Usability food court

I think many of the hack readers often go to shopping centers and eat there. This is quite reasonable, because on the same floor almost everyone can find a fast food to their liking, quickly eat and continue shopping. But I will not believe if you say that you have never stood there in long queues at the ready with bags, that the menu was always available and it is clear that the tables were never wobbling and were always clean. In this article, I will share my ideas on how in a modern, largely non-convenient food court, you can create a positive user experience, as well as increase the capacity and revenue of a cafe.





The ideas presented in the article do not in any way pretend to be the ideal solution for a food court that is suitable for everyone. In addition, the ideas are not supported by large-scale research or accurate mathematical calculations.

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I was always amazed by the frank imperfection of existing food courts. Years pass, but nothing fundamentally new in this area appears. Therefore, I bring to the court of Habra ideas that, in my opinion, will help to improve the situation for the better.

Food Court Lacks

Take as an illustrative example of a typical food court typical shopping center in Moscow. “McDak”, “Little Potatoes”, “Teremok”, “Eastern Bazaar” and a couple of fast-food brands of famous brands. In the hall opposite all these departments are identical tables, somewhere nearby there is a toilet. People come to the hall with carts, bags and packages, someone with children, someone with the whole family. That's about this foodcourt in the article will be discussed.



All the shortcomings of such a food court, which I and several respondents were able to recall, are tabulated. It's simple: at the top - more critical problems, at the bottom - less critical. The columns in the table are the stages of customer interaction with the food court:







Now we will look at how to improve the experience of using at each stage of interaction.

Stage 1. Choosing and ordering food

Personally, at this stage, I am most annoyed by the need to stand in line. Agree, in the queues of pleasant little, especially when you are hung with bags, you are late for a session in the cinema and the child is crying in a wheelchair. Obviously, with more bandwidth in each department, the same number of people would pass faster. Let's see what factors negatively affect throughput:

• Customers usually do not know in advance that they want to order and think for a long time, standing at the cashier’s desk.
• Employees who collect orders are loaded unevenly and often they stand at the checkout.
• Cash settlement is still very popular. Payment on the card is usually faster

It turns out that if customers would very quickly or even advance their order to the cafe in advance, and the order itself would be collected very quickly or, again, in advance, this would significantly increase the capacity and reduce the queues to a minimum. Thus, we need a certain interface, geographically located out of turn in a cafe, which would allow the client to make an order and send it to the cafe for formation.



First of all, it is necessary in front of each department of the food court to install a terminal with a touch screen where you can place an order (if necessary, place orders at several food court cafes at once), receive a check, pay it in a cafe and immediately (or quickly ) receive an order that workers have already begun to collect as soon as the terminal began to print a check.







Interaction with this user terminal is as follows. A client enters a food court, sees small queues, sees several free terminals, approaches one of them. He draws attention to the ad unit: it says that those who ordered through this terminal are given a drink as a gift. On the touchscreen of the terminal, the user first selects one of the available cafes, then the food, and then receives a check, at which they will receive payment and give out food at the cash desk of this cafe. I quickly assembled an interactive prototype to illustrate my words (the clickable areas in the prototype are marked with red dots).



There may be situations when queues are formed at these terminals (for example, after a session in the cinema), or the client wants to make an order much in advance so as not to wait. To do this, you need to duplicate the interface of the terminals in the mobile application (for a start, a universal mobile site that would be correctly displayed on all modern platforms will be enough).







Structurally, the mobile interface will be approximately the same as at the terminal. The whole difference will be that after selecting the order, the check is not printed, but displayed on the screen. At the checkout, the client shows the cafe employee the phone screen, from which the employee interrupts a four-digit number — the order number — into the cash register and informs the client the amount to be paid.



So, with the help of uncomplicated automation, you can significantly reduce the queues at the food court. Now I will describe some more minor improvements at this stage.



Now a foreigner will not be able to choose anything on his own, because in almost all cafes the menu is only in Russian. The mobile application and the terminal support changing the interface language to English. In the hanging above the cash registers and in the “paper” menu, all titles should be duplicated in English. For example, in Thailand and China have long recognized that foreigners, too, people they also need to somehow eat, so in almost all cafes you can find a menu with an English translation. What are we worse?







