QuickBite – Bringing Local Flavor to the Doorstep

A localised food delivery experience designed for Nashville’s community.

Role

Product Designer

Industry

Food Service

Year

2020

Overview

Back in 2020, I was approached by a friend of a friend who recommended me for a project called QuickBite — a food delivery service being built in Nashville with a simple but powerful mission: to support local restaurants and bring a taste of the Midwest right to people’s homes.

This was my first major UI/UX project, and it quickly became a turning point in how I understood product design. The team wanted to go beyond typical delivery models — QuickBite aimed to serve not only delivery orders but also pickup, dine-in, and drive-thru experiences. My role was to design the entire digital ecosystem for customers, restaurants, and drivers, ensuring every interaction felt connected and localised.

Without a dedicated product manager, I worked directly with the engineering team, stepping up to align the design direction, prioritize features, and manage the evolving scope of the project.

Overview

Without a dedicated product manager, I worked directly with the engineering team, stepping up to align the design direction, prioritize features, and manage the evolving scope of the project.

DESIGN PROCESS: RESEARCH

To understand the competitive landscape, I began with an in-depth study of the U.S. food delivery market. The goal was to identify what users already appreciated — and where their frustrations often surfaced. I analysed four major players: DoorDash, UberEats, GrubHub, and Postmates.

What I Discovered

Users consistently valued the convenience and variety these platforms offered, yet many were frustrated by high delivery fees, inconsistent service, and a lack of local personality. The experiences were efficient but impersonal — none truly reflected the warmth or culture of Nashville or the Midwestern community.

DoorDash was known for reliability but struggled with surge pricing.
UberEats benefited from its ecosystem but often had slower delivery times.
GrubHub remained popular in smaller towns, though its interface felt dated.
Postmates was praised for flexibility but lacked transparency in delivery tracking.

The key insight was clear: users wanted the efficiency of large platforms combined with the familiarity and authenticity of local brands — a gap QuickBite could fill perfectly.

DESIGN PROCESS: INSIGHT

From research and early conversations with users, several important insights emerged that guided the product direction:

Decision Fatigue Is Real.

Many people didn’t know what they wanted to eat. This inspired “Suggest Me” — a feature recommending local favourites or trending dishes nearby.

Local Voice Builds Connection.

Using Midwestern dialect and tone helped the product feel friendly and grounded, something national competitors often lacked.

Flexibility Matters.

Users wanted options beyond delivery. Supporting scheduled dine-in and pickup experiences made the platform more adaptable to real-life routines.

Smooth Operations Are Essential.

The platform needed to connect customers, restaurants, and drivers seamlessly. Coordination and timing were just as important as great design.

Seeing the Whole Experience

To translate these insights into a cohesive experience, I created a service blueprint to map how Customer, Restaurant, and Driver flows intersect at every stage of an order. This allowed me to identify dependencies, reduce operational friction, and ensure that expectations, timing, and communication stayed aligned across the entire ecosystem.

DESIGN PROCESS: IDEATION

With these insights in mind, I mapped out the ecosystem of experiences across three main stakeholders — customers, drivers, and restaurants — ensuring each had a smooth and connected journey.

Customer Experience

Accessibility came first. I designed for both web and mobile, allowing anyone to place an order — even without downloading an app or creating an account. The guest order experience became a defining feature: fast, intuitive, and inclusive.

Driver Experience

Drivers are the backbone of any delivery platform, so their app focused on clarity and control:

Simple registration and verification (KYC)
Ability to set availability, accept or decline orders, and navigate deliveries
Transparent overview of earnings and payouts

Restaurant Experience

For restaurant owners, efficiency was crucial. The restaurant dashboard enabled them to:

Create and manage menus
Track incoming and scheduled orders
Adjust preparation times based on workload
Alert drivers when orders were ready sooner or later than expected
Contact customers directly when clarification was required

This system ensured all three experiences were synchronised — improving accuracy, reducing delays, and building trust across the platform.

DESIGN PROCESS: DESIGN

Once the flows were defined, I began crafting the wireframes and interactive prototypes for each platform. My focus was on clarity, warmth, and transparency — designing an experience that felt both functional and personable.

Key Highlights

“Suggest Me” Feature: Showcased local dishes based on user preferences and popular community trends.
“Dine-In Scheduler”: Combined reservation and pre-ordering, allowing customers to plan their visit ahead of time.
“Driver Progress Tracker”: A visual delivery timeline that offered transparency for both drivers and customers.
“Restaurant SLA Adjuster”: Allowed restaurants to update preparation times dynamically, keeping all parties informed.

Every design decision was documented and annotated, explaining not only what was created but why — ensuring that the engineering team understood the user rationale behind each feature.

FINAL DESIGN

The final designs brought QuickBite to life as a unified platform that celebrated local flavour. From its colour palette inspired by Nashville’s warmth to its conversational microcopy that echoed Midwestern friendliness, every detail was crafted to make the experience feel human and familiar.

Smarter Decision-Making

Customer App
Designed to reduce choice overload, this feature helps users decide faster by offering guided suggestions and creating natural breaks between curated and full restaurant listings.

Local-First Experience

Customer App
Quickbite speaks like the locals. Using familiar Midwestern tone and expressions, the app feels more personal and community-driven while highlighting authentic local food.

Flexible Dining Options

Customer App
Gives users more control over how and when they eat by supporting multiple fulfillment options and time-based menus tailored to real restaurant operations.

Fast Driver Onboarding

Driver App
Removes friction from the driver sign-up experience with a quick, secure verification process, enabling drivers to get on the road faster.

Dynamic Prep Times

Restaurant App App
Restaurants can update preparation times based on current kitchen load, keeping customers and drivers aligned with accurate, real-time expectations.

Menu Availability Control

Restaurant App App
Restaurants can update menu availability after daily stock checks, ensuring customers only order what’s in stock and reducing order errors.

Learnings & Outcome

QuickBite was one of the most formative projects of my career.

It was the first time I designed for a multi-stakeholder ecosystem, which required thinking beyond individual user journeys and considering how all experiences connected as a whole.

With no product manager on the team, I naturally took on a hybrid designer–product manager role — bridging communication between design and engineering, defining priorities, and ensuring the product vision remained cohesive.

The project stretched over several phases due to client capacity and budget, teaching me the importance of documentation, adaptability, and maintaining clarity during pauses in development.