Ricky Ticky Taco
Creating the novel idea of a ghost restaurant where customers can enjoy affordably authentic Mexican street food in the comfort of their homes.
With the trend of many people not wanting to cook at home and the rise of food delivery apps, the client wanted a novel idea to close the gap in the industry.
To create a ghost restaurant by using food delivery apps. Therefore the client can serve customers with low operational costs but still have the food be executed and delivered to wherever they are.
By making an engaging mascot and using social media to push people to go enjoy authentic Mexican street food. By having the website be simple and using “call to action” techniques to create users into customers.
Objective
To create a restaurant without a physical location, also known as a ghost restaurant. These restaurants are only available on food delivery apps, such as Uber Eats and Skip The Dishes.
In my research, I found that 90% of people do not like cooking. The rise of food delivery apps makes it easy for people to order food without bloating the users’ phones.
Having a ghost restaurant will also reduce overhead costs such as staff, delivery drivers, and rent. Even the back end is done by service on the app platform.
Our client wanted to create a restaurant that used these apps and that had little overhead cost.
Executing
Platform
In Canada, there are three leading platforms to sign up on: Uber Eats, Skip The Dishes, and Doordash. There are small platforms such as Ritual and Foodora, but those focused on the big cities and for the growth of the business I chose the big three.
I had to note that each platform had its own rules for starting up. For example, Uber won’t let you have a ghost restaurant without a physical location that has been licensed to sell food. Skip The Dishes was easier to set up but wanted a fixed menu, so signing up or using their API became one of the last things I did. Doordash was the easiest to sign up for but one of the hardest to use their API on our website.
Food
Since the client was focused on selling authentic Mexican street food, my team and I went out and tried various Mexican foods and attended the Toronto Taco Fest. From there I got to see what the competition was selling and saw what was popular. After working with the client's background and seeing what food works well in the Toronto area, the client started crafting a menu for the restaurant.
Website
I wanted the website to focus on the colour of Mexican food. With the graphic design team, we did research on what colours made sense for the website. I made the wireframes and did a mockup for the site, and passed it down to the developer.
The site was simple; it shows you what the client is selling, where to order, and has a comic with the mascot about how he started the company.
I also had to make sure the API for the delivery apps worked smoothly and the SEO was able to drive in customers.
Social Media
Since this restaurant had no physical location, my research showed that the trend was personal on social media. To have the ability for the restaurant to talk to the customers, we created a mascot named Ricky.
