Solid State Coffee
Café on the Upper West Side, founded in 2021.
Long wait times often turned people away from visiting Solid State Coffee, primarily due a bottleneck at the register. Through consumer interviews, 5 out of 10 people stated they do not visit Solid State on the weekend due to the long wait times. A contextual inquiry revealed three main reasons for the register bottleneck:
An overtasked register workstation
Consumer menu questions at the register
Confusion on where to pickup orders required the register employee to answer questions after a transaction
Utilizing secret shoppers, we gathered data points from each day of the week to gather wait time averages.
Weekend Averages: 13 minutes and 37 seconds
Weekday Average: 8 minutes and 13 seconds
The main theme of the interviews around the neighborhood echoed similar sentiments to the research questions: Wait times were the primary factor in deciding where to go for coffee.
With 5 out 10 participants claiming they never go to Solid State Coffee due to the waits, and all of the participants mentioning they often went elsewhere over the weekend due to the wait times.
Through contextual inquiry, we found a bottleneck at the register and consumer confusion around product pickup. The main issues were:
Too many pick up points
An overloaded register workstation
Inconsistent instructional prompts/signs to guide consumers
Over the course of this study, I found two main categories of design challenges. Here are the challenges along with the opportunities which may reduce wait times and/or improve consumer retention:
Optimize Bar Flow
Reduce register tasks
Their primary task should be to answer customer questions, take consumer orders and move people along as quickly as possible.Create a single product delivery point
This would allow one workstation on the bar to always provide drink delivery at a single point to customers, which will make for an easier transfer of goods because the customer’s expectation of where the items ordered will be received will be consistent.Start delivery training
To reduce customer questions and confusion, coach the delivery person to say something like, “Here is your food. When you are finished, we have a bus bin near the kitchen window on the way out, if you would just drop off the dishes there. My name is ____ and if you have any further questions you can find me at the counter.”
2. Engage the Consumer Earlier
Create an earlier first contact
Something that has been proven to reduce consumer’s line anxiety is an earlier point of first contact, wait time estimates and purchasing products earlier in the waiting experience.Consider a second register outside
Having a handheld register that meets customers in the line and sends orders through, specifically coffee orders, might greatly reduce wait times and alleviate a large portion of the line.Consider free samples in line
Passing out samples in the line can be a good way to reduce line anxiety, as occupied time feels shorter than unoccupied time.