Project · App design + Systems optimization
Ghost Kitchen Driver App
A contactless QR-code system that coordinated thousands of pandemic-era orders between 50 kitchens and hundreds of drivers.
The situation
One of LA's major ghost kitchens was gearing up for full operation when, just months in, the pandemic hit. They were about to experience the biggest boom in business that any start-up has ever seen in its first few months — millions of people staying home and ordering food. The building was a zoo: workers trying to coordinate orders coming out of 50 kitchens to their corresponding delivery drivers.
Thousands of orders had to be coordinated with hundreds of drivers. Drivers stood around asking every employee they could find if their order was ready; no one really knew. Orders stacked on the staging shelves while employees tried to match them with the right driver. With 5–6 employees working, it quickly became unmanageable. There had to be a better way.
What we built
An app-run system of contactless coordination. A QR code on the outside of the building let drivers easily check in and see if their order was available for pick-up. This was key as COVID kicked in — we wanted to keep drivers outside the building until their order was ready.
Employees now tracked every order stacking on the staging shelves by checking them off in the app. The system sent an automated text to the driver when their order was ready, and they could come inside to pick it up. This avoided a room packed with drivers and employees during a pandemic in one of the largest cities. The system also handled all the coordination in one click — instead of every employee trying separately to keep it in their heads.
Fortuitous result
The ghost kitchen could now actually collect data on the volume of orders, and from which kitchens, flowing out of the facility — data they didn't have before, since they weren't affiliated with the delivery apps themselves.
Smoothly running, contactless order pickups during a global pandemic. Bonus data collection.
