Toast

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Keeping Track of Moving pieces

POS System, Shipping, Production

About this project

Company

Toast - Warehouse

Role(s)

UX Designer
UI Designer
UX Researcher
Graphic Designer

Tools

Pen & paper
Adobe XD
Adobe Illustrator
Printer
QR code generator

Summary, TLDR

Toast is a point of sale system for restaurants.
After being invited to the Toast warehouse and seeing some hardware shipment issues... I rethink their system in a way that gives both the customer and Toast peace of mind. This solution helps make sure all of the customer's hardware has been shipped, recieved, and will be ready for the day of install.

I work through solutions on a scale of no tech to tech, considering users of all tech comprehension levels, along with some accessibility accomidations.

I choose to combine a no tech option with a tech option to create an app that has a digital checklist, along with some physical elements that accommodate to different types of customers.

Skip to the solution!

Problem

The warehouse

I was invited to the Toast warehouse to take a look at their production to see where there could be improvements in their system. While I was there I found a few problems with their shipping and customers loosing packages.

A fulfilled order with over 20 small miscellaneous boxes. Along with the small boxes that could be used when parts aren’t pre-packaged in boxes from the manufacturer.

A fulfilled order with over 20 small miscellaneous boxes.

They were using miscellaneous boxes for shipments and many of the shipments contained over 20 items per box, and that can be confusing without proper labeling. One quote the guide said stuck with me he said “sometimes we have customers loosing pieces of hardware because they can get separated from the other boxes and we have to ship them again.”

A single order can contain 25 (or more) individual pieces.
Some things such as the monitors, and registers are all sent in manufacturers boxes, no labels are on the outside of the box to identify it as a Toast product.
Miscellaneous boxes are used when the toast boxes either don’t fit or are in low stock.
Instructions / setup manuals are rare, only a few items have instructions.

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The small boxes that could be used when parts aren’t pre-packaged in boxes from the manufacturer.

They were using miscellaneous boxes for shipments and many of the shipments contained over 20 items per box, that can be confusing without proper labeling. One thing the guide said stuck with me, he said

“Sometimes we have customers loosing pieces of hardware... Individual boxes can get separated from the larger box everything was shipped in and we will have to ship the lost items again.”

A single order can contain 25 (or more) individual pieces.
Some things such as the monitors, and registers are all sent in manufacturers boxes, no labels are on the outside of the box to identify it as a Toast product.
Miscellaneous boxes are used when the toast boxes either don’t fit or are in low stock.
Instructions / setup manuals are rare, only a few items have instructions.

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Some things such as the monitors, and registers are all sent in manufacturers boxes, no labels are on the outside of the box to identify it as a Toast product.

The Overall Problem

Customers of Toast have experienced some confusion when it comes to receiving shipments of hardware because of the lack of labeling and the use of miscellaneous boxes. Keeping everything organized and together for the day of install can be tricky.

Needs

Restaurant owner’s needs

Easy to set up and installation.
Customer service available when necessary.

Toast / Toast Employee’s needs

Production that is cost effective.
Keep it simple enough to speed up production.

Goal

Create a system where the customer knows exactly what they’re receiving and what items go together, so they are confident to do the install on their own, or with little help from Toast. Some solutions are using color-coding to tell what boxes go with other boxes, or having stickers on the boxes labeling them with what is inside.

Instructions / setup manuals are rare, only a few items have instructions.

Competitive Analysis

Amazon does packaging well. They have their simple logo on the sides of the box with tape that has their name on it. It is clear that this is from Amazon.

Square has one box that depicts what is inside, along with some illustrations to make it more relatable to their customers on a personal level. Their system is a lot more compact than Toast systems and can easily fit into one box. Although it is an option to get inspiration from, I don’t see this as a feasible or cost effective option for every piece of equipment for Toast

Ideation

I needed to come up with a solution that made sure the customer received all of their hardware, and allowed them a way to keep it all organized. These needed to be easy to understand, intuitive, simple, and time saving for both the customer and /toast.

Competitive Analysis

Concepts

I thought of these concepts on a scale of no tech to high tech. I also took into consideration how costly these processes would be to implement into Toasts existing production.

A fulfilled order with over 20 small miscellaneous boxes.

A single order can contain 25 (or more) individual pieces.
Some things such as the monitors, and registers are all sent in manufacturers boxes, no labels are on the outside of the box to identify it as a Toast product.
Miscellaneous boxes are used when the toast boxes either don’t fit or are in low stock.
Instructions / setup manuals are rare, only a few items have instructions.

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What’s a Rich Text element?

The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content.

Static and dynamic content editing

A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!

How to customize formatting for each rich text

Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.

‍No tech options:

A paper check list in the box
- This would be the most cost effective solution for Toast to implement.
Stickers on the box in different shapes and colors, this would be used to mark the different parts of the POS system.
- The colored stickers in different shapes also allow visually impaired people such as people that are color blind to use this system.

Tech option:

Build an app that allows the customer to scan labels on the boxes with their phones. These labels would be used to check off each item as they go through the boxes.
- This would allow Toast to track if the item actually got to the customer.
- This option could be used in unison with the paper check list for the customers that would prefer to keep things low tech.
- This is the most time consuming and expensive option.

I choose to combine a no tech option with the tech option to create an app that has a digital checklist, along with adding a paper checklist in the box.

Physical box prototype

I presented this prototype to Toast, I needed a physical box to demonstrate how this would be done within this new app feature. I printed a custom QR code, and connected that QR code to my prototype of the app. The Toast logo and the contents details were printed on brown paper to make it appear as if it was printed directly on the box.

Header

What’s a Rich Text element?

Static and dynamic content editing

How to customize formatting for each rich text

Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.

What’s a Rich Text element?

Static and dynamic content editing

How to customize formatting for each rich text

Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.

Prototype of the app

Each delivery is a big box that contains multiple little boxes. Each large box will be logged and its contents would be in an inventory list below.

Scanning each box will automatically check the contents of the box off of an inventory list. Toast and the user will be able to tell right away if they are missing anything. The user can report an issue with their delivery if they are missing anything they need.