The Challenge:
A sit-down whole-foods restaurant wants to develop a state-of-the-art electronic ordering
system. They believe that this will provide better and faster service to their customers,
thereby giving them a competitive advantage.
Deliverables:
Research: are there similar systems already in the market, how do they work, how would
something similar work in the restaurant?
Customer needs/wants analysis to determine the actual need for a system like this;
Personae development;
User journey development;
Process flows;
Paper prototypes indicating how the system would look (rough sketches)
Usability testing showing results of how users found the prototype system
Bonus: Digital wireframes of the system post-testing and taking any findings into
account;
Hand in a process document with your sketches, research, sources and planning.
Combine all components of the deliverables clearly indicating each section.
Research Development
The pillar of a success restaurant is customer service. And putting the needs and wants of
the customers at the centre of your vision. Each restaurant will experience a variety of
different customers with different preferences. There are a few standout markers that
expands the experience of the customer that comes into a restaurant.
Customers want to feel important, to feel like more than a profit. The opportunity to deliver a human experience that’s not rushed starts from the moment they get welcomed at the door. As they enter a host / server will greet them, and engage in conversation. In certain cases, the waiter/waitress that greets you at the door, will be your server for the rest of the experience.
Customer Expectation
1. Friendly, personalised service
2. Consistently great food
3. An Instagrammable ambiance
4. Efficient customer service
Customers want sincerity, and positivity, someone that’s excited to host and serve them. It
takes a customer 5 seconds to decide whether or not their server is likeable. Remember
small things like the name / surname of your customer helps to generate a short-term
relationship and one of the first steps to delivery friendly, personalised service. Dale
Carnegie, the author of “How to Win Friends and Influence People”, claims that
remembering a person’s name is one of the six ways to make people like you. And when
people like you, they’re more likely to listen to your suggestions - like suggesting dessert at
the end of their meal.
The Definition of "slow-food"
Slow Food
the make of local or traditional foods / cooking method.
Promoted as an alternative to fast food, it strives to preserve traditional and regional
cuisine and encourages farming of plants, seeds, and livestock characteristic of the local
ecosystem.” (Ronca, 2009)
Slow Food is the antithesis of fast food. Slow Food activists believes that food should be
grown and bought locally. Prepared and consumed with care and appreciation. In a world
where we can get cheap, processed food without even leaving our cars, slow food seems
like a throwback to a different era. Petrini and others believe that the globalisation and
industrialisation of food has resulted in standardising taste and is destroying many food
flavours and varieties. (Ronca, 2009)
Holographic
VNTANA
CEO and Co-Founder Ashley Crowder
As the world develops and evolves, artificial intelligence continues to spread into more and
more opportunities. It’s very likely that one of these day’s a AI will be checking you in and
to of your hotel. VNTANA brings products to life, from design to 3D shopping, across web,
augmented and virtual reality platforms in minutes rather than in weeks.
VNTANA is an augmented reality company in partnership with Satisfy Labs ( an AI
company ) . A relatively new “smart hologram” the truculent talking hologram is designed to
respond to questions and give directions, restaurant recommendations and other things
that tourists from all over manage to come up with. (Kesh, 2017)
"Our hologram technology has helped numerous brands better connect and engage with their consumers, and we are thrilled to offer this new addition on our platform. By partnering with Satisfi, we are able to integrate AI and AR for the first time, so our holograms can interact with consumers on a more advanced level, while using our trusted platform to track data to create more personalised experiences and advertising.” - Ashley Crowder explaining the Hologram’s usefulness to potential clients in a press release (Kesh, 2017)
Customer Journey
Paper Prototype
The objective of the night is to get a seat at this restaurant. They call to make an
reservation and manage to book a reservation for the group. Once they’re confirmed their
booking, they make their way to the new restaurant. As they enter, they are greeted by waiter / waitress, enthusiastic about serving them for the night. They get shown to their table and without an explanation or menu’s, the waitress / waitress walks away.
They noticed that their plate, knives and forks is a live image, on their “plate” is a note that
simple says “ say ‘can I get a waiter’”. So they say out loud “can I get a waiter” and in
seconds, in the centre of their table, a holographic version of the waiter that just directed
them to their tables pops up. The holographic waiter greets and welcomes them in the 11
official languages of South Africa (not limited to international languages). Next to their digital plate, within the “dead zone” a list of languages appear, and as a group, they have the option to pick a language they'd much prefer. (Also come’s in sign language & subtitles ).
Once a language has been selected the waiter asks them to enter in their name to add to their personalised experience, straight after they’ve confirmed their chosen names, he asks if they have any dietary preferences e.g vegan / vegetarian, or allergic to anything. Once they’ve selected either or neither, their menu get’s customised to selections and personalised to their preferences.
Once all the formality are done, he proceeds to explaining the order of the menu and take
their order. As soon as they’re done ordering, he asks, “ will that be all?”, their response is yes or unless they'd like to continue ordering, they can proceed to give their order.
Before sending the order to the kitchen, he repeats the order back to the customers and
depending on whether they say “delicious” or or “something’s missing”, results in either a go-ahead of something get’s changed. The food is served by their actual waitress. The holographic version can be accessed through simply saying "Can I get a waitress" and the process repeats itself
Possible Restrictions
To be considered before designing
Abuse it by constantly requesting a “waiter”
Other technologies within the area can create a disturbance
The inability to use the software / technology if the powers out.
Technology can easily be tampered with, should any liquids or hard objects fall on it.
Expensive to fix and maintain.
The Results
Concerns and Challenges
With the use of sorting paper prototyping, I was able to gain the necessary insights to better the experience of the user whilst navigating this interactive ordering system. During the test phase, I asked the users to take me through their thought process by telling me a story. In the process I could pick up on challenges and taking into considerations space for knives and forks, interacting with a voice activated AI, or misunderstanding the process flow from start to finish. Each new testing phase became more and more clearer, until it was fully understood. With this new found knowledge, I was able to redirect my information and better the communication, that doesn’t fluster the customer.
Thank you :)