Enjoy Ordering Time, a Futuristic Food-Ordering System January - April 2019

This project looks into the food ordering issues people encountering in their daily life and proposes a futuristic food ordering system idea that people may pre-taste and smell the dishes before the actual food brought up to the table for the purposes of providing a better dining experience and minimizing food waste.

Background

How popular is Chinese cuisine in the US?

Hundreds of counties have 150+ yelp-listed Chinese restaurants per million people
The top five cities ranked by Chinese restaurants' share of total restaurant visits are New York City, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Oklahoma, and Boston.

Background

Features of Chinese Food:

Diversified Colors: having a bright, pleased and harmonious color would arouse people's appetites. To achieve this, add two or three ingredients with different colors are added as decoration to complement the main ingredient.
Aromatic Flavor: usually aniseed, Chinese prickly ash seeds, cinnamon, and other spices are added to help dispel the ingredients' particular smells, such as foul, fishy and mutton smells. Also, some other flavors like shallot, ginger, garlic or chili, cooking wine and sesame oil are added to make the dishes fragrant in flavor.
Excellent Taste: regarded as the soul of the Chinese dish, the taste can be divided into five classes - sweet, sour, bitter, hot and salty. Seasoning such as soy sauce, sugar, vinegar and salt in the proper amount and in different sequences, contribute to the taste of the dish.
Various Choices: Chinese cuisine is generally divided into eight regional cuisines based on their geographic location. A typical meal in Chinese culture consists of the main food and accompanying dishes of vegetables, fish, meat, or other items. Dishes are usually shared by a group of people sitting at a big table.

Issues with Menu and Food Ordering:

It’s very hard to understand metaphors in dish names.
Without pictures, it’s difficult to imagine what the dish is like.
How do I know if it contains certain flavors I dislike
Not sure about the portions, which might cause food waste.

Interviews

Location: Berkeley, CA

Sample size: 40 (50% from China, 50% from the US)

3 interview questions about menu and food ordering:

Have you had Chinese food in the US before?
Do you know what each dish is when you ordered it?
Did the dish come out the same as you expected (looking, portion, flavor, taste, etc.)?

Research

Iceberg Analysis

Related Products

There are mainly four categories of food menu in the market including paper menu, odor menu, digital menu, and interactive menu. While the conventional paper menu may have the cheapest cost, the use of modern technology increases the engagement of customers in food ordering.

Requirements

Concept

Concept

The multi-touch table allows multiple customers to interact with the menu at the same time. Projecting dishes and ingredients on the table allow customers to have an accurate understanding of the final dishes and the food portion.

Through electrical and thermal stimulations, the simulated flavor technique allows the customers to experience the taste of dishes digitally beforehand. The digital taste interface, a control system, is developed to stimulate the taste sensations digitally on the tongue.

Play the sound of the food-making process or certain selected dishes (like pan-fried) to help customers have an accurate prediction of food and stimulate their appetite.

The odor of food can be converted into electrical signals through a specific signal conversion mechanism in order to store odor information. A smelling screen is a digital scent technology that combines a display screen with an odor emitting device capable of pinpointing the smell to a specific portion of the displayed image. The airflows that are generated by fans collide multiple times to create an airflow that is directed towards the user from a certain position on the screen. The generated odor distribution leads the user to perceive the odor as emanating from a specific region of the screen.

Final Design

The ordering system allows customers to have an accurate expectation of the ordered dishes through the experience of multiple senses including touch, visual, sound, smell, and taste during the ordering process. This system not only offers customers a positive dining experience by providing them the dishes they expected but also potentially prevents food waste by indicating the food portion and flavors beforehand.

Final Design

Communication Journey

Interface

Interface

Enjoy Ordering Time, a Futuristic Food-Ordering System January - April 2019

Background

How popular is Chinese cuisine in the US?

Hundreds of counties have 150+ yelp-listed Chinese restaurants per million people

The top five cities ranked by Chinese restaurants' share of total restaurant visits are New York City, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Oklahoma, and Boston.

Features of Chinese Food:

Diversified Colors: having a bright, pleased and harmonious color would arouse people's appetites. To achieve this, add two or three ingredients with different colors are added as decoration to complement the main ingredient.

Excellent Taste: regarded as the soul of the Chinese dish, the taste can be divided into five classes - sweet, sour, bitter, hot and salty. Seasoning such as soy sauce, sugar, vinegar and salt in the proper amount and in different sequences, contribute to the taste of the dish.

Issues with Menu and Food Ordering:

It’s very hard to understand metaphors in dish names.

Without pictures, it’s difficult to imagine what the dish is like.

How do I know if it contains certain flavors I dislike

Not sure about the portions, which might cause food waste.

Interviews

Location: Berkeley, CA

Sample size: 40 (50% from China, 50% from the US)

3 interview questions about menu and food ordering:

Have you had Chinese food in the US before?

Do you know what each dish is when you ordered it?

Did the dish come out the same as you expected (looking, portion, flavor, taste, etc.)?

Iceberg Analysis

Related Products

There are mainly four categories of food menu in the market including paper menu, odor menu, digital menu, and interactive menu. While the conventional paper menu may have the cheapest cost, the use of modern technology increases the engagement of customers in food ordering.

Requirements

Concept

The multi-touch table allows multiple customers to interact with the menu at the same time. Projecting dishes and ingredients on the table allow customers to have an accurate understanding of the final dishes and the food portion.

Through electrical and thermal stimulations, the simulated flavor technique allows the customers to experience the taste of dishes digitally beforehand. The digital taste interface, a control system, is developed to stimulate the taste sensations digitally on the tongue.

Play the sound of the food-making process or certain selected dishes (like pan-fried) to help customers have an accurate prediction of food and stimulate their appetite.

Final Design

Communication Journey

Interface