Updated Mar 1, 2025
Consumer Product Design
Designing Snackpass Kiosk
How solving our app's pausing problem redefined restaurant hospitality and set the company in a new direction.
The pausing problem
In 2019, Snackpass was a social food ordering app going viral on college campuses. The biggest threat to our success? Walk-in customers. Normally orders from our app would mix with those placed at the register, but during a rush, restaurant staff often paused our platform, prioritizing in-line over online guests.
At the height of this issue, over 6,000 orders were paused each month. This not only impacted revenue but also damaged our brand. With every unfulfilled order, we disappointed customers who trusted Snackpass to deliver their food between classes or have their drink ready upon arrival. One-star reviews flooded the app store, stalling our momentum.
Short-staffed, long lines
For restaurants, pausing was a symptom of an underlying condition. Restaurants were putting Snackpass orders on hold not by choice, but out of necessity. With variable demand and labor costs on the rise, kitchens couldn't keep up during peak hours, but hiring wasn't the answer.
Wait of the world
Long lines are a familiar, frustrating guest experience. And as a Snackpass user, when your favorite restaurant was busy, you felt this pain more than walk-ins did. Sometimes your order stayed in limbo; other times, you couldn’t place an order at all as the restaurant staff focused on the line. This broke the magic, convenience, and promise of order ahead and skip the line.
Mission: Unpausable
When asked, ‘How might we incentivize restaurants to keep Snackpass running?‘ it became clear that we needed an in-store solution to replace the restaurant's point of sale. If we could capture walk-in orders on our platform, while also alleviating lines, restaurants would have no reason to pause us.
Opportunity on the big screen
We set out to bring our popular ordering experience to a new form factor. However, if you’ve ever used a self-service machine at an airport or grocery store, you’ve likely felt the cold, impersonal, and transactional nature of kiosks.
Our challenge was clear: design a user-friendly kiosk for in-store customers that not only reduced rush lines but also delivered an exceptional guest experience—ensuring restaurants continued accepting app orders.
Designing with scale, simplicity, delight, customizability, and aesthetics
Working closely with our founder and a small team of engineers, I designed the Snackpass Kiosk: a large-screen tablet that allows guests to browse, order, and pay without the need for a cashier.
Guests could explore the menu in a new light, with large images, detailed descriptions, and easy item customization. The streamlined checkout process reduced wait times, eliminating the need for staff intervention.
In later iterations, we introduced customization options for restaurants, empowering them to showcase their brand with custom colors, flexible layouts, and personalized splash screens.
After observing hundreds of guests, crafting countless Figma prototypes, and collaborating with a product researcher, I fully redesigned the kiosk nearly four years after its initial launch. The refreshed visuals and a new navigation paradigm made ordering even more intuitive, redefining the traditional kiosk experience
Outcome
Kiosk quickly became the top choice on the market, achieving rapid success with boba shops, food trucks, and other quick-serve restaurants. Partners praised its customizability and aesthetics, while customers loved the delightful design and seamless ordering process.
As Kiosk rolled out to stores, pausing decreased by 57%, and it converted 34% of new walk-in customers into loyal app users on average.
Originally designed to complement our app, Kiosk has evolved into a flagship product. It cuts labor costs for hundreds of operators—from traditional QSRs to food trucks—allowing them to shift their workforce to more meaningful and impactful tasks.
A customer places their order on a food truck kiosk.
Delightful simplicity at scale
Our initial hypothesis was straightforward: placing our app on a tablet in the restaurant would capture all customer orders and ensure restaurants kept Snackpass running. In fact, past experiments reflected this approach, with iPads mounted to the deli counter of a late-night sandwich spot.
However, further research found that owners wanted something much bigger. ‘Customers walk right past it,’ said Tom, the owner of the Berkeley boba shop that doubled as our office, gesturing to a competitor’s kiosk tucked into a corner.
At the time, the market offered small tablets, often mounted on flimsy poles. These devices failed to inspire confidence, looked out of place, and were frequently ignored in favor of cashiers.
We needed to go big with a device that still felt at home in a restaurant environment. Working with manufactures, we tested various sizes before landing on a 24-inch display that could catch customers' eyes while fitting in with restaurant interiors.
Tiny tablets or large industrial machines were the only options at the time.
Big screen, huge design challenges
With a display several times larger than the previous iteration, simply resizing the existing home screen UI would have been comical without considering the extra real estate. Switching from a list to a grid layout allowed us to showcase twice as many items at once, while rebalancing elements shifted the focus to photos rather than prices.
Owners appreciated the elevated look, and customers found the menu more scannable, making it easier to find what they wanted. This also minimized the need for scrolling—a cumbersome task on a larger screen—further enhancing the user experience.
A touch of insight
During early explorations, I observed an interesting phenomenon: the larger the screen, the less precise users expected it to be. Positioned at arm’s length—and perhaps influenced by experiences with ATMs and gas station kiosks—users often jabbed at the screen, frequently missing interactive elements. Each missed tap compounded their frustration and reduced accuracy.
To address this, I scaled key UI elements to more comfortable sizes with increased tolerances. Buttons were enlarged to a minimum of 56dp, with core navigation elements reaching up to 96dp. Product cards and other inputs were also given generous dimensions, ensuring every tap hit its intended target.
Recognizing the limitations of the Android keyboard, I designed a dial-pad-style grid of numbers positioned centrally on the screen. This significantly reduced friction when inputting phone numbers, leading to a dramatic improvement in loyalty program conversions.
