Final Project: PROPOSAL

Project Title:

The Digital Menu

Team Members:

Aisha Qureshi

Required Skills:

Working alone, I am required to solely tackle all relevant responsibilities regarding this project. It is therefore vital that I thoroughly plan, prepare and manage the tasks, enabling me to play multiple roles. The roles include being an innovative problem solver, who designs an indispensable user interface. I must also exercise acute observational skills to scrutinize the design for sustainability, which translates into effortless user experience. I will need to be analytical, constantly producing, testing and revising prototypes in order to create the most efficient interface. Once the prototype and usability is perfected, I will need to then treat it with appealing and appropriate graphics.

Motivation:

The concept behind digital menus is to facilitate a thorough and efficient ordering process for restaurant customers. The digital menu will enable customers to browse through the menu easily, while giving them the option to view photographs of the meal, and it’s ingredients and nutrition facts.

The interface will also allow customers to order their meal directly from the menu, without having to deal with a waiter/waitress. The interface will however, provide the option for calling open a human waiter/waitress. This concept will also benefit the restaurant itself, as it will gain from the significant employment cuts. Another aspect of this concept that caters to the restaurant itself is the ability to update the menu without having to tape over or cross out items that are no longer served.

I understand that human interaction is a part of the restaurant experience, but some restaurants, where there is an open kitchen concept or where order are taken over the counter, already exclude the human factor. In such cases, the digital menu will only refine their service philosophy. Additionally, I expect restaurants in the near future to eliminate human mediation entirely, similar to many services today (ticketing counters, hotel desk clerks). Another concern may be the cost of implementing such technology on every table at the restaurant. This does not necessarily stand true, since technology only gets better and cheaper, and in the mean time, restaurants could resort to creating revenue by hosting advertisements when the devise in not in use.

Approach:

I will need to first allocate a specific restaurant, which I can base my study upon. The Hampton Chutney & Company is the ideal case study restaurant, located in SoHo, Manhattan. The area and restaurant attract a hip and modern audience, who are keen and willing to explore new, unique trends.

This quaint and chic restaurant serves South Indian cuisine over an open kitchen counter. The nature of the cuisine, coupled with the restaurant’s serene and inviting ambiance, encourages guests to eat in. Such an environment only increases the usefulness of digital menus.

I will need to study the current menu, examining its format and location within the restaurants, how guests interact with it, what information do guests look for, and whether further inquiry is needed. I would also need to survey how much, if any, help is needed from the staff during the ordering process, as well as, monitor the wait time in the ordering line. Additionally, I would also need to consider the restaurant’s needs and requirements from the menu.

Once I thoroughly research the restaurant and their menus, the guests and their experiences, can I evaluate the information to incorporate it into an effective interface, and design the interactive prototype.

Scope:

At the end of the term, I shall deliver a prototype of a digital menu that is not only customized for the case study restaurant, but will also fulfill the general needs for many other restaurants. The prototype will consist of the menu pages, and the sequence of pages that are required to access the other options the interface offers.

Resources:

I need conducted behavior studies of guests and evaluated the requirements of the restaurants, in order to translate them into a significant and effective interface. Once I have gained a better understanding of the interface, shall I be able to develop a prototype and present a plan for required equipment and materials.