It is also necessary to take into account that not every cashier in the Russian food court recognizes an order pronounced by the client in English, therefore, in addition to the translation, it is necessary to add position numbers to the menu:







Now, just before payment, customers see only the total amount on the cash register screen. Here you have to either rely on the honesty of the cafe employee, or recount in your head. It is not comfortable. A good solution is already used in some fast-food chains: a small cash register screen facing the customer is replaced with a full-fledged multi-line LCD display, which shows not only the total amount, but also the entire order in detail, i.e. a table with “name” columns , “Quantity”, “amount” plus advertising, encouraging to order more:







The last unsolved problem of this stage of interaction is the problem with carts. Visitors often come to the foodcourt directly with carts, because they have nowhere to leave. This is very inconvenient: carts interfere with others in the aisles, and sometimes people ask neighbors to follow their carts while they stand in line or run to the restroom.







In general, an extra headache. The problem is partially solved in some "Auchan" guarded parking lots of carts. There, a specially trained uncle takes your cart, issues a number and parks it in a fenced area. In parallel, he looks after the rest of the carts. Everything would be great, except that this parking is usually located at the exit from Auchan, and the food court is a couple of floors above at the other end of the shopping center. In any case, we will have to return to the "Auchan" for his cart. Inconvenient. And in such parking lots there are always long queues both for the delivery of the trolley and for the receipt. And, in general, except for “Auchan”, I have never seen such parking lots anywhere else. What to do?



It is obvious that before entering the foodcourt there should be a separate parking of carts. The queue at the parking can be minimized by allowing people to park the cart themselves. At the same time, a responsible guard must carefully monitor such parking. To minimize the possibility of theft of carts, parking spaces should be separated by a fence, the front of which is opened with a key. The key must be accompanied by a key fob marked with the parking space number.



In order for people coming to the parking lot to immediately see which places are free, you can provide bright flags with the word “Free”, which rise above the parking of carts if the key is inserted into the lock. You end up with this interaction:

1. The visitor approaches with the cart to the rows of the parking lot. In some places above the parking lot visible flags with the words “free”
2. The visitor walks up to this place, opens the fence, takes the key.
3. As soon as the key is removed from the lock, the “free” flag drops
4. After lunch, the visitor returns to the parking lot, finds his cart, opens the partition with the key and leaves the key in the lock (the box “freely” is raised as soon as the key is inserted into the lock)

So, with the stage of selection and ordering food, we figured out:

• Online pre-order systems will allow people in a relaxed atmosphere to choose food, having studied all the details of the dishes, and minimize the queues at the food court.
• Foreigners will help the menu in English with numbered positions.
• Buyers will be able to see the details of the order on the additional cashier screen.
• Convenient parking for carts in front of the entrance to the food court minimizes the number of people with carts at the food court itself.

Stage 2. Payment and receipt of order

The problems of this stage are the difficulty of getting out of the queue with a tray and the need to put the bag on the floor or keep it on weight at the time of payment. To solve these problems, you need to slightly modify the rack on which the cash registers and the space in front of it stand. In fact, everything is very simple: for bags you need a strong narrow shelf (narrow so that your knees are not beaten, coming close to the cash registers), and for the organization of the queue - marking and floor and / or separation columns:







So, it remains to solve the problems associated with preparing for meals and the process of eating.

Stage 3. Preparing and eating

The problems of this stage can be divided into three areas in which we will now make improvements:

1. Table ergonomics
2. Hall infrastructure (sockets, microwave, hand sanitizers)
3. Ergonomics of the hall where the tables are located

Table ergonomics

First of all, I would like to draw attention to such a simple element of the food court as a table. It would seem that there can be done wrong? I will give examples from life:

• In foodcourses often put round tables. The circle is an extremely non-optimal form: during the meal, the elbows constantly hang down and slide down; fewer trays fit on a round table than on a square one. People often come to eat by the company and sometimes make up the tables. Compiled round tables are not convenient to use.
• Tables are often loose. Well, they do not know how to lay the floor exactly. The Chinese who make these tables seem to be fine with the floor, and they do not assume that the floor may be uneven
• Most often, the tables are made for four, so people who come alone, sit at the table one by one. As a result, there may not be enough space for everyone.
• Some do not like to eat from the tray: they rearrange food on the table, and there is no place to remove the tray
• At the double table for two people with trays very closely, for a four-seater - four

Almost all of the problems directly follow very obvious solutions:







Unfortunately, these tables I have never met. I will explain what the profit is:

• The rectangular shape allows you to achieve optimal area when drawing up several such tables. The corners are slightly rounded for safety reasons.
• The size of the table allows you to freely place four trays.
• The table stands on one supporting leg instead of two or four, thanks to which it is more convenient to sit at the table from the side. This allows you to reduce the distance between the long sides of adjacent tables in the hall.
• Those who do not like to eat from trays, can now make food on the table, and remove the tray itself under the table, putting it on special guides (sliding it like a drawer into the nightstand). On the guides on both sides of the table is placed on two trays, plus there is a gap for the fingers (to make it easier to remove)
• Four small legs are screwed into the supporting surface of the table on a fine thread. They can be screwed on top with a screwdriver, thus adjusting the table to the unevenness of the floor. Since tables sometimes shift, these “settings” can get lost, but I guess it's better than nothing

Also, besides the standard tables for four, there should be racks with high chairs for singles in the hall - this will allow to accommodate more people in the hall.

