Frontline workspace and POS system enhancement
A leading Hong Kong-based catering group, operating over ten renowned brands across 30 branches, was facing significant challenges during peak hours—long queues were creating negative experiences for both staff and customers.
To tackle this, the group initiated a focus group and conducted a Design Thinking Workshop to deeply understand user pain points and reimagine a better waiting experience, alongside improving the membership program's overall value.
UX Research
Design Thinking Workshop
Role
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Preview
Year
2021
All Projects
Project Objective
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Strengthen the relationship between front-line staff and customers
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Improve the overall work efficiency of front-line staff
Empathise: Complete User journey map
After introducing the persona was conducted by the findings from the focus group, we guided participants to complete the user journey map of their current workflow in the restaurant.
The pain points of customer service officer:
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Difficulty in fairly assigning seats to satisfy different customer needs
The pain points of shop assistant:
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Difficulty explaining menu instructions clearly to customers.
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Frequent errors entering billing information (e.g., wrong seat numbers) into the POS system.
We found the current POS system failed to effectively support operational needs, leading to service delays and staff frustration.
The user research has been divided into two rounds. The first round focuses on reviewing the existing app and the queueing experience in branches, and the second round focuses on understanding the difficulties that front-line staff face.
Overview
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Questionnaire
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In-depth Group Interview
Objectives
The questions focus on collecting users' basic information and preferences
Questionnaire
Understand user’s behaviours and experience in depth. The interview also collects their opinion and expectation during the experience.
In-depth Group Interview
FOCUS GROUP
The focus group has invited 4 parties, 7 participants in total, including Customer Service, Shop Assistant, Kitchen, and Brand / Shop Manager.
PAIN POINTS
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Staff reported being overwhelmed with work, lacking adequate support from the queuing and seating system
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The menu structure was complicated, making it difficult for new employees to quickly adapt and allocate seats efficiently
Staff Operations
The POS system featured a complicated interface and slow loading times, severely impacting staff efficiency and service performance.
POS System
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Staff were required to multitask extensively while managing additional ad-hoc duties
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Long preparation times and complex quality control processes contributed to workload stress
Shop Assistant & Kitchen Operation
DESIGN THINKING WORKSHOP
There are 15 participants in workshop from four different teams including Operation, Customer Service, Food System, Business Development and IT.
Define: HMW activity
"How Might We" helps participants to rephrase the problem statements and find possible solutions for target users.
The research found out:
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Simplifying the billing and payment process.
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Enhancing POS usability.
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Educating customers to streamline food pick-up and ordering experiences.
Ideate: Crazy 8
Participants rapidly generated solution ideas based on the defined HMW questions.
After voting and discussion, ideas converged into two major solution directions:
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Self-Service Ordering System
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Electronic Self-Service Payment System
Prototype
In this stage, participants are divided into two teams to create a low-fi prototype of da ifferent system and share it with other participants.
Self-service ordering system - Key Features:
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Automatic identification system (e.g., detecting number of people, age group)
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e-Menu with clear introductions and easy navigation
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Self-service ordering directly through devices
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Inquiries answered via A.I.-powered virtual assistance
electronic self-service payment system - Key Features:
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Built-in timer to remind users of final order cut-off times and automatically prompt billing.
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Support for multiple payment methods (Octopus, WeChat Pay, Credit Card).
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Option to pay via e-Prepaid Card for faster transaction flows.