Peres, MarinaCheang, Ka PuiKa PuiCheang2024-03-252024-03-25202020202020http://library-opac.usj.edu.mo/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=174838&query_desc=kw%2Cwrdl%3A%20MDGhttps://dspace.usj.edu.mo/handle/123456789/4139Menu plays an important role in influencing customer’s choice of food. It is a key to success of restaurants (Antun & Gustafson, 2005). A thoughtful designed menu outlines the marketing strategy of the restaurants and they are representation of the brand. Due to the importance of menu, service operators seek for advanced, cost effective ways to stand out from the competition. Digital menu boards and traditional manual ordering platform are actively practice in the current market. Despite the fact that they are cost effective way to offer their services, there are drawbacks and improvements should be made to the current practices. Some of the problems in the current practice include inefficiency of manual food court ordering during peak hours, language barrier and lack of knowledge of local store information and cuisine for foreigners; and usage mistakes of digital menu boards by food court operators. Owing to these limitations, this study aims to find out effective ways to create a more enjoyable food experience for customers by understanding the food court ordering process in all aspect. Understanding consumer behavior has long been an important area of research and a foundation of product development. In this study, insights are identified for people going to food court and to develop an effective ordering system that solve the problems of the current ordering method. In total, 27 participants who have been to food court and are active smartphone users from generation x (people who was born between 1961-1981) (Miller, 2011) and generation y (people who was born between 1982-2001) (Elwood, 2008) were recruited in the interview. Empathy maps are created for each participants with the aim to increase engagements with people. It provides a clear illustration of user attitudes, pain and gain points, as well as their response and behaviors in a food court. With the help of the asymmetric clustering matrix tool as developed by Kumar, V. (2012), insights from the researches were identified. There are 8 primary clusters: they are efficiency, accessibility, food variety, entertainment, socialization, environment quality (comfort and leisure), service quality and monetary benefits. Through further analysis, three higher-level clusters on how customers values food court offerings are identified as conveniency, quality of life (freedom of choice, right to entertainment and socialization) and standard of living (environment quality, service quality and affordability). These insights are important inputs to develop the app. Three personas with different needs are formed to better understand the intended users of the app. The user’s experience journey for each persona is also developed to visualize the process to accomplish their goal in the food court. Ideas for improving the ordering process are collected to be included in developing the prototype. Finally, FeastAR is built with the aim to provide a convenient way to eat and to discover the fun augmented reality (AR) experience. Besides offering convenience and efficiency, it is also built to reduce the costs in a food ordering and delivery process. FeastAR is built for used in food court inside a shopping mall, resort or universities, where space is limited. The main features of the app include online food ordering, to scan and order the food at each food counter with AR, search results based on user’s food preferences, order tracking and to write food reviews with AR. Unlike other online food ordering platform, FeastAR gives user the flexibility to enjoy food ordering and dining experience by interacting with the AR objects inside the food court. The prototype of FeastAR is built and tested by individual users. It reveals that majority of the respondents welcomed new technologies and they generally believe that technologies can improve control, flexibility and efficiency in their lives. The business possibilities of this app are endless. As technology progresses, FeastAR will be more accessible to the public. The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic will also likely to speed up the growth of technology as more touchless options and less face-to-face interactions will be favoured by customers. Service operators could also make use of the technologies to provide more customized service or to encourage promotion of new items based on customers’ preferences. They will be able to devote more time to deliver better quality of food and services.enUniversity of Saint JosephThesis and Dissertations Master of Design (MDG)Augmented Reality MenuMaster Thesis