Platter Pal
A cutting-edge app designed to enhance users’ restaurant experience by streamlining the ordering and payment process.
Areas
UX research, wireframe,
prototype, user interface
Year
2025
About
Platter Pal enhances the dining experience by simplifying the ordering and payment process. By scanning a QR code at the table, users can instantly access a digital menu, making it easy to place orders seamlessly, whether dining individually or as part of a group.
This seamless and interactive platform ensures a personalized experience from start to finish, offering innovative payment options through its Split the Bill Your Way feature. Users can pay individually, cover the entire bill, or select specific guests to include in their payment, making group dining more convenient than ever.
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UX Research
"As the organizer, coordinating the group order is easy, but splitting the bill and managing payments can be time-consuming and require extra effort."
Charlotte
28
The Netherlands
Psychologist
Married
Master degree
The Netherlands
Biography
Charlotte is a dedicated psychologist who finds joy in life while providing compassionate support to patients through meaningful conversations. Though skilled at handling difficult stories, she sometimes feel the weight of emotionally intense cases.
Goals
Streamline the payment process and make bill splitting more efficient, reducing the time and effort required to manage group dining.
Challenges
Managing payment and splitting the bill time-consuming and labor-intensive, adding complexity to the dining experience.
"Group dining is all about good company and great food, but fair bill splitting and last-minute coordination can turn it into a logistical headache."
Levi
28
The Netherlands
Product manager
Single
Master degree
The Netherlands
Biography
Levi is a product manager in a fintech company who balances a dynamic career with an active lifestyle. Outside of work, he enjoys hanging out with friends, hitting the gym, riding his motorcycle, and making the most of life.
Goals
Simplify bill splitting, accommodate late arrivals and shared dishes, streamline post-dining payment processes, and improve tech solutions to address the complexities of group payments.
Challenges
Bill splitting is complicated by varying item prices, late arrivals, and post-dining payment hassles, while existing tech solutions like Tikkie and Revolut don’t fully address these complexities.
"Group dining is about sharing good moments, but figuring out portions, managing food preferences, and fairly splitting the bill often complicate the experience."
Olivia
41
Hong Kong
Social worker
Married
Master degree
The Netherlands
Biography
Olivia is a dedicated social worker who values quality time with family and friends. Passionate about creativity and self-improvement, she enjoys making AI videos, cooking, reading, and having good food—all while maintaining a stress-free and fulfilling lifestyle.
Goals
Improve portion estimation, enhance order visibility, accommodate diverse food preferences, simplify fair bill splitting, and develop better solutions for seamless group dining.
Challenges
Challenges with portion sizes, order visibility, conflicting food preferences, and fair bill splitting, combined with limited tech solutions, make group dining and payment coordination difficult.
"I cherish group dining as a way to connect with loved ones, even if it means navigating pricey menus and leaving meal choices to the group."
Annie
65
The Netherlands
Housewife
Married
High school
The Netherlands
Biography
Annie is a devoted housewife who embraces a routine life, focusing on meal preparation, reading the Bible, and taking online lessons. She also find spiritual fulfilment by regularly attending church, balancing personal growth with their family responsibilities.
Goals
Have a system that allows me to have more influence in restaurant selection and ordering, ensuring my preferences are considered.
Challenges
Struggles with the high cost of Western dining, has limited influence in restaurant choices but values social gatherings and wants to enjoy time with friends.
"Group dining should be a joyful experience where everyone enjoys good food, fair bill sharing, and seamless menu choices."
Emma
45
United Kingdom
Hospital carer
Married with 1 child
Master degree
The Netherlands
Biography
Emma works three days a week as a hospital carer, following a routine that centers around work-related tasks and meals in between. On her days off, she enjoys spending quality time with her son, family, and friends, often planning trips to interesting destinations, and taking longer vacations to farther places during holidays.
Goals
Have a seamless group dining experience by improving menu transparency, simplifying food selection for diverse preferences, ensuring fair bill-splitting, and integrating technology to enhance ordering and payment coordination.
Challenges
Misleading menu expectations, difficulty accommodating diverse dietary preferences, unfair bill-splitting practices, and challenges in choosing a restaurant that satisfies all group members.
Persona
Platter Pal's product discovery is driven by user interviews to create personas reflecting group dining habits and bill-splitting challenges. These insights help identify pain points and opportunities, shaping features that simplify payments. By focusing on real experiences, the product creates solutions that make group dining smoother and more enjoyable.
Pain points
After conducting user interviews about the challenges of group dining in restaurants, common issues such as difficulty with bill splitting and coordinating orders were highlighted.
These insights were summarized to better understand the pain points and inform potential solutions for a smoother and more enjoyable group dining experience.
Manual bill splits
Users experience frustration with manually calculating bill splits and managing individual orders, often requiring multiple steps and tools.
Food preferences & portion sizes
Selecting dishes that accommodate varying dietary restrictions and preferences, along with estimating proper portion sizes, can lead to confusion and dissatisfaction among group members.
Unfair & complex bill splitting
Bill splitting can be tricky, especially with different orders or dietary restrictions, creating fairness issues. There’s a need for a tool that ensures accurate and equitable payment division.
Limited technology solutions
Current tech solutions, such as e-menus and payment apps, do not fully address the complexities of managing group decisions, ordering, and ensuring fair payment, leading to manual and time-consuming processes.
Streamlined ordering & coordination
Implementation of shared digital ordering systems. This would enable group members to collaboratively make food choices, ensuring a more efficient process while tracking portion sizes and costs in real-time, reducing confusion and enhancing the overall dining experience.
Bill splitting & payment solutions
Simplify bill splitting by automatically calculating individual portions and directly integrating with payment platforms. This would eliminate the need for one person to pay upfront, ensuring fairness and convenience.
Clear menus for dietary preferences
Improving the handling of dietary preferences can be achieved by offering clear, detailed menus that highlight portion sizes and ingredients. This transparency ensures that diverse dietary needs are easily accommodated, allowing for more informed food choices.
Customer reviews for food selection
Combining detailed menus with customer reviews would enhance the accuracy of menu expectations. This approach simplifies food selection, ensuring that groups with varied preferences can make decisions that align with their needs and expectations.
Insights