Hall infrastructure

Now consider the details that may be quite critical for certain categories of visitors.



For me, for example, it is always important that there are sockets: the laptop does not hold for a long time, but I want to work with tea and cake. It’s not at all necessary to supply large tables for four with electricity: they are usually eaten by companies or families keen on talking. But on the ground for singles outlets do not interfere. It is optimal to make sockets above the table surface so that you do not have to bend down and it is convenient to charge the phones Universal (remember about foreigners) and compact sockets with usb here will be most welcome:







People also need to wash their hands before eating. The toilet is often far away. Either you are too lazy to go to it, or you don’t want to leave things unattended - in general, for various reasons, many people do not wash their hands before eating at the food court. The solution is to hang alcohol disinfectants in the hall. Sensors determine the moment when a person puts his hands in a disinfector, and the dosed spraying with alcohol is activated:







Of course, there are a lot of coarser and cheaper implementations. For example, in the form of a box hanging on the wall without sensors and already with a mechanical dispenser.



Many come to the food court with the kids. For such visitors it is necessary to provide microwave ovens in which they could warm up baby food. Children are very sensitive to the temperature of their food, so the microwave “for moms” should have a clear and simple temperature and time setting:







For a long time I tried to pick up a microwave, focused on the goals of visitors of food courts, but without success. Mechanical rotary controls (see picture above) are good, but the time scale is linear in the range from 0 to 10 min (i.e. it is very difficult to set a short time with an accuracy of 5 seconds) and there is no defrosting mode (when you set the mass and the time is determined automatically ). In digital interfaces, these problems are solved, but such microwave frequencies are overloaded with redundant functions, which can only be sorted out at home, surrounded by instructions. As a result, I realized that the microwave interfaces are the topic of a separate article.

Ergonomics Hall

Now we will put together the improvements described above in a single space and take into account the directions in which visitors come to the food court:







In the diagram, I showed a small food court of “my dream” with 178 seats: 40 tables with 4 seats and 16 seats with sockets for singles. In front of the entrance there are 48 parking places for carts, which are supervised by two guards. Foodcourse can be linearly scaled in all directions with the need for a greater load.



The majority of people come from the hypermarket: they park their cart in front of the entrance to the food court and go to eat, coming up the wide aisle between the tables to the cafe line. The flow of people from the boutiques goes directly to the cafe and, unfortunately, will have lunch with their packages and bags: I have not yet thought of a cost-effective way to organize space for safe storage of bags.



Along the perimeter of the hall 6 hand sanitizers are hung. With a larger capacity food port, additional disinfectants can be hung on the walls and end parts of the terminals. Parents can warm baby food in two microwaves, standing on tables in the corners of the hall. On the table there is a small free space on which you can put a jar of baby food and prepare it for warming up.



Let's return to the table with problems of food courts:







As you can see, all the listed problems are covered by the solutions, the task is completed. I also want to note that when developing project documentation it is necessary to take into account the needs of people with disabilities. For example, according to the regulations, the height of the order book in a cafe should not exceed 80 cm.

Total

The article proposed a number of ideas, the implementation of which, presumably, would improve the experience of using a food court, increase customer satisfaction and attendance at a cafe. Part of the problem is solved by the system of pre-ordering and parking of carts. A number of small improvements, such as an additional screen at the checkout, shelves for bags and markings near the cafe counter, disinfectors and comfortable tables also increase the level of comfort. Some solutions are aimed at specific needs of the audience, but at the same time, their implementation is also highly desirable - these are microwave ovens, universal sockets with usb, places for singles, duplication of the English menu for foreigners and runners for empty trays under the table.



Yes, some of these solutions have already been implemented in some food courts. But I never met a systematic approach to improving the experience of using: there is no place to wash my hands, or a queue in 20 minutes, or the food on the table does not fit. But many solutions are ridiculously simple and inexpensive. It's time for progress to get to the food courts.