they needed to talk to the youth through the channels they paid attention to such as TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat. 

To achieve this goal, they hired a creative communication agency called Connecting Plots. The main focus was on TikTok though. 

This attempt at engagement on TikTok was a trial-and-error kind of effort and it worked too. 

2. When to create content?

Once the target audience and content relevant to them was decided, the challenge that came up was recency. 

While modifying the Menulog business model the company realized that TikTok could not adhere to conventional marketing methods and timetables. 

Some of the topics could be trendy but these trends last for a week or so. It is not possible to take a longer production approach for content on TikTok. 

Johan Micheelsen, Head of Marketing, Menulog, quotes in an interview, “If you see something you will react and then develop. Then you have to turn around the content within 24 hours. In case you are not an agile business, it will be troublesome to remain relevant on TikTok.”

3. Catering to the community

One of the more successful engagements from Menulog came from the discovery by Connecting Plots of the trending sound “wee”. This many times accompanied the videos of animals falling over or jumping. 

Connecting Plots also suggested the idea of using chicken nuggets. This idea was approved quickly by Menulog. 

The content was shot, edited, and posted on the platform within 24 hours. 

4.  Being agile 

It is a fact that the quick turnaround required for TikTok is not suitable for all brands. It worked for Menulog though due to the agile nature of their marketing team and great internal connections. 

Marketing head chips in, “The marketing team has to be driven by concepts and what is happening on the platform. Then you need to jump on these things. You can get lucky and develop something that is not just a trend but that people find engaging.”

5. Connecting with youth idols

Menulog invested in American rapper and songwriter Snoop Dogg and it paid them good dividends as far as attracting youth was concerned.

They have also launched a campaign with singer Katy Perry and it has too become quiet popular.

“We are trending in the right direction. We absolutely have made a change when you look at where we were a year ago to where we are today”, he said.

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Making a shift towards employment model

When Menulog was founded in 2006 in Sydney, Australia the company started as a pure self-delivery business working with different restaurant partners that had their drivers for delivery.

In 2018, after getting acquired by Just Eat, Menulog started its delivery logistics offering called Menulog Delivery Service. 

Because of arriving late to this service, Menulog was able to leverage the current market insights for launching a service based on the better practices available at the time with individual contractors doing the deliveries.

Here’s what they did. 

1. Doing more with the courier service: Although conventionally the use of this Menulog business model was suitable for the Australian market, the gig economy kept on growing. 

Menulog believed that they needed to make improvements to their courier services that aligned with their philosophies and also value those that their new parent group practiced. 

Menulog is committed to the safety of its couriers giving them fair income and insurance coverage. 

2. Using a 3-prong approach: Menulog proposed a 3-prong approach towards a shift to the employment model including a proposal for a new modern award for the existing on-demand industry. 

They were looking to employ the couriers in the end but the existing regulatory framework presented several challenges regarding current modern awards, lack of flexibility, and subsequent costing. 

The Menulog company intended to investigate avenues for employment by using a new Modern Award with a fair work commission after consultation with important stakeholders.

3. Use of employment pilot program: Together with this, Menulog also began an employment pilot program that worked with couriers in the central business district of Sydney.

The company is committed to raising the support of the network of contractual couriers by raising their current insurance covers and checking their portable leave entitlements with superannuation. 

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Life after merger and media recognition

Menulog announced a merger with Just Eat in 2015 with a 70/30 splitting of shares and, thereby they formed a group called Menulog Group Limited. Later Menulog reached a milestone of ten million annual orders. 

The insight and research of Menulog into Australian food trends gets regularly featured in the media. 

The annual Tasty Takeaway awards by Menulog that recognize the most popular takeaway restaurants in Australia have been featured in the news.

Unique delivery service

The uniqueness of Menulog lies in the management of the company’s delivery services. 

The business does not take commissions from the delivery person’s fees. They use analytics that help in growing the business in some of the following areas. 

Big data and strategic swot analysis used by Menulog helps in taking appropriate decisions about the business.

This data helps understand the shortcomings of the business, and therefore the improvements can be made in requisite areas. 

Big data is useful for deciding higher risks. 

Conclusion

Menulog which started as a traditional brand successfully positioned itself among the youth through their marketing strategies and it is commendable.

Their fight for regular employment to the drivers has also given them a lot of media attention. 

You can contact us if you wish to make an app for delivery just like Menulog.