Objective

Cross-Collaboration
Product
Engineering
Research
Content
Data
Product Ops
Regional Ops
Legal

Since we launched in Toronto nearly 4 years ago, more than 1 billion orders have been delivered to customers across 36 countries and in over 500 cities. And we know there’s still much more to do to create a great Uber Eats experience — for everyone.

Due to Eats' fast growing worldwide presence, Safety & Sustainability was our top priority for 2019. Further data study and research suggested this was also a great opportunity for growth as being the first service in the ordering space to making food an inclusive experience onboard a new segment of users to place orders using our app.

My role was to design a simple and intuitive end-to-end multi-platform experience to ensure Eaters can state their and their fellow-eaters' food allergies and place orders easily, as well as for restaurants to acknowledge and respond to those requests effectively.

“I almost died from an anaphylactic shock because the restaurant got my order wrong.”

  Eaters with food allergies currently have no means of ordering safely over food ordering platforms.

 Restaurants have no means & awareness to catch allergy requests and cater to them.

Product- Global brand and legal accountability towards safety and inclusiveness, with potential for growth through niche customer acquisition.

Comparative Analysis

We studied popular food ordering services globally to get insights for how they solve for orders with food allergies.

We found that-

• Eaters use the Special Instructions section to point out allergies, a mid-priority input field often that can be easily overlooked by restaurants

• Most apps limit the feature to a general or dish-specific disclaimers as a legal-friendly measure but haven't created a thoughtful and inclusive ordering experience 

CURRENT ALLERGY REQUEST TREATMENT- SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS

MEASURES FOR FOOD ALLERGENS IN ORDERS BY OTHER INDUSTRIES

Initial Product Requirement

This project was meant to be a low-effort, fast build initiative with the basic features including-

• All restaurants will be auto-opted into this feature

• Text input field for Eater to be able to input detailed allergy-info per order

• In case the order cannot be fulfilled, the restaurant can cancel the order

The project requirements started with several assumptions. As the Designer, my foremost responsibility was to help our stakholders realize to assume we know nothing. I broke down the feature into its different interaction pillars and mapped out all possible places in the Ordering journey where they could be situated.

To get quick feedback to validate the need for a robust solution, I collaborated with the Research team to send out an internal survey to identify people with food allergies within the org and seek insights on their needs and challenges, which gave us the necessary signal that this was indeed a more complex and sensitive challenge than initially thought, and we needed to conduct more in-depth study and testing with users and experts alike to understand the impact of the feature across various Eats markets.

 Eater Insights

INSIGHTS

Every eater’s food allergy need is unique.

Eaters with food allergies often feel socially excluded.

They repeat their requests every time they order food.

They need more assurance & control in the process.

HOW MIGHT WE

Create individual allergy profiles.

Make the flow inclusive & easy to use.

Make it easy to repeat their allergies.

Give them resources & timely information.

 Restaurant Insights

INSIGHTS

Jobs change very quickly in restaurants.

Restaurant Dashboard is already text-heavy.

Requests should be easy to respond to.

Some view the dashboard & others receipt for prep.

HOW MIGHT WE

Multiple entry-points to allergy information.

Make allergy display more prominent.

Easy response entry point.

Allergy information on both tablet & paper receipt.

Other Considerations

• Depending on their capacity and resources, not all restaurants can take on this responsibility, so we decided to make this an opt-in feature. 

• We need to be able to notify restaurants about these requirements in an effective way such that they don't erronously miss important allergy requests, all while not disrupting their work or pace.

• Restaurants may sometimes be able to fulfill part of the order if not entirely. In which case the Eater and Restaurant should be allowed an option to have that communication effectively in order to update the order if they don't want to cancel it entirely.

Journey Map

Based on the information gathered, we were able to identify key areas where allergy information, input and verification could live.

Over the next few weeks, we did several explorations based on these insights and opportunity areas, and actively tested them out internally with the identified allergic people as well as remote testing. After several iterations we arrived at a final solution that worked seamless across the-

• Eater app (to place allergy requests)
• Restaurant dashboard (to fulfill, or respond to the allergy request)
• Restaurant manager (for access and education to opt into the feature)

Final Solution

Allergy Friendly Filter

ALLERGY-FRIENDLY OPTIONS ONE-CLICK AWAY

Making food allergy friendly restaurants a part of Dietary filters helps eaters to quickly narrow down the search for allergy-friendly restaurants in their neighborhood.

Allergy Requests

FIRST TIME USER EXPERIENCE

Allergy-friendly restaurants will now have a dedicated nested flow in item details.

Now the eater has a dedicated space to safely relay their common and custom allergies, call the restaurant before ordering if they wish, as well as write an additional note for the restaurant.

All disclaimers are part of this flow. 

Quick Apply Requests

RETURN USER EXPERIENCE

A return user can select their allergies without having to go through the process of manual selection again.

Unfulfilled Allergies

COMMUNICATING THEM EFFICIENTLY

When the restaurant is unable to fulfill an allergy request for an item, the eater receives a notification to remove that item, add any others and re-send the order in a ten minute window.

This allows eater the time to respond and the restaurant to hold on to the order without cancelling the entire order.

Restaurant Dashboard

HIGH VISUAL PROMINENCE TO ALLERGY INFO

The top sticky bar clearly indicates that the order has allergy requests and how many.

Special instructions and food allergies are further highlighted with allergy text in orange to bring attention upon quick scrolling.

Respond to Eater

IF ALLERGIES CANNOT BE FULFILLED

The sticky bar continues to be present along with a note for the restaurant worker.
Restaurants can either choose a default reason or frame a custom response.

Restaurant Manager

SIMPLIFYING THE OPT-IN EXPERIENCE

Because manually opting into a feature is already a high friction event for restaurants, the entry point to activate this feature has been kept easy to read and understand for the manager / owner.

The link takes them to an education and FAQs page dedicated to food allergies.

Order Receipt

MULTI-PURPOSE TOOL

For restaurants that pass along the receipt to kitchen personnel to prepare the order, they refer to the receipt to check for allergy information when reading orders.

This receipt is sent along to the eater with the delivery who can then double check it with their order.

Future:
Create a tear-off line for kitchen personnel to keep with them when preparing the order.

The feature was launched in US/CAN and eventually worldwide as part of Uber's official press release in September 2019. Uber Eats has since become a leading example for high safety and inclusiveness standards in the food-delivery industry, serving as a reference for an evolved experience for food allergies being replicated by other popular services around the world.

Takeaways

Designing with empathy
This project was a challenge in truly learning to design with empathy for a user whose shoes it is not easy to step into the shoes of, and aligning all stakeholders on the importance of the same.

Value of Research & Testing
Unlike most projects, there was an important need for research and testing for this project in a traditionally experiment driven product environment which helped us push for a high quality solution.