Table Nova: QR pre-ordering and payment for food
USA
iOS + Android
8 weeks to release
Flutter · Firebase · POS
The brief
What the client came with
Guests left at peak hours without waiting for their order.
PROBLEM 01
27% of guests wait over 10 minutes for their order
More than a quarter of guests wait over 10 minutes for a first order. At peak hours 20-30% leave without waiting.
PROBLEM 02
A guest who leaves = lost revenue
One guest who leaves = $10-15 of lost revenue. At peak hours those walkouts add up to real money.
PROBLEM 03
Competitors are already in the guest's phone
Large chains and aggregators had already given guests phone ordering. A restaurant without its own solution had no answer.
The product
The final result
01. Research
Research and customer interviews
We studied 8 competitors and ran 20 interviews with managers and guests.
Key finding: guests are happy to order from their phone by QR if it beats waiting for a server.
The weak spot: restaurants without an app of their own have no way to hold a guest at peak hours.
What the research showed
Guests leave because of the wait, not the food. QR pre-ordering removes the biggest time sink at peak hours.
Research outcome
8
competitors analyzed
20
interviews conducted
2
key insights
02. Pilot
Tested in working restaurants
We ran the app in 3 working restaurants before rolling it out to the whole chain.
On real guests: 4 weeks in 3 restaurants. We watched whether guests scanned the QR and reached payment.
No risk after that: after the pilot all 12 venues were connected.
What the pilot showed
In the first week 40% of orders went through the app, by the end of the month it was 67%. After the pilot all 12 restaurants were connected.
03. UX/UI design
18 screens: from QR to payment
We designed the whole guest journey: scan the QR → menu → order → card payment.
An order in 3-4 taps: QR → dish → payment, no waiting for a server.
Split bill: a group order splits between guests right inside the app.
The guest journey
A QR on the table → a menu with photos, ingredients and allergens → the order goes to the kitchen through the POS → card payment. All in the app, without a server.
Before / After
What changed for the business
Guests were leaving at peak hours. The app gave them their order back and the restaurant its revenue.
Before
27% of guests waited over 10 minutes for a first order
20-30% left at peak hours without waiting for a server
Every walkout = $10-15 of lost revenue
The restaurant had no digital channel of its own, unlike its competitors
After
A QR order in 3-4 touches, with no waiting for a server
−62% wait time: from 12 minutes down to 4.5
+23% table turnover at peak hours
67% of orders go through the app by the end of the month
Outcome
Results in numbers
The first 60 days after release
62%
cut in waiting time
From 12 minutes down to 4.5 to a first order
23%
growth in table turnover
At peak hours, when every table counts
67%
of orders through the app
By the end of the first month (40% in the first week)
Let's talk
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