During the COVID-19 pandemic, a significant concern when dining out is the potential risk of contracting the virus through close contact. As a result, minimizing contact between guests has become paramount for ensuring their health and safety. However, implementing social distancing measures has led restaurants to reduce their seating capacity, thereby impacting their table turnover rate. This raises an important question: How can restaurants enhance their table turnover rate while adhering to social distancing guidelines and prioritizing guest safety?

To gain a comprehensive understanding of the business goals and challenges associated with implementing a new feature for dining in at La Madeleine within their mobile app, I conducted stakeholder interviews. These interviews were instrumental in capturing insights from key stakeholders within the organization, such as senior management, operations, and marketing teams. Through these discussions, I explored their vision for the app, identified their specific objectives, and gained insights into their expectations for the order and pay feature. Additionally, I delved into the potential challenges and constraints the team may face in integrating this functionality. By conducting stakeholder interviews, I obtained valuable information that will guide the design and development process, ensuring that the feature aligns with La Madeleine's business goals while addressing any potential challenges in implementation.

In March 2020, COVID-19 disrupted the food industry ranging from decreased food sales and staffing to customers being cautious about their health & safety. However, data also showed that customers are eager for a sit-down meal and craving a return to socialization norms.

I soon discovered the importance of reducing wait times, ensuring accurate food orders, and minimizing contact with other people. With these goals in mind, we can improve the customer experience and increase table turnover rates.

To ensure that I capture the right target users and understand the user journey when dining in, I created research artifacts before moving on to the design stage.

The goal is to offer a safe dining solution and enhance customer service:
1. The user flow is consistent with ordering for Pick-up and Delivery
2. Ability to locate where the guest is sitting through mobile order placement
3. Ability to pay immediately or pay later
4. Should real-time order tracking be offered for Dine-in?
5. Should scheduled orders be available?
6. Push notifications to let the guest know about the feature when arrive at the restaurant

Based on the findings from competitive research and user interviews, I created a user flow that focuses on how diners can order food from a specific restaurant location. I also considered the flow for ordering and paying after they finish their meals.

To arrive at the final user flow, I created multiple sketches. Given that it is crucial to locate where the guests are seated and ensure that the food is served correctly, the table number must be asked immediately after they select the "Dine in" option.

Payment and tipping should be the same for both the pay later and pay now routes. To initiate payment for the pay later route, customers must scan the QR code on the paper receipt they receive from their waiter.

When translating pain points into ideas, I kept in mind how to seamlessly integrate the new feature into the current order flow. I worked with the technical product manager and engineering team to navigate a variety of technical and operational constraints.

The Constraints
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Real-time order tracking: current third-party Point of Sale provider does not support real-time order status tracking. If implementing, it requires technology upgrade which is not a preferred route.

Group order: it is not yet available. Each diner will need to order separately.

Open check & Splitting check: Open check might be out of scope. Customers are requested to pay and tip at checkout. Splitting check requires additional function.

Scheduled order: We’re not able to fulfill scheduled order for dine-in ordering. Customers have to enter the table number where they are sitting.

App download: New customers have to download the app and register an account in order to browse the menu. There isn’t a QR code menu.

I conducted the testing both in person and remotely using Maze and Zoom. The goals are to validate the user flows that I constructed, and discover users' frustrations.