Once.

An app for pop-ups

Covid changed the restaurant industry.

Restaurants closed, and chefs began their own pop-ups.

With a pop-up, any business can have a stellar culinary experience. Music venues, stores, parks, etc. Pop-up owners are more flexible with their hours, location, and can be more dynamic with the food they serve than traditional restaurants. Living in New Orleans from 2018 - 2024, I was able to see a surge of pop-ups which has enriched the answer to the question, 'What makes New Orleans a food place?'

Product Design

Branding

Prototyping

Strategy

Problem:
Finding pop-ups is messy

The primary point of contact between pop-ups and their customers is Instagram. But Instagram doesn't always show posts to followers in a timely manner. Also, to know about a pop-up you either have to be told about it or have been to one. Which means that it's hard to find, follow and patronize pop-ups you like.

The primary point of contact between pop-ups and their customers is Instagram. But Instagram doesn't always show posts to followers in a timely manner. Also, to know about a pop-up you either have to be told about it or have been to one. Which means that it's hard to find, follow and patronize pop-ups you like.

User Pain Points

Difficulty in discovering pop-ups due to fragmented information.

Limited disposable income affects spending decisions.

Tourists find it hard to locate authentic local dining experiences.

Difficulty in discovering pop-ups due to fragmented information.

Limited disposable income affects spending decisions.

Tourists find it hard to locate authentic local dining experiences.

Pop-Up Pain Points

Struggle with marketing due to time and resource constraints.

Social media algorithms often hide their posts, reducing visibility.

Difficulty in reaching a wider audience beyond immediate followers.

Struggle with marketing due to time and resource constraints.

Social media algorithms often hide their posts, reducing visibility.

Difficulty in reaching a wider audience beyond their immediate followers.

For the Pop-up Owner

Camille

the pop-up owner

Camille is an experienced chef who spent over a decade working in New Orleans' restaurant industry. After leaving a previous job, she launched her own popup and catering business called Luncheon, focused on elevated supper clubs and pop-ups at local venues. Her team consists of two people, her and her partner, so she must deal with everything from menu creation to negotiating with venues to marketing herself.

A create event feature which allows you to build your menu within the app, which can be saved and reused for future pop-ups. By inputting ingredients to the dishes, automatic filtering such as allergens, type of food, etc. can be facilitated, making a quick and seamless experience for the pop-up owner.

For the Local

Soumya

the local

Soumya is a former restaurant worker in New Orleans who has worked in various front-of-house roles. A passionate supporter of popups as a customer and community member, she actively seeks out popup events, especially those hosted at bars, and values the creativity, directness, and affordability they offer. She often supports friends’ ventures, making a point to attend and spend money to help them succeed.

Through Once, keeping track of your favorite pop-ups is easier than ever. For a busy local, the Add to Calendar feature helps to keep track of when these pop-ups are happening, and where. To make sure you make it there!

For the Foodie Explorer

Jason

the tourist

Jason is a passionate foodie and frequent traveler who plans his trips around what he can eat, not just where he can go. He’s always on the hunt for authentic, under-the-radar food experiences that locals love but tourists rarely find. While he’s eager to try everything from street snacks to popups, he often struggles to discover these hidden gems without sifting through outdated blogs or tourist-packed review sites. For Jason, finding the real flavor of a place shouldn't be so hard.

For tourists searching for unique eats, Once features a variety of pop-up discovery options. The home page has a Featured Chef section, as well as a short list of upcoming pop-ups for convenience. The Search page allows users to not only search for specific pop-ups if they need to, but also for specialized categories made possible by the menu creation feature highlighted above. Or, if someone new to town is just looking for something in their area, the map feature can guide them to the closest pop-up near them.

For the Food Curator

Isa

the curator

Isa has been known to enjoy a foodie experience, but she LOVES a foodie experience at a concert, or at a garden, or anywhere unexpected she can find. She loves the versatility pop-ups bring, and whenever they have a cool event she doesn't hesitate to send it to her friends and make sure the whole gang is there. She has trouble keeping a list of all the pop-ups she likes, and hates it when she sees an insta post for a fun pop-up a day late.

Profiles are a one stop shop for friends, finds and flavors. Users can favorite pop-ups they love, creating a conveniently curated list within the app for whenever they feel like scrolling through some familiar favs. When looking at a specific event, not only can you see which of your friends have already added it to their calendar, but also share it with more friends! Scroll through your friends favorites to find something you may have missed, too.

Process

Wireframe.

When iterating on my wireframes, I wanted to make sure to cater to both front-end (customers) and back-end (pop-up owners) users. I wanted to make sure that the cognitive load of creating an event and menu is not too high, but also maximize the impact of adding a menu.

Iterate.

During the initial fleshing out phase, I wanted to create a system kind of like Linkedin which highlighted both the pop-up as a whole and the chefs who run them. This was where the idea for the 'featured chef' feature came from, which grew to full chef pages, which would be half way between the user profile and the pop-up profile. I also wanted to highlight the food photography present in the app to make sure that all dishes looked as yummy as possible, regardless of the quality of the photograph. (All the pictures shown in my prototypes are actual pictures I took from pop-ups in New Orleans)

Refine.

I decided on a more engaging color palette for the interface to separate it from other apps in the area and emphasize the fun nature of the brand. I was also able to add an 'add to cart' feature among many others to create a more complete user experience.

Iterate.

During this phase, I wanted to create a system like Linkedin which highlighted both the pop-up as a whole and the chefs who run them. This was where the idea for the 'featured chef' feature came from, which grew to full chef pages, which would be half way between the user profile and a pop-up profile. The chef pages would highlight both the chef as a regular user, with friends and favorite pop-ups, and their upcoming pop-ups.

Refine.

In the final page, I took a regular-looking app and made it into a phenomenon. Now stylized and exciting to interact with, Once is fortified with a louder yet simpler interface that is more friendly to both types of users, chefs and customers. I scaled down the amount of photos necessary to limit strain on pop-up owners, taking a more selective approach to how photography is used in the app to maximize impact.