Zero Degrees Co. / Ongoing project

Streamlining Inventory and Logistics for a Nationwide Quick Service Restaurant

Zero Degrees Company started from humble beginnings as a small family business expanding into a nationwide franchise, providing extraordinary fast-casual dining experiences that resonate with the unique flavors of Vietnamese and Hispanic cultures.

01

Problem /

How can we make inventory and logistics less overwhelming to take on as a nationwide franchise?

02

Users /

Corporate staff, warehousing and franchise owners

03

Goals /

Franchise owners will be able to easily order inventory, track, and communicate with corporate warehouse seamlessly
Reduce expenses involved with warehousing and inventory management
Expand franchise ownership by providing an experience that is easy to manage

04

Team /

CEO, Managing Partners, Warehouse Management, Product Designer (myself), Engineer

Picture This.

As the CEO, you've scaled your small business to a nationwide franchise. Things are going well, but you realize the company is lacking efficiency, spending excess time and money in the warehousing and logistics with subpar results and frustrated franchisee owners. You are still very hands-on and are in search of a system to help automate and track this process.

As a franchise owner, the experience is dated, clunky and time consuming. Your time is valuable and you are always finding ways to operate efficiently and maintain a pleasant experience for your guests.

Our Users in Mind

Research conducted via interviews directly with users that product will directly impact. There are two main parties that will be utilizing this platform. The Franchise Owner (Franchise Stores) and The Warehouse Manager (Corporate Offices).

The Franchise Owner

Sarah is an adventurous spirit with an entrepreneurial flair. Born and raised in Houston, she developed a deep love for her vibrant and culturally rich city. Sarah always had an explorer's heart and an itch for new horizons. This led her to take the bold step of becoming a franchise owner.

Pain Points

Never enough time in the day
Restlessness
Overwhelmed with operational challenges

Goals

Experience a more fulfilling and authentic life
Spend time with their loved ones more often
Take calculated risks and reach financial freedom on own terms

Tech Experience

Low-Moderate, not on the latest apps, iPhone

The Warehouse Manager

Born and raised in a middle-class family in a quiet suburban neighborhood, Brandon’s life has been a tapestry of relatable experiences that mirror the lives of many. He attended the local public school, went on to graduate from a state university, and now works as a warehouse manager at a medium-sized company.

Pain Points

Work environment can be sporadic and chaotic
Time management and having the tools to do his job effectively
Technology and information overload, learning new systems can be overwhelming

Goals

Financial stability and long term savings
Advancing in career and position at company, plans to stay long-term
Having better work-life balance

Tech Experience

Moderate-High, can troubleshoot minor tech issues, loves latest technology and applications

Let's Get to Work!

A harmony of instinctive and functional design that is engaging for users.

Simplified

Easy to implement, easy to train, easy to scale

Efficient Workflow

Saving time means saving money

Visualization

Decluttering information into easy to digest bites

Hypothesis

If inventory tracking, ordering and communicating is simplified and centralized, then it will align with stakeholders desire to operate more efficiently and utilize resources meaningfully to grow their business and acquire more franchisees.

Before

Heavily manual process of working with Google Sheets, pen and paper, emails and text messages. With no clear system for either user to manage, order, track , or communicate; frustrations grow and make the ownership/employee experience daunting.

Challenges / Limitations

Visibility of items in real-time
There could be limited visibility of physical products in a large warehouse, many being in standard cardboard boxes with lack of labels.
Educating users to utilizing new application and SOPs
Franchise owners have gotten used to “just texting” or “emailing” to complete their requests as it has become the “convenient” way for them
Inventory tracking still requires human input
The process won’t be fully automated and still subject to possible human error

After

The solutions iterated went through an agile process due to time limitations. We stayed nimble in the process and worked closely with corresponding teams to address three main features:

Dashbaord

Simplified Dashboard

Access everything under one roof. The company had already integrated Trello into much of their processes, so a Kanban style layout dashboard will help accelerate the learning curve for our users.

Inventory Management

Efficient Inventory Management

For Warehouse Managers

For Franchise Owners

Inventory can be visually difficult to track in a large warehouse. The approach to the inventory dashboard should simplify this process by providing quick access to an overview of all products and easily editable fields for bulk updates, ordering and product details.

Rather than warehouse managers having to search their contact database to identify the correct vendors for each product, it will be linked to the “Order Inventory” button for each product row.

It is important to keep in mind that users are coming from spreadsheets and text messages, therefore the goal is to bring familiar UI but in a less clunky fashion.

The inventory system should be recognizable and applicable for both warehouse managers and franchise owners, with very slight difference in the ordering interface. The franchisee will be able to add to cart in a familiar UI to online shopping.

Franchise Support

Stay Connected & Supported

Often times, conversations could get lost in translation and actually just lost. An integrated messaging system will help both franchisees and corporate managers to communicate effectively and support one another with ease.

A database with all messages will help archive and provide access to important details when recalling topics of discussion.

No more scrolling through iMessage or WhatsApp to reconvene on a conversation or support request

Ongoing Development

Improvements and initial usability testing phases scheduled to deploy in near future as application development progresses