From Punch Cards to Digital Loyalty: Transforming Barilla’s Restaurant Experience

for barilla, Italy & us 

Developed a customer experience strategy for Barilla’s US restaurant chain, focusing on digital loyalty.

Opportunity and Problem: 

Barilla aimed to incorporate its Mediterranean heritage into the restaurant and loyalty experience. The existing loyalty program was an outdated punch-card system that didn’t reflect the brand’s identity. This presented an opportunity to enhance the entire customer journey.

My Role:

I co-led the eight-week project with another creative lead, focusing on user research in New York through participatory design exercises and interviews with staff and customers. We conducted client workshops to share insights and co-create concepts, and I prototyped the final mobile app in collaboration with designers.

Process Highlights:

The key challenge was convincing Barilla to move away from a “nutritional tracking” concept to ideas grounded in user insights. Through targeted questions and exercises, we validated that even loyal customers didn’t find nutritional tracking relevant to a restaurant chain. 

We created user archetypes and journey maps to explore concepts across all touchpoints. Ultimately, we reimagined the Barilla app, proposing gamified loyalty mechanics through micro health challenges related to the Mediterranean diet. Users could engage in challenges like trying new flavors or exploring different food groups, enhancing loyalty alongside traditional rewards. This approach received strong buy-in from the client.