Snackpass default splash screen animation.
Finding fun in functional
A defining feature of the first Kiosk was the ‘Tap to Order’ screensaver—a playful display of spinning shapes and bright colors that gradually shifted through the hues of the rainbow. While its primary purpose was to prevent screen burn-in, I saw an opportunity to make the Kiosk more approachable, less intimidating, and instantly recognizable.
The hypnotic pattern added a touch of whimsy, drawing customers in and inviting interaction with its clear message. It even became a playful attraction for kids, who turned guessing the next color into a game. This small moment of delight resonated strongly with our core market of boba shops.
The adaptive Action Bar consolidated core UI to the bottom-center of the screen.
Raising the Action Bar
Observing moments where guests struggled to navigate the interface, I designed an entirely new navigation paradigm for the third iteration of Kiosk.
Using Figma, I explored various layouts, tested motion, and ensured accessibility. Collaborating with our product researcher, we gathered feedback to refine and validate the final design.
The result was Action Bar—a responsive component at the bottom of the screen that made core tasks like adding to the cart, checking out, or going back more intuitive and accessible. By placing these functions within easy reach, we eliminated the need for large arm movements to tap the back button or search for the continue button, which previously shifted between the top or bottom right depending on the flow.
Action Bar’s dynamic buttons adapted to the screen’s context, allowing guests to navigate more comfortably and place orders faster. This redesign not only improved usability but also elevated the overall guest experience.
Product customization screen.
Building for every brand
As more restaurants adopted our Kiosk, we began receiving requests for ways to tailor the experience. Owners loved the features, but they wanted the interface to better reflect their brand.
To empower partners to make the Kiosk their own, we introduced enhanced customization controls, allowing them to align the design with their unique identity
Hexadecimal—the ultimate cheat code
With limited team resources, bespoke designs for each brand weren’t feasible. Instead, I focused on solutions that were quick to implement but delivered high impact. One such feature was the ability to customize the color of primary buttons.
Though simple, this little color change made a big difference. Matching a checkout button to a bubblegum pink logo or adopting the lemony hues of a signature drink gave each Kiosk a distinct, branded feel. This personalization made the Kiosk feel unique, strengthening the connection to the brand.
Making waves with custom splash screens
As I mentioned, the default Snackpass screensaver was iconic, recognizable, and even imitated by competitors. However, it also made every Kiosk look identical when idle. Some partners expressed a desire to upload their own content, such as videos from their social media.
This insight transformed Kiosk into a branded billboard. By allowing partners to showcase their unique content and including an optional ‘Tap to Order’ watermark, we ensured the screens remained both functional and personalized. Partners could use any video without sacrificing the clear call to action.
The many faces of Kiosk
The most recent overhaul introduced a stunning Gallery layout, where the UI faded away to spotlight menu content. Larger, elevated tiles gave items a tactile quality, perfect for restaurants with great photos—but challenging for those without.
Initially, I created a fallback system with subtle gray tiles displaying item names, but guests mistook them for sold-out items. Adding category-colored tints helped but only worked well when most menu items had images.
Realizing a one-size-fits-all solution wouldn’t work, I introduced Menu Faces. This feature let restaurants switch between layouts based on their content: Gallery for image-heavy menus, Classic for those with a few images, and Text-only for menus without images. This flexibility ensured every menu looked polished and functional
Side project → Flagship
Four years after its launch, Kiosk—originally built to support our app—has become a flagship product in its own right. We continue to refine it, delivering a seamless and visually stunning guest experience for an ever-growing number of restaurant partners
Customers share their thoughts on the Snackpass Kiosk.
Impact
Employee of every month. Whether up front or mounted on a food truck, Kiosk is a line-busting, order-taking, staff-saving marvel. It has helped restaurants stay open during labor shortages while boosting satisfaction for both employees and guests. Freed from the register, staff can work more efficiently, and long waits are long gone.
So long, long lines. Kiosk brought the speed and simplicity of our app to walk-in orders, making the experience fun and intuitive. A single Kiosk could handle checkout seamlessly without disrupting staff, while adding more units dramatically increased throughput.
With shorter lines and more orders processed through Snackpass, pausing has dropped by 57%, restoring the magic of Snackpass for most app users. We’re now focused on expanding Kiosk to even more locations and environments.
Loyalty on tap. The improved Kiosk not only enhanced the experience for existing app customers but also became a powerful tool for attracting new ones. Its seamless interface converted 34% of walk-ins into loyal app users, creating a valuable guestbook for restaurants to market to. By turning casual visitors into regulars, it boosted repeat business and strengthened customer relationships.
Delight delivered. Ultimately, both customers and partner restaurants shared glowing feedback. Guests found the experience fun and intuitive, while restaurants appreciated the seamless functionality and brand customization. Whether ordering ahead on the app or in-store on the Kiosk, Snackpass became the preferred way to order, combining convenience with delight at every step.
Looking forward
This project pushed me to navigate complex interaction challenges, refining ideas into practical, user-centered solutions. I learned firsthand that designs rarely survive first contact with users, but through iteration and customer insights, we can refine and elevate the experience.
What started as an ambiguous problem became a clear, cohesive vision that not only solved immediate challenges but also influenced the company’s trajectory. We’re now exploring new form factors that could redefine the sit-down dining experience, just as it reshaped quick-serve restaurants.