User Analysis
Our goal is to improve the user experience when ordering food at a restaurant by creating a mobile application that displays the menu. There are three main types of users: the customer, the waiter, and the manager.
Customer
The customer will use our app to order food at a restaurant. Some customers may be extremely hungry and will want an efficient application. Another group of customers will be more interested in exploring the menu slowly. This group would also be more likely to review their dishes after finishing their meal.s
- Any age or gender
- Hungry
- Can have dietary restrictions or other specific requests
- May or may not speak English
- May want to review food afterwards
We interviewed several people ages 20-45 about their frustrations with ordering via paper menu, and what they would look for in a mobile menu.
One interviewee said he is often frustrated when he doesn’t understand the terms on the menu. He also dislikes not having control over when the waiter comes over to take his order. He complained about the lack of an ingredients list. He wanted to know what the food looks like ahead of time and what other users rated the food. He would also like to be able to filter for gluten free items on the menu.
Another interviewee was less concerned with how the food looks and more focused on the user reviews. He wanted to know what are the most popular dishes and what dishes go well with each other. He said he would write a review after he ordered his food.
A third interviewee mentioned that she has a problem with her accent when ordering food at restaurants (she said the maitré d can be condescending towards her). She gets frustrated when her food is slow, and she would prefer to know exactly what the vegetarian fare is at a particular restaurant. She said pictures would be very helpful, especially at an expensive restaurant where she wants to be sure she’s spending her money wisely. Even though this interviewee acknowledged that she is 45, she said she would feel comfortable using a mobile application (she considers herself tech savvy).
Waiter
The waiter will submit the user’s order to the chef. He or she will help the user with ordering when needed.
- Any age or gender
- Speaks English, may speak other languages
- Familiar with the interface, uses it every day
We interviewed a former waiter at a bar and grill. He said his biggest problem with taking orders was that the customer wouldn’t be specific enough about their order, and then would be unhappy with their food when it came. He also said that orders take much longer than expected when the restaurant was busy, which made customers unhappy. He said his menu was specific and described all of the ingredients and food preparation, but that that’s not typical for most restaurants.
Manager
The manager will use our app to upload the menu and pictures of dishes.
- Can be any age or gender
- Speaks English, may speak other languages
- May not be tech savvy
- Needs to upload the menu and pictures
We interviewed one former manager of a bakery. He listed a couple of problems he faced with customer ordering: for example, customers not understanding the details of a menu and being out of something the customer wants. He said the main problem was communication back and forth (maybe he misunderstood what they wanted or they misunderstood him). He said most of his customers understood the menu but got confused about certain ambiguities (for example, default bread) and about things that changed every day (soup/bread/dessert of the day).
Task Analysis
Our website is meant to be accessed in two different settings. On one hand, the Manager needs to update his/her restaurant’s menu information from a web interface, where he/she can easily update the restaurant’s profile. From a different side, users will interact with the mobile-optimized site from their phones and mobile devices.
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Who else is involved in the task?
No oneThe waiter aides the client in using the app, but it should mainly be used by the client.
3. Search for Restaurant (Client)
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