Design Thinking – Edgar Lara

1.- CHALLENGE AND SELECTION: a local cafeteria located in the center of the city  considered among its development plans to expand its menu in order to increase its  profit margin, since it had remained stagnant during the last 2 years; The idea of its  owners was to create a special menu for children as the cafeteria is located relatively  close to two study centers and additionally it was very common for parents to come to  the place with their children. However, for the most part they were companions of their  parents, but they did not consume local products; and the consumption was carried out  in other places in the vicinity.

The problem with this situation was that although the owners had hypotheses about  which dishes may be attractive to children, in the end they were not sure of the  reception they would have once they were on the menu.

Likewise, it was a priority to analyze the viability of the project to start it up, since recent  adaptation and remodeling of the premises to make it more attractive to customers  meant large investments, which is why it was important to increase the level of profit  for stability of the business.

2.- APPLICATION: Considering the antecedents, the generated action plan consisted in  that for a week, the children who enter the premises or who visit the surroundings  would be offered to choose between several selected products and dishes which they  would most like to taste, to then receive feedback on the taste and presentation of it;  and once this information has been compiled, consider which would be the most  selected product (s) and those with the best criticism to add to the menu; Likewise, the  details related to the presentation of the product would be considered to be more  attractive.

3.- INSIGHT & APPROACH: In this way, once the application process has been carried  out and with a minimum investment, it could be defined from the first source, which  with the dishes that will have the highest and lowest output to be considered in their  production plans. Likewise, through the information collected, modifications were  considered regarding the ingredients or preparation; Likewise, through this information  it was possible to define the most attractive presentation for targeted clients and in this  way determine, which would be the dishes to add to the menu; During the course of the  following months, the restaurant increased its profitability, as well as the number of  customers increased, which is why the application of the chosen technique gave the  expected results.

