Octo Serve
Helping communication in the restaurant industry and making the dining process more efficient for the employees and guests.
Problem Statement
Research
The idea for this project came to me when I was at work and realized how our point of sales system is extremely not user friendly. I always thought places that had iPads to do tableside ordering were the most efficient way for restaurants to run. The one issue that they didn't solve which was also a major issue in restaurants, was communication. I wanted to create a table side ordering app that took all the user experience errors from our point of sales computer system and solved them as well as solving the communication issue within the restaurant.
User Flows
Research
User flows I made at the beginning of the research. Obviously some things changed throughout the process as I learned more through my research.
User Research
Research
To start research for this I looked at my competitors to see what services they offered within their table side ordering apps. A lot of them offered payment on app and reservations but I decided those weren't an important feature to me since those weren't the problems I was trying to tackle. I also did user interviews which I classified into 3 groups: people who have used iPads, people who haven't and managers. The major issue within the iPad users was tapping the wrong item (due to button size), and most the apps they used had not solved the communication issue. People who didn't like using the iPad were afraid of dropping it which unfortunately was a problem I couldn't solve.
Low-fi wireframes
Design
Floor view wireframe
Menu layout wireframe
List view wireframe
early stage of what the list view of a servers tables would look like.
early stage of what the floor view screen would look like.
early stage of what the menu could look like with drop downs.
A/B Testing
Design
These are examples of 2 screens I used for a/b testing. I wanted to know which one servers found more intuitive. The one on the left would be an automatic drop down menu to pick sides, and modifications. The one on the right was a pop up window to make them pick sides. Users liked the one on the right because it made them feel forced to pick the sides, and/or any modifications.
Features
Design
List view of tables allows server to see any manager requests she has pending or which ones have been completed.
Pop-up that appears when "Request Manager" button is tapped. After research these were the most common requests from servers and managers.
Notification servers receive when they're manager request has been completed.
Pop-up that appears on manager's screens when a server has requested something from them.
Example of how communication to the kitchen can be improved by having larger boxes for text for more complicated orders.
Prototype
Final Product
password: octoserve
This prototype is just a walk through of a basic ordering process and how the interface would look.
This prototype is just a walk through of a basic ordering process and how the interface would look.
