Product Redesign: Restaurant Reservation Flow

May 2, 2023

Product redesign is one of my favorite product management case studies. Here is one that I worked on recently - enjoy!

Product Redesign - Restaurant Reservation

1. Background

Reserve Restos (RR) is a disrupter dining company that has revolutionized how people find and book restaurants. The cutting-edge technology in their mobile platform allows restaurant owners to promote their food services, customers to book them, and RR admin to monitor their audience growth.

Last year, the RR app has been ranked #15 in the food industry. Now, RR is reevaluating the current app gaps in order to become the #1 app next year. This case study will examine the current gaps and propose solutions to improve the RR app’s ranking.

2. Gap Analysis

In order to identify gaps in the RR app, a ‘product discovery’ approach has been utilized by engaging the users, looking at the analytical tools tied to the product, and revisiting the app's UI/UX designs. Based on the results from this approach, this organization has recognized several major gaps in their current app, as seen in Table 2.1. This table also includes the source (where the gap was found such as quotes from users, app design and product stats), solution ideas to address the gap, and its priority based on the value and effort needed.

Table 2.1: Gap analysis of the RR app.

Gap	Source	Solution Ideas	Priority
The app needs to increase the number of reservations per user to 4 to 5 per week.	User stats: The average user makes 2 reservations per week.	Streamline the overall reservation flow and improve its design. Display any special promotions if the user books within a sensitive timeframe (e.g. book today to get this offer). Remove the payment processing as this is only a reservation flow (payment will be done at the restaurant).	#1 Value: High Effort: High
The app lacks of ‘Home’ in the main navigation menu with restaurant recommendations and other details.	App design: It has ‘Search’ as the first navigation menu item. User quotes: “I love Reserve Resto because I know every restaurant in my town is on the platform, so I’m not going to be missing out on anything. Sometimes, however, the choice can be overwhelming… my partner and I will just scroll around and look at a ton of stuff and debate options for thirty minutes, and then it’s basically too late to go out. I’ve definitely had a couple unexpected grocery store frozen dinners because of that!” “It’s funny, my Reserve Resto friends aren’t really people I’m close to in real life. I just sent friend requests to a couple people whose reviews I really agreed with, so I can see where they’re eating and what they think. Normally I just stick to my trusty Pho 63, but when I’m feeling fancy, I’ll scroll through my news feed and find a place Anton recommended that I haven’t eaten at before. His 3 stars is like my 5 stars, so any place with a good review from him has never let me down.”	Rename ’News Feed’ to ‘Home’ and include recommendations and content from ‘News Feed’, such as the latest news about restaurants and friends’ reviews. The ‘Recommended’ section should be based on the onboarding data collected about the user’s favourite cuisine and location. Add ‘Recent Reviews by Friends’ section in the ‘Home’ section.	#2 Value: High Effort: Medium
The app does not have a general search bar and filter options for a user to find restaurants.	App design: It has only horizontal pills on top of the ‘Search’ screen for the users to tap on.	Add a ‘Search’ bar at the top of the ‘Search’ screen. When the search criterion is entered and clicked, add a map with the results of restaurants on the ‘Search Results’ screen. Add to the ‘Search Filters’ screen these filter options by: Price range Distance range Ratings Dietary Promotions Open Now Parking Popular New	#3 Value: Medium Effort: High
The app does not display the average pricing, hours, parking and other details of the restaurant to inform the user.	User stats: Among app sessions that result in a reservation, 40% included interaction with Search filters, especially price and rating. App design: It displays the popular dishes, sourcing and other info under the ‘Highlights’ section as text.	Add these fields and sections in the ‘Restaurant Details’ screen: Pricing Ratings and reviews Hours Menu Parking Dietary Highlights Favourite button Social media News/Promotions Replace text with visuals Use icons for the ‘Highlights’ section ‘Share with a friend’ text is replaced with a ‘Share’ icon	#4 Value: Medium Effort: Medium
The app does not filter the list of restaurants based on dietary restrictions that users may have.	User quote: “I don’t really use Reserve Resto much at all – probably less than once a month – because I don’t have an easy way to figure out whether a restaurant can meet my dietary restrictions or not. Sometimes I’ll get lucky and the Highlights will mention it, but otherwise there isn’t really a good way for me to filter for what I need.”	Include the dietary options offered by the restaurants on the ‘Search’ screen, such as: Nut-free Vegan Keto Halal Organic Other	#5 Value: Medium Effort: Low
The app does not show upfront restaurants that the user has booked previously to improve reservation efficiency.	User quote: “I usually use Reserve Resto after a long day at the office, when I know I’m going to be too tired to cook at home, to find open reservations really quickly. At this point it’s muscle memory: I open the app, sort for less than 2 miles, sort for rating > 4 stars, scroll down to the third card, and book at Gregory’s Greek Kitchen. If they’re fully booked, I’ll try Great Wall Chinese Restaurant instead. I prefer Gregory’s though – it might not be the best food, but it sure does the trick.”	Include a new ‘Booked Again’ section on the ‘Home’ screen.	#6 Value: Low Effort: Low

3. Designed Solutions

A designed prototype has been created to illustrate the proposed solutions and highlight the changes needed to achieve RR’s product vision and goals. Image 3.1 displays the current app design of the ‘Find a Restaurant’ feature.

Image 3.1: Screenshot of the current app design for the ‘Find a Restaurant’ feature.

Product Design - Old

This prototype reflects the new designs of several RR’s app screens: Home, Search Filters, Search Results, Restaurant Details, Restaurant Reservation and Restaurant Reservation Confirmation.

The prototype of RR app can be accessed to view its details and workflows via a UI design tool and a no code tool:

The proposed and designed solutions will definitely improve the user experience with the RR app, thus leading to an increase the number of reservations and transforming the RR app as #1 in the food industry.

#productredesign #restaurantreservation #productmanagement #reserveresto