Food Truck App

Situation: There are over 50,000 registered food trucks in the U.S. and a much higher number of unregistered trucks. I was asked to conceptualize an initial product vision and design a MVP prototype app to locate these trucks in real time and book trucks for events.  The startup’s vision came from a CNN producer looking for a solution to find nearby food trucks to feed large crews as production locations changed.

Data Collection: Observed 50 food trucks through field observation and interviews.  Conducted a competitive and comparative analysis of the existing food truck apps. Conducted thorough value proposition exploration and feature sorting exercises with key stakeholders.  

Analysis & Insights:  My research surfaced critical market insights on why existing food truck locator apps were not able to provide truck locations at scale due to the resistance of food truck owners to  take the time to update their location in separate apps and in the case of unregistered trucks and undocumented workers, to make their location discoverable to all (including immigration authorities).  My recommended solution leveraged Twitter’s API to pull in location status updates automatically.  

UX Design: Through whiteboarding exercises with the team, information architecture drafting, and paper prototyping, I was able to create a wireframe design and drawing of the brand design concept.

Deliverables:  Developed MVP design, go to market strategy, and a wide range of potential user data related to market viability.