Objective:
Redesign Chicago’s Taste & More’s website to provide a fresh modern look, increase clarity of menu items and news, and improve the overall customer experience.
Background:
Chicago’s Taste & More is a family-owned food truck that visits Dallas events and residential developments. Their website functions as a landing page for customers to contact them for catering as well as view the menu. It does not contain a functioning ordering system and instead directs customers to a third party app for placing orders online.
Role:
I first learned of Chicago’s Taste & More when my apartment complex announced they would be visiting our development one weeknight. I discovered their website and saw an opportunity for improvement. The owners were not involved in any creative direction as this was purely a personal learning project.
Process:
To begin, I researched Chicago’s Taste and More’s background and public reception. The business is local and I was able to visit them and have the full customer experience. I also observed the other patrons of the food truck. I created an ideal customer persona based off of my observations and defined the goals of the website.
Persona:
Mark / 29 / Car Mechanic Manager / Irving, TX
- “I like experiencing the novelty of food trucks and unique food. A truck came to my neighborhood for a special event but I’d like to check out their menu from the comfort of my home or car rather than standing in the Texas heat.”
Goals:
- 1. Clearly show full menu items, don’t include pricing
- 2. Provide an option to download full PDF of menu
- 3. Obvious prompt to order online - link to third party app
Process:
As the project developed I decided the website would benefit from having a dedicated mobile version. Many patrons would be likely to pull up the menu on their phones rather than get out of their cars to look at a menu, especially with social distancing guidelines in place during Covid-19.
A dedicated app would not be necessary because the majority pf customers are one-time, situational patrons rather than regulars. This conclusion was drawn from the knowledge that the business travels to new locations each day and is often catering events and for businesses. The client also chooses to use a third party app for placing orders, which the new website directs to. Prompting a customer to download a Menu app, only to be directed to a third party app for ordering would not be ideal. Thus, creating a mobile web responsive design would be sufficient.
The company also showed a note on their original website that prices on some items would change occasionally, so I made the decision not include pricing on the website. Instead, customers could click to download the full menu PDF with pricing or view pricing on the third party ordering app. The website manager would be able to edit just the PDF, rather than having to go in and change any prices shown on the website.
