Why Restaurants need UX more than ever.

Rechelle Abalos
2 min readNov 13, 2020
Imagine from freepik.com

It’s been raining for the past 2 days in NYC but my (recently tested negitive) friends are eager to eat out before the winter chill sends them back into their caves. However, what does one do when you want to want to eat anywhere but an apartment during the Fall rain? In short…Nothing.

Even with the new regulations of indoor dining in place, restaurants are still counting on take-out order and outdoor seating to make rent, and for good reason too. Throughout the New York City Bouroughs Corona cases are at an all time high again leaving residents anticipating the second wave. Lines at CityMD are competing with Trader joes, with residents quarantining early to spend the holidays with their families and friends.

With the circumstances of the pandemic possbily lasting until 2022, food establishements need to come up with new ways to reach customers more than 6 feet away. So where does User Experience Design come into play.

Understanding your customers more than ever.

I am a lover of Diners because they cater to almost everyone. Where else can you have a steak for breakfast and waffles for dinner? However, catering to everyone is a pretty pricey deal.

Redesigning menus based on demand.

Theres a vegan chain restaurant I enjoy specifically for this one Thai salad on their menu. One day while shopping for groceries in Williamsburg I decided to stop by and pick it up. To my disbelief it was completely taken off the menu, along with other items. It had been months since my last visit but I couldn’t believe such a delicious dish could so easily be toss. Instead, I opted for another salad and ended up really enjoying it!

I’m not entirely sure why that menu item was nixed but I’ve watched enough Food Network to learn the benefits of a smaller menu. When restaurant has a smaller menu, they reduce the chance of food waste, therefore saving money. Fewer options also help with decision fatigue. For example: The reason I enjoyed my original salad order was because it had the option of being gluten free. My new option was one the few gluten free options.

While restaurants can’t please everyone, they shouldn’t. Going back to the first point, they should understand their customers and cater to their needs and similar customers will follow.

Create Demand.

FOMO (the “Fear of Missing Out”) is something the world has avoided yet greatly feels since the start of the Quarantine. We might not be catching flights but we are on social media more than ever.

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Rechelle Abalos

I’m a Brooklyn-based UX/UI Designer in love with improving our experiences focused on food, technology, and other human beings.