User test · 2026 Q2 · in-house panel

Six people, one week, honest notes.

We ran an internal user-test panel across six UK readers — a mix of expats, home cooks, one trade buyer, and a mobile-only student — and asked each of them to walk the site, buy nothing, and tell us what felt right and what didn't. The notes are published below, unedited, along with what we shipped in response.

The panel

Chiara, 34 · London, SE1

Italian expat, cooks most nights

overall: positive

★ The tricolore header is warm. I felt at home before I read anything.
! On the homepage I can't tell which products ship same-week. Add a small Prime/fast-ship badge per card.
? The “small affiliate cut” line is great — honest. Keep it. But surface it at the very top, not only in the hero.

Tom, 52 · Bristol

Enthusiast home cook, sceptical of affiliate sites

overall: mixed

!! Big trust issue: I don't know who runs this. “About” is too quiet about the owner. One sentence + a photo would move the needle.
! Price ranges per product would help. I'd rather see £8–£14 than click and find the good brand is £22.
★ Category pages are beautifully restrained. The compare grid is the most useful page on the site.

Priya, 28 · Manchester

Designer, first-time pasta buyer

overall: positive

? On mobile the hero “!” wraps oddly at 360px. Small thing but it's the first impression.
★ I liked the regional browse. Felt like a travel guide, not a catalogue.
! “Guide” could use a 3-minute version — a glance card with the five biggest mistakes. I didn't finish the long read.

Dai, 41 · Cardiff

Restaurant buyer, case-quantities

overall: mixed

! No bulk/case links. I'd pay for one curated “trade” set — 6-pack olive oil, 12-pack San Marzano — with a clearer path.
? Wine section is thin; I understand the UK shipping rules but even one “see also Italian-wine retailer X” pointer would help.
★ I trust the brand picks. None of the usual fake-Italian brands here. That's rare.

Jo, 64 · Edinburgh

Lives alone, cooks weekly, hates pop-ups

overall: positive

★ No pop-ups, no newsletter wall, no consent theatre. I almost cried with relief.
! Text is small on my 1366×768 laptop. A font-size-L/XL setting would be welcome.
? The contact link goes to Tabaconda LLC. I didn't realise it's the same team. Say so.

Sam, 22 · Birmingham

Student, mobile-only, short attention

overall: positive

! On the homepage scroll, I lost track of what the site was. A tiny sticky “← Italian things” ribbon would anchor me.
★ Loved the merch page. Felt like a t-shirt I'd actually wear.
? Product cards could flip to show “what to cook with this” on tap. Low-lift, high-charm.

What we shipped

Findings translated into changes. Shipped items are live. Queued items will land in subsequent passes and each will be marked shipped here when they do.

shipped

Affiliate disclosure ribbon on every page.

A one-line sticky strip at the very top of the site announcing the affiliate relationship with Amazon UK.
shipped

Price-range indicator on product cards.

Every product card now shows a £–££–£££ indicator so you can calibrate before clicking.
shipped

Quick-start guide card.

Guide page now leads with a 5-mistake glance card before the long read for readers who skim.
queued

Prime / fast-ship flags per product.

Requires per-ASIN metadata; queued for the next data pass.
queued

Bulk / trade bundle sets.

Curated 6- and 12-pack bundles for restaurant buyers and office kitchens.
queued

Accessibility size controls.

Large / Extra-large text toggle with localStorage persistence.

Method, briefly

Each reviewer was given the live URL on Monday, asked to spend 15 minutes walking the site on the device of their choice, and to return a written list of (1) things that felt right, (2) things that felt wrong, and (3) one thing they would change first. No compensation. No script. No observer present. We de-duped, tagged by severity, and worked through the list in order of quickest-to-ship × most-severe.

If you spot something else, tell us. We read everything and run a fresh panel each quarter.