Thai Bites

Order Street Food like a local

Thai Bites

Order Street Food Like a Local

TIME
5 Weeks
TEAM
4 members
MY ROLE
UX / UI , Research
VALIDATION
33 User Interviews

The Ask

To make the lonely planet relevant again. We were asked to create a user-friendly and non-sticky utility tool that would be relevant to GenZ travelers.

Problem Statement

In Thailand, there is something unique about Thai street food called “ a La carte” street food vendors/stalls. You can order dishes not only from the menu but also anything you want and customize the ingredients as you like. Gen Z backpackers face difficulties in ordering these kinds of Thai street food due to language barriers, dietary restrictions, and the fear of overly spicy food. Existing tools provide information but lack utility in customization and real-time translation.

Solution

Thai Bites is an innovative mobile application designed to help Gen Z backpackers in Thailand navigate the vibrant street food scene. Developed by Lonely Planet, Thai Bite ensures that users can easily customize and order street food according to their dietary preferences and spice tolerance, while overcoming language barriers.

Solution

Thai Bites is an innovative mobile application designed to help Gen Z backpackers in Thailand navigate the vibrant street food scene. Developed by Lonely Planet, Thai Bite ensures that users can easily customize and order street food according to their dietary preferences and spice tolerance, while overcoming language barriers.
a mockup image of thai bites application

Identified Business Opportunities

Identified a gap in the eating stage of the travel journey, particularly in food accessibility and customization for backpackers in Thailand.Discovered that 40% of backpackers in Thailand are vegetarians, indicating a high need for food customization options.Identified language barriers and limited knowledge about Thai cuisine as significant challenges for backpackers when ordering food.
Eating
Arriving
Navigating
Exploring
Planning
Unplugging
Budgeting

What are GenZ’s current solutions in the market?

After conducting an analysis of our competitors, we noticed that existing apps lack all-in-one solutions for Thai street food. They might offer translation (Google Translate) or recommendations (Michelin Guide), but none combine food finding, customization, ordering help, translation, and offline access. This gap in the market highlights an opportunity for Thai Bites to differentiate itself by offering Thai street food customizations, ordering help, translations, and offline access, making it easy for Gen Z backpackers to order street food like a local.
Criteria Google Translate Thai Food Pocket Guides Michelin Guide Wongnai Grab Food Thai Bites
Provide Thai street food options × ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Food customization options × × × × ✓ ✓
Guide people how to order street food × × × × × ✓
Translation services/option ✓ × × × × ✓
Can be used offline ✓ ✓ × × × ✓

Understanding Our Target Audience

After receiving the challenge, we conducted in-depth research to deeply understand our target audience, their travel behaviors, pain points, needs, and preferences. Through qualitative interviews and affinity mapping, we identified behavior patterns among 33 young backpackers in Thailand's 'KaoSan' and hostel area, representing diverse cultures of traveling and studying.

Understanding Our Target Audience

After receiving the challenge, we conducted in-depth research to deeply understand our target audience, their travel behaviors, pain points, needs, and preferences. Through qualitative interviews and affinity mapping, we identified behavior patterns among 33 young backpackers in Thailand's 'KaoSan' and hostel area, representing diverse cultures of traveling and studying.

Persona

A persona is a fictional character that represents a segment of the target audience, created based on user research. It captures key details about users’ behaviors, needs, motivations, and pain points to guide the design process and ensure user-centered decisions.
Personas are crucial because they ensure user-centric design, align the team, and facilitate informed decisions. In the Thai Bite case study, the persona revealed the need for customizable food options, translation features, user-friendly design, and offline access. This approach emphasized the importance of thorough research, problem-solution fit, and empathy, ultimately leading to a more relevant and effective product.
Primary Persona

Picky Patricia

“I love Thai food! I know what I like and can tell if they are prepared poorly or well. I only want the good stuff.”
She is a vegetarian with some knowledge about Thai food. It’s one of the reasons she decided to travel to Thailand. She cares a lot and is very particular on what she puts in her body and does a lot of research on where and what to eat. She is willing to travel and spend more of her budget on food!
Pain Point Workarounds
Language barrier when customizing her order Uses Google Translate, gestures and pictures
Worried about hygiene and food poisoning Reading reviews online, and avoid eating food that looks unclean
Disappointed when the food does not match her expectations Will not eat the same place again, willing to travel to other places to eat, ask the locals for recommendation beforehand
Can’t handle Thai spiciness Learning basic Thai words, and try speaking thai with the sellers

No - Restriction Sam

"I only know Pad Thai and mango sticky rice! I kind of want to try new things, but I do not know what they are."
Although he has some personal food preferences, he is eager to eat new street food he encounter in his journey. He is very carefree and does not have a lot of special needs in dietary.
Pain Point Workarounds
Language barrier when asking the seller about the food Uses Google Translate, gestures and pictures
Only knows common Thai dishes follows what other people order on the spot, make it a goal to try new food he has never tried before
Can't find online information on street food Try the food first
Can't handle thai spiciness Just eat it anyway, and take it as experience

Conservative Charlie

“I am skeptical in eating Thai street food, I am afraid I can’t handle the spice! I would rather eat fast food.”
He is comfortable with his current diet and mostly eats what he can already find in his home country such as fast food, 7/11 or restaurants with mainstream thai food despite having to spend more, due to fear of unknown food.
Pain Point Workarounds
Keeps eating the same food pattern due to the fear of being disappointed of new food Try to find, and eat fast food, or western food that he usually eats
Having to spend a higher budget in eating Allocating more budget to food, and only eat mainstream Thai street food
Can’t handle Thai spiciness Will never eat dishes that looks like they might be spicy

How might we help Patricia to effectively
customize her Thai street food order?

Patricia will choose the dish that she wants to eat
She choose the food she want to eat and she choose to customize it because she is vegetarian.
She swiped the meat and tap edit to change the choice of protein.
She chose "Tofu" as the source of protein.
Then she changed the spicy level because she has low tolerance level of thai chilies.
She confirmed her customized order and tap to translate.
Thai Bites translated her customized dish.
She rotated her phone and show it to seller to order food she wanted.
Patricia got her food!

How might we help Patricia to effectively customize her Thai street food order?

Patricia will choose the dish that she wants to eat
She customizes the ingredients according to her dietary preferences
Thai Bites translates her order to Thai
She shows the translation to the street food vendor
She gets her food!

Developing the app structures : Sitemap

From concept to reality: Beginning with user flows.

What I learn from this project

  • Considering the entire travel journey of backpackers and identifying opportunities to enhance their experience beyond traditional travel resources.
  • Uncovering unique insights and proposing a novel solution to address the identified opportunity gap in the market.
  • Presenting research findings, wireframes, and recommendations, ensuring clarity and precision to effectively communicate ideas.
  • Creating visual aids such as sketches and wireframes to illustrate design concepts and facilitate stakeholder understanding.
  • Actively engaging in class discussions, critiques, and feedback sessions to refine research methods, findings, and recommendations.
  • Demonstrating strong communication skills in presenting research findings and recommendations to stakeholders, effectively conveying key insights and proposed solutions.

Special thanks to my team members

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