Lightflows software developers replenish the Luxury Restaurant Guide
As the online destination for fine dining, the Luxury Restaurant Guide (LRG) needed to ensure that their product was catering to the hunger of every diner, old and new. Hence, they turned to Lightflows, whom they could rely on to serve a legacy software modernisation.
Putting users at the heart of the process, we helped to uncover their journeys, simplify crowded systems and deliver measurable improvement for customers and administrators alike, all supported by a clean, elegant brand with impactful photography and design.
The challenge
Helping to refine their menu of services
With their extensive luxury guide and comprehensive membership programme, one of the main challenges of reinventing the new LRG website was to compact their offerings into a single, cohesive experience.
To approach such a challenge, we deemed it necessary to transition from their previous architecture using Microsoft ASP to new technologies to enable a smooth user journey throughout the site.
Starting with strategy
Initially, we worked with the LRG team to develop a new digital strategy. After several discovery sessions, planning sprints and workshops, we could chart a path to digital transformation – and a future-proofed new infrastructure. We also clarified clear project goals, touching on user experience, design, systems architecture and more.
The solution
A blend of old and new
While we introduced a new website backend and payment system (Stripe), we were keen to enable administrative teams access to familiar tools.
Hence, we integrated Laravel into existing systems and ways of working where appropriate; for example, user account information and the membership features both shared data with the existing Salesforce implementation. We also retained the use of WordPress for the blog, keeping the experience easy and natural for the content team.
Search at its most sophisticated
On the front end, we emulated the frictionless, easy experience of a great restaurant. Redesigning the search functionality was a key element.
As well as offering more tools to filter restaurants by location, cuisine and Michelin stars, we developed new results pages, served up by Facebook’s fast React technology. With list/grid views and a new visual language of badges and tags, search results feel more relevant and bespoke than ever.
The results
Engaged, satisfied visitors
The new LRG experience was launched amid the COVID-19 pandemic; a difficult time for the entire hospitality industry. Nonetheless, initial signs have been extremely positive.
A more compelling experience
As well as a significant increase in traffic in those months where the UK was not in lockdown, the team reports longer dwell times, more page views, and more returning customers.
The start of a new journey
Crucially, the new website and its underlying systems are a great foundation for the next chapter of the Luxury Restaurant Guide. Building on the success of the website, we’re currently redesigning and developing a new app, planned to launch in Q2 2021.
