Popularising Street Food Vendors Through App
Group Project
Overview
The goal of this design research project is to promote and popularize street food vendors who have been greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The project aims to allow people to order street food from vendors and have it delivered to their homes through a platform such as Zomato. The app will feature a wide variety of street food options and vendors, making it easy for people to discover and enjoy new types of food. Additionally, the app will provide a way for vendors to increase their revenue and reach a wider audience, helping to support the street food industry during these challenging times.
How Will We Popularise
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Streaming episodes in the Zomato app that will have introductions of the vendors, what they are known for, their specialty, and their details.
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Once they gather a certain amount of views and become popular, Zomato will add them to their app as certified vendors(free of cost) and deliver their food to a wider customer base.
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Advertising- Post promo videos of popular street food vendors known in their locality for their tasty native food. Video clips will be attractive teasers of the episodes.
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Video byte- They will showcase the impact of our work in society by generating more employment and helping popularise small-scale businesses.
Compitative Analisis
Strategic Wheel
User Research
This focuses on understanding user behaviors and needs through observation techniques and feedback methodologies.
Qualitative research (Personal interviews)
In qualitative research, we interviewed 4 people to understand the user's need for street food, their likes, and dislikes, and their thoughts about this opportunity.
Quantitative research (Online survey)
We did an online survey and prepared a few questions for the users, based on their willingness to answer. We received over 44 responses.
Interview Questions
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Do you use the food delivery app Zomato?
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How often do you use the app?
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What is your preferred method of ordering?
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How many times do you eat street foods in a week?
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How much do you prefer to spend on street foods?
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Would you prefer street food delivered to your doorstep or wait in line outside vendors' carts?
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Would you like popular street food vendors to be included in the app?
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What cuisines have you purchased at any time from a street food vendor?
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Which street vendors would you like to see be a part of this app?
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When you think about including street vendors in the app, do you think of it as something you need or don’t need?
Quantitative research (Online survey)
Insights
(Sample size for this survey is 50)
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The majority of the population consumes street food.
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52% of the population orders street food online, the most preferred method for ordering is via the app and the least is via website.
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84% of people are inclined towards having street food for snacks & rest are divided between breakfast and dinner.
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31% of the population favors street food occasionally, whereas 27% favors it multiple times a week.
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38% are willing to pay Rs 100-200 for street food in a week. 27% are willing to pay an additional Rs.100 per week.
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The majority of the people prefer fancy Indian snacks and chat items, followed by south Indian dishes & momos.
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80% of the population would like street food vendors included in food delivery apps, while rest are unsure.
Q & A With Vendores
1. What sort of food/ drink do you sell?
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Vendor 1- They sell momos and complimentary soup.
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Vendor 2-They sell fruit juice and tea in the morning and snacks like vada pav the rest of the day.
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Vendor 3-hey sell all types of chat.
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Vendor 4-They sell fruit juices and tea/coffee
2. How do you market your business?
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Vendor 1-They find one thing most important is that the food stall should be in a crowded and a legal venue.
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Vendor 2-They focus on consistency and long term thinking with good finance understanding.
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Vendor 3-They like to compete and make sure they are better among the people that have stalls around them.
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Vendor 4-They strategize by focusing on their menu and attracting more people with the most variety and taste.
3. What are the biggest problems facing the street food industry at the moment?
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Vendor 1-For them the biggest problem has been the mentality of people thinking about them not being hygienic.
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Vendor 2-So far the biggest loss for them was when the pandemic wave hit.
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Vendor 3-They don't face any problems as they are famous in the area and rarely come across problems in the market.
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Vendor 4-one of the biggest problems was getting fruits and vegetables during pandemic .
4. How do you convince your users about the food hygiene?
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Vendor 1- By showing our kitchen areas
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Vendor 2-no answer
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Vendor 3-no answer couldn't think of ways
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Vendor 4-we work in front of the customers, and we keep bisleries to show that we use clean water.
5. Have other business uplifted you in any way?
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Vendor 1- They say that stalls around them close early which brings the customers to their stalls.
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Vendor 2- They have competitors but they are friendly enough to spread word about our new menu and dishes.
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Vendor 3- no answer
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Vendor 4- Family business is always helpful to uplift each other.
6. What differentiates you from the competition?
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Vendor 1- We have our own recipe which is unique. We also serve some chutneys which are home made.
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Vendor 2- We use quality fruits for the juice and good quality oil for frying vadas.
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Vendor 3- We use special masala in our chaat.
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Vendor 4- We make fresh juices and tea in front of our customers
7. Are you able to earn your expected income by the end of the day?
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Vendor 1- Yes
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Vendor 2- Sometimes
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Vendor 3- No, Due to the pandemic our sales have gone down
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Vendor 4- Not really
8. Would you like to have our support to increase your business?
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Vendor 1- Maybe
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Vendor 2- Yes
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Vendor 3- Definitely
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Vendor 4- Sure
9. Do you home deliver?
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Vendor 1- Yes
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Vendor 2- Yes
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Vendor 3- No
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Vendor 4- No
10. If yes, (a) What is your delivery radius? (b) What is your delivery schedule?
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Vendor 1- We deliver upto 2 km, delivery timings are from 6pm - 8pm.
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Vendor 2-. Delivery is applicable only for vada pavs, we deliver in the nearby streets. Timings are from 2pm - 7pm.
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Vendor 3- We deliver upto 5 km with extra charges, delivery timings are from 4:30pm - 9pm .
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Vendor 4- N/A
Qualitative research (Personal interviews)
Research
Our team went around interviewing students and instructors to learn about the following:
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How often, why, when, and how they order food online
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Why they would choose one food delivery service over another
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Their experience using one of the food delivery services
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How food allergies influence their ordering experience
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How they discover new dishes from street food.
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Areas they think competitors can improve on
Conducting user interviews gave us a better understanding of what users go through in the ordering and delivery experience by answering the 5 W’s (who, what, where, when, why, and how). It was also helpful in coming up with more questions as unexpected points were raised.
From the user interviews, we found that users are:
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Food-based
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Price sensitive and are concerned of delivery fees
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They like street food
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Wanting more accurate order status notifications
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Visually driven (want pictures of dishes)
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Uninterested in supporting local businesses and organics