Food technology · Partner since 2018
hungerhub
Building the digital backbone for a corporate meal platform as it grew from hundreds to several thousand orders a day.
The challenge
A growing business held back by a product that had become difficult to change.
When DevDen joined hungerhub in 2018, the company was already proving demand for a better way to feed teams at work. But the product underneath that service was becoming a constraint. A bloated Rails application, unusual AJAX-heavy interactions and a slow interface made everyday improvements harder than they needed to be.
The platform had to coordinate customers, restaurants, menus, group orders and operational workflows. It needed to become faster and easier to use without interrupting a live ordering business. The job was not to redesign a few screens. It was to create a foundation the company could keep building on.
Tech architecture
Separate the experience from the complexity.
We rebuilt the customer-facing product around a Rails backend and Vue frontend. Rails remained the dependable system of record while Vue gave the product team a cleaner, faster interface to evolve.
- Ruby on Rails
- Vue
- React Native
- PostgreSQL
- Web + mobile APIs
- 01Stabilise the core
Protect the ordering logic and live business while replacing the most limiting parts of the old application.
- 02Modernise the interface
Move from fragile AJAX interactions to a responsive Vue experience backed by a clear Rails application layer.
- 03Build for the next channel
Create a foundation that could serve restaurant tools, customer experiences and mobile applications.
One platform, several products
The relationship expanded as hungerhub's operation became more ambitious.
After the initial rebuild, DevDen helped create a separate restaurant-facing web product and React Native applications for both restaurants and customers. That meant designing multiple experiences around the same operational reality: what a customer sees, what a restaurant needs to fulfil, and what the business needs to coordinate in between.
A typical team included two backend developers, two frontend developers working across web and mobile, and one QA engineer. Keeping that team together mattered. The people making new product decisions already understood the order lifecycle, historic trade-offs and the consequences for every other part of the system.
Impact
From hundreds of daily orders to several thousand.
As hungerhub grew, the software grew with it. The platform moved from processing a few hundred orders a day to several thousand, while expanding across web, restaurant operations and mobile.
The company was later acquired by hungry. DevDen's role did not end at the transaction: the team continues to maintain and improve the backend and applications, carrying years of product context into the next stage of the business.
“Over the past seven years DevDen has become an invaluable extension of our internal tech team. We have been able to peruse new project with excellent turnaround time and code quality. They make a genuine effort to understand our business, products and timelines and are always available for immediate assistance. I truly appreciate all their hard work and look forward to continuing our strong relationship moving forward.”
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