Weekly Design Problem #4 — Wait Lists
Prompt #4
This week is different because this happens to be my own prompt that I was inspired by during dinner one night, which is enhancing the wait list system of a casual restaurant. Many restaurants have moved past the traditional clipboard system and moved on to iPads and text messaging. While not all restaurants do this, I assess and design a wait list system that would work best moving forward during this transition period in which all restaurants start to leverage technology for their wait lists.
Challenges
Designing only the most efficient features
After my competitive analysis, I realized there are tons of features I can create to improve a wait list system such as guest profiles and guest history. Although these ideas seemed like it would benefit the user, creating too many features may only overload a user and the host and the features may not necessarily be the best things to add anyway. It would only be more costly to the restaurant without much value to it so I had to learn to identify which features would be most worth it to incorporate into the new process.
Narrowing down exactly which process I was designing for
The wait list process is a little more extensive than I first thought going into this. Luckily with research and interviews, it helped narrow down which part of the process needed the most improvement. Rather than redesigning each part of the timeline, I learned to focus on the weakest part.
Logistics
Demographic: Customers in line at a restaurant with a long wait time (30 mins+)
User Goal: To have the most seamless experience waiting to be seated despite the long wait
Research
Current Process
There is a variety of different ways wait lists work depending on the restaurant. First of all, there is the age old clipboard system of writing down your name and being called by the host when ready. There is the buzzer system in which you receive a small device that buzzes (given you are in a certain range from the restaurant) when you’re next to be seated. And finally, there is the texting method in which you simply get a text when to come back to be seated.
Competitive Analysis
I first looked at the variety of systems that help restaurants with digital wait lists by comparing systems such as Host Me, Wisely, Trycake, and TableAgent. It’s clear that they all prioritized giving the customer a welcoming and smooth experience because they have features such as providing customers with real time information about the wait time, guest profiles that chronicle a person’s visit to remember their preferences, and Wisely even gives customers the option to order ahead. Clearly, these are all features that enhance the customer’s experience. Additionally, this analysis helped me focus on what the ideal user experience should look like the my design.
User Interviews/ Yelp Reviews
I’m around a lot of people who like to go out to eat to popular places so finding people to interview about waiting to be seated at restaurants was not too difficult. The most important information I got out of these interviews is how different people react to waiting for a restaurant. Some people are driven by their hunger while others will wait any amount of time if they hear good things about the food. Ultimately, these helped create my personas. I also looked into Yelp Reviews and filtered the comments containing the word “wait” so I could see how even more people react to waiting. These reviews, along with the interviews, defined the pain points for wait lists.
User Pain Points
1. Customers have to keep asking status updates from hosts
2. People are skipped on wait lists when it comes to the clipboard system
3. People are unhappy about being given incorrect wait time estimates
4. People are discouraged when they have to wait a long time to be seated and also wait a long time to order food when seated
5. There are misunderstandings about tables being given away when customers are given the wrong wait time and come back “too late” to receive their table
Personas
Janice, 37 years old, Foodie — the “Hangry” individual
Janice loves food and many of the places she likes to eat at are very popular and likely have wait times. Although she is willing to wait, she will be driven away from the restaurant if she is too hungry to deal with waiting any longer. She likes to know what the wait time is and getting updates about her status in line is important to her.
Eric, 23 years old, Foodie — the Patient individual
Eric is very patient when it comes to waiting to be seated at restaurant. If he knows the food is good, a 30 mins+ wait is fine for him. But he gets bored during the wait and ends up checking the time too often, which makes time go by even slower for him.
Final Design Decisions
The final flow of the process looks like this:
My finals designs focus on the “waiting” portion of the timeline:
Application
I chose to create an app that allows people to pre-order in order to both instill a feeling of progress and productivity while the user waits as well as a means of occupying them as they wait. This ultimately streamlines their experience because once they are seated, the waiter confirms their choices and immediately sends it to the kitchen. This app is completely optional and is meant for people who are waiting longer than 20 minutes.
Television
I added the feature of a television because I’m surprised at how many restaurants don’t have this form of entertainment at the waiting area. If the restaurant has TVs, it’s mostly where the dining area is. This television also includes the live status of the line at the top so everyone can look at one place to get updates without having to look at their phone.
Text Messaging
Finally, this feature is for those who are not waiting too long or who do not want to have to download an app. Through texting, they can find out how many parties are ahead as well as how long it will take to be seated. The status updated are controlled by the user’s texting so as not to blow up their phone with notifications.
Final Design (Using Figma)
Application
Television
Text Messaging
