Reinventing the experience of people in restaurants during the pandemic- Research Report Case

This project was created with a group of designers all around Latin America as a collaboration with @matigram on Instagram, the intention of this project was to teach our UX designer fellows what an App creation project looks like.

I was in charge of the research phase. I had a close interaction with users and delivered a research plan, execution of research with real users, and research report. In order to bring the most valuable learning, I created a design template of the research plan and research report.

You can see a bit more on my journey on my Instagram page

Background

During the pandemic, people tend to order more frequently through delivery apps, however, much of the experience that restaurants provide is lost. Which encourages people to visit restaurants, especially on weekends. During these days, people find rest and recreation. Many of the restaurants become overcrowded and the process of getting a table, ordering, being served, and paying becomes more complex.

Objective:

Discover what factors come into play when buying a dish in a restaurant and paying for it. And the existing limitations that slow down the flow of users and restaurants.

Qualitative research method:

• User interview (primary research 1.1)
• Guerrilla test (testing)
• Desk research

Users:

For this study, we require users who:

• Are familiar with online payments
• They usually go at least once a week to restaurants in a group
• Are between 18 to 35 years old

Business goal

Increase efficiency in the operation of restaurants, productivity, loyalty and obtain constant information from users to personalize and improve the experience.

KPI’s

• Time on tasks
• Adaptation to new tools
• Error rate
• User rate

Has this problem already been solved?

Potential uses of chatbots
“According to ‘The 2018 State of Chatbots’ report, 15% of surveyed consumers say they have used chatbots to communicate with businesses in the past year. And they use it to:

Get quick responses in an emergency (37%).
Resolve a complaint or problem (35%).
Get detailed answers or explanations (35%).
Connect with a human customer service (34%).
Make reservations at hotels or restaurants (33%)”

Mahou
“The Mahou brewing firm has launched the Mahoudrid bot, which recommends personalized plans to users based on their tastes and where they are.”

Source

“Artificial intelligence platforms for restaurants:
Tastewise
You can analyze input from multiple data points from menus, reviews, and social media platforms to identify target market segments and understand potential trends.

Dynamic Yield
Dynamic Yield uses an advanced machine learning engine to predict what customers will want to order.

Open Table
It connects diners with restaurants by allowing them to find a restaurant and reserve a table.”

Self-order Kiosk

Source

“Interest in and adoption of kiosk technology has grown steadily with both consumers and restaurant chains over the last five years. By 2023, Research and Markets expects the value of the automated kiosk segment to increase to $ 34 billion.”

“One study found that at McDonald’s, when guests placed their own orders, they spent 30% more; and 20% more at Taco Bell. This is because when asked to add additional condiments or drinks, people are more likely to do so on a screen.”

Source: 65% of Customers Prefer Self-Service Kiosks: Is Your Restaurant Ready?

Waitrr

“Take away / Own pick up
Customers can save time by ordering in advance and skip the queue by picking up the order directly.”

“Customers can pick up their order directly and start eating at your point of sale. They spend less time ordering and more time eating.”

“Allows you to create custom web application design with your own look and feel.”

After talking with 4 participants, I found out about important insights .

Findings/ Estímulos

Instagram is the application that users use most frequently to discover new restaurants. Some of the most relevant features are that they are very visual, you can find the menu, schedule, and all the relevant information first hand, and that it suggests accounts similar to the one you followed.

The important factors for the user when going to a restaurant are

Your social networks
The appearance of the place
Opinion of other people
promotions
Budget
Variety of flavors
Whim
Location

A common pattern in users is that they have a notion of what to order, because they use very visual platforms like Instagram to see the dishes before going to the restaurant in person. To make sure the restaurant meets their expectations.

A common behavior that users have is that they are highly influenced by the opinion of others about a restaurant. And an important consumer driver for them is word of mouth.

When users don’t know what to order from the menu, they ask the waiter what the most popular dish is or what he recommends. This is more common when they go to a restaurant for the first time. To feel that they made the best decision.

A relevant stimulus for users is the use of images in the letters, instead of a lot of text. When they don’t know what to order, it is due to the technicality of these, they prefer to have few options and see how the dish looks.

Findings/ Pain Points

A common pain point for users is images from the internet or heavily edited. It has happened to them that the plate looked bigger or more striking but when they go to the restaurant they do not have the same experience.

Reasons that come into play in users having to wait for a long time, according to users:

- The restaurant was saturated and they give users a table depending on how many people there are and not in order of arrival.

- The infrastructure does not allow a panoramic view.

Find a huge catalog of dishes to choose from. The larger the selection, the more complex the acquisition decision.

Users read QR codes through a native phone app or Apps such as “QR Barcode Scanner”. Many times they cannot read them because they do not have data or the restaurant does not have Wi-Fi or a technical limitation of the device.

The restaurant gives them a single receipt with the total for all of them, and each one carries out the operation on their own. Calculations that do not always give the total of what corresponds to a person to pay.

Accounts are unbalanced because some people did not know that they should pay for service.

The waiter mixed up the bill and entered a product into the bill that the table did not consume.

The total value can change due to the tip and there are people who do not know how to calculate the additional.

This project gave me great lessons.

Part of teaching is learning is unlearning, and discovering a new and effective way to collaborate, and this is about the user experience.

• I learned new techniques to collaborate with other designers.
• I involved other designers and made sure that the information was understandable and actionable for them to start designing.
• I learned how to use a collaborated tool called “Notion”, to organize my research plan.

Thank you very much for reading

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