Chefz: Revolutionizing Food Delivery in Riyadh

Chefz, one of Riyadh's leading food delivery platforms, stands as a testament to PearlThoughts' expertise in transforming and scaling digital solutions. Our team took on the challenge of rebuilding this platform from the ground up, turning it into a powerhouse in the food delivery sector.

chefz

Key Achievements

  • Complete system overhaul in just 2 months 
  • Rapid feature deployment with weekly value-added releases
  • Growth from 30 to 3,000 chefs in 5 years
  • Daily order value increase to 10,000 SAR
  • Successful acquisition by Jaz for $200 million
  • 500,000+ installs on Google Play Store

Challenge

Upon inheriting the Chefz codebase, we identified significant architectural limitations. Our analysis revealed that a complete rebuild was necessary to unlock the platform’s full potential while retaining critical legacy components. 

Our Approach

  1. Strategic Legacy Retention: 
  • Maintained Yii2 framework for API
  • Preserved MySQL database structure
  • Retained 1,000 legacy orders for historical integrity
  1. Scalable Architecture:
  • Implemented stateless design to enable load balancing
  • Migrated to AWS RDS for enhanced database management
  • Utilized S3 for efficient image serving
  • Deployed Apache web servers for robust performance
  1. Modernization Strategy:
  • Employed the Strangler Fig pattern to gradually replace legacy systems
  • Rebuilt Orders v2 with enhanced flexibility and streamlined workflows
  • Developed a proprietary task/delivery system, replacing Tookan
  1. Expanded Ecosystem:
  • Extended API to support customer, chef, and delivery partner apps
  • Implemented features for customer loyalty and feedback capture
  • Introduced unique order customization capabilities
  1. Quality Assurance and Continuous Improvement:
  • Supported by a dedicated QA team for proactive monitoring
  • Introduced API automation tests for reliability
  • Regular API version updates reflecting rapid prototyping

Results

Our efforts catalyzed Chefz’s exponential growth: 

  • Chef network expanded 100-fold in 5 years
  • Substantial increase in daily order values
  • Platform’s market value soared, culminating in a $200 million acquisition
  • Achieved 500,000+ installs on Google Play Store