iMenu-A digital way to order at restaurants
This dialogue from the movie Burnt stuck with me forever. Adam Jones (Bradley Cooper), 3 Michelin star chef, said:
“I do not want my restaurant to be a place where people sit and eat. I want people to sit at that table and be sick with longing. We should be dealing with culinary orgasms.”
Everyone likes food. However, one classic question remains forever “what to eat?”. The answer to it depends on the person interacting with you at the table, usually a waiter or manager. Nevertheless, the big question is how to enhance the dining experience without human interventions? To solve this problem, I designed an app “iMenu” — an intelligent assistant for food ordering at restaurants.
“The mind knows not what the tongue wants.”
With this product, I tried to solve all the complications between customers and waiters while ordering food. Some of the fundamental questions answered are as follows:
- Do I want comforting treats or something healthy?
- What’s cheap?
- Will I end up bitterly coveting my companion’s dinner?
- Is it immoral to fuss over such petty, first-world dilemmas?
- Oh God, the waiter’s coming over!
Feature 1: Common QR for all team & family members to distribute the burden of choice making
While going with family, kitty party or in-office parties, there is always confusion about what to order because, in larger groups, interests are versatile, e.g. some people are pure vegetarians, some like chilly are health conscious. To cater to those complications and smooth the ordering process, I introduced a disposable app that everyone can access via QR Code and order independently from the same table.
Feature 2: Option to ask for table amenities with a single tap
Some people are shy, and many are introverts. In both cases, everyone needs a good experience while eating their food. While sitting at restaurants, I analyzed some of the basic requirements for calling the waiter repeatedly. There are some basic amenities which, if got delayed, make us very angry. Hence an option with a single click to ask the waiter just like airplanes where you can call upon an air hostess, but, in this feature, you can specify your requirement as well.
Feature 3: What should I eat at this restaurant? Confused? Ask Assistant
Yes, this is one classic question that everyone has — What should I eat? There are very few people who stick to the same food routine when they visit a specific restaurant. Nevertheless, most of the people want to try new dishes, the authentic ones from the place. So, this is an assistant who would help people filter down the choices as per their requirements.
Feature 4: Customize own food order with Item Modifier for each food item
Item modifier has two applications in regular food ordering at restaurants. When you are eating with friends, some of their special requests include extra toppings and additional flavours they might like. When eating with kids, there can be some allergies that the chef needs to know, e.g. children usually do not eat spicy food. Hence there is an option for both in item modifier.
Feature 5: Live status update
When will my food come? This question does not need an explanation for hungry customers. Food is something that must be on time; else, it can ruin the whole eating experience. There is a dire need for a stopwatch kind of clock where customers can see the kitchen’s progress. Also, in cases where you forgot to inform the waiter about your special instructions or in case waiters forget that this option to modify or raise a request is given. With less human error, more information can be communicated to the chefs.
Feature 6: Update customers about every step via Notifications
To keep your customers engaged as well as informed, notifications are the best source of information. Notifications serve many purposes: giving regular updates to customers about food status, up-selling the food items, informing them about the latest discounts etc. Also, there has to be a prominent CTA on every notification to engage a customer into loops and end up buying something.
Feature 7: Promote specials and end up sell items with vivid visuals
The study says that people feel hungrier just by watching food images, and it is the best way to communicate with customers about restaurant recommendations via mouth-watering visuals. It suffices two requirements — to promote the dishes that are USP of a specific place and help customers with a choice, a hand of help.
Feature 8: Recommendations
Cart page is the best place to recommend food items because you can deprioritize the other elements as customers have already selected them. Now the next big move is to provide open options to pick from. They may be in the form of discounted items or restaurant recommendations like combos and drinks.
Feature 9: Leave instant feedback for the management
Feedback is essential for both the consumers as well as restaurants to improve customer experience. People never tell the truth on the face if you ask them how the food was, but an anonymous message will give them the confidence to express their feelings more openly and give honest feedback.
For a detailed case study on this, visit my Behance page: https://www.behance.net/gallery/83459735/Digital-Restaurant-Menu
Before you go
If you enjoyed this post, hit the “Clap” button 👏 . It will motivate and cheer me to write more!
By the way, do you know you can hold it down to give 50 claps :-)
