in Final Project

Final Project: Roost

Group Members:
Anam, Gladys, Joel, Song Yu, Youlmae

What is Roost?

Roost is a sustainable cafe in NTU that prepares and redistributes unsold produce (groceries that appears to be less appealing and packaged goods that are close to the end of their shelf-lives) from local stores by turning them into visually-pleasing meals.

The concept of our cafe is based off a nest (homely and inviting) where birds come to roost at the end of the day. Birds build their nests with a combination of mud, fallen twigs and leaves, and sometimes even feathers, which brings the idea of repurposing items that are no longer in use.

The Practice of Sustainability

Roost aims to reduce food wastage from local grocery stores, cultivate accessible conscious living, change the mindset of consumers that unsold produce are still safe to be eaten, and avoid the use of environmentally damaging plastics.

Food waste accounts for about 10 per cent of the total waste generated in Singapore, but only 16 per cent of the food waste is recycled. In 2017 alone, over 800,000 tonnes of food waste has been generated in Singapore. Therefore, there is a need to manage food waste holistically and one method is to redistribute unsold or excess food.

User Research and Personas

Our team has set up an online survey to determine our user personas. (Link to online survey: https://goo.gl/forms/qxb2c1AhKN8IgnQH3)
Based on the results of the survey, we retrieved some common behavioural patterns and preferences among participants. We have also came up with two different personas based on our overall insight.

Menu

Roost serves a wide range of halal Asian-fusion dishes. Due to the uncertain availability of unsold ingredients we receive from local stores, we have divided our menu into two: ‘Staples’ and ‘Seasonal’.

The Staples Menu consist of dishes that are made with ingredients commonly retrieved from unsold goods. This is the menu that does not change and customers could expect to come back to the same meals that they have previously ordered. Although the same dishes are made available, there will be variants of them in cases where we might need to substitute some of the ingredients. Some of these dishes include fried rice, pasta, sandwiches, soup, and salad.

The Seasonal Menu consists of dishes that depend on the type of ingredients we receive from unsold goods that are much harder to come by such as meat products, seafood, and seasonal fruits and vegetables. Some of the dishes include sirloin steak, grilled salmon tail, and chicken stew.

Roost App

The Roost App is the digital mode of order and payment in the cafe. Everything the patrons need to know about Roost is available on its app, from menus to information of where we get our produce from.  Users will have to create a profile upon download and launching the app. The app keeps track of their order history to cater to food recommendations when new dishes are introduced to the ever-changing Seasonal Menu. The app also has a customer loyalty system that rewards users every time they purchase something from Roost. With in-app orders, it allows users to order their food in advance before collecting it at the cafe itself.  Users will avoid long queues and long waiting time for their food to be prepared.

Here is a working layout of how the app interface looks like:

And here is a breakdown of how the in-app order works:

 

Reward System

We provide both dine-in and take-out orders. For take-out orders, diners will have the option to either use their own containers to have their food packed in, or pay an additional fee for recycled paper bags and microwavable paper bento boxes. Customers who eat in or opt for the use of their own containers will be incentivized with points through a reward system under their profiles on the Roost App. When they accumulate enough reward points, they can redeem discounts on items in the Seasonal Menu or even free meals off the Staples Menu.

The reward system is also made up of three different tiers that allows for more point redemption as users advance further. This would encourage users to eat at Roost more often and partake in its sustainable and environmentally-friendly practices.

Look and Feel

Location and Layout

Roost will be located at the open area at North Spine just outside of One Stop @ SAC. It is a place that is frequent by many NTU students and it is accessible since it is placed in the center of the campus.

Here are the floor layout that we are currently working on:

Branding

These are some logos for Roost that we have worked on:

The tagline for our cafe is “Giving Food A Second Life”.

  1. I think your group has made some good progress on the project concept. What would be helpful now is to think of testing the whole process by which an order gets made and any details that might come up out of “playtesting”. You would literally have people unfamiliar with your app concept go through the user experience, making choices along the way and see how they respond and give feedback.

    Also since the main concept is about showcasing sustainability and improving food resources in Singapore, you might focus on ways to make the idea of eating food “given a second life” appealing. In your surveys, when people were asked whether they’d be OK with eating food “waste”, how did they react? Without making a campaign to make this appealing, you may be challenged with growing customer base.