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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 (not via the app). He or she will help the user with ordering when needed (perhaps via the app).
- 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 cafe. 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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