Project Overview
Hungry Mart is a food ordering mobile app on iOS and Android. The product suite includes an in-store self-ordering iPad app and an iPhone app for restaurant staff. The app enables restaurant owners to attract new customers and manage orders with ease.
Hungry Mart's focus is on connecting people to local eateries; good, wholesome take-away dishes, home-delivered meals and neighbourhood restaurants.
Project Commissioner
Myali Group
Project Creator
Dapper Apps
Team
Account Manager: Gwendolyn Ong
Designer: Ryan Liu
Development Team: Dapper Apps
Project Brief
The team behind Hungry Mart wanted to help the small restaurants become competitive through a clever suite of apps. The core focus was on getting these restaurants on a digital platform (replacing outdated POS systems), giving them new marketing tools, improving their operational processes and remaining simple-to-use.
On the customer side, the founders have a passion for local flavours, and were seeking ways to bring this to people. Tasty, fresh, delicious food at affordable prices.
The original brief for Hungry Mart was to allow customers to order from local Chinese restaurants, but this has since expanded to all cuisines.
There were 3 facets required:
Customer iOS & Android app - so customers can order takeaway, pick-up meals, access special offers and pay through the app. They also needed to be kept informed of the status of their order.
In-store self-ordering app - the purpose of the in-store iPad app is to accept orders from customers on-premise. Be that at their table or at the counter.
Staff iPhone app - the restaurant staff need the ability to receive, accept and print orders (linked to Hungry Mart printers).
All of this is linked up to an intuitive management portal and an intelligent loyalty program that encourages multi-level engagement with users.
Project Need
There are large players in the food delivery space such as UberEats and Deliveroo for example, however Hungry Mart plays in a space that the giants don't - truly local, independent restaurants and combined with seamless, integrated in-store technology.
Current food ordering apps use a separate printer to accepts orders, whereas Hungry Mart allows all staff to be able to accept/manage their orders from their own mobile phone.
This means they can accept orders even without being on premise, giving HM the advantage of quicker response times than their competitors. Competitors’s printers are installed in the restaurant and will continue beeping until someone accepts the order. Without Hungry Mart, the customer will only get confirmation when their order is accepted, meaning that they’ll have to wait if they ordered outside of opening hours.
Order tickets are printed in a logical format, and can be actioned instantly through the app.
The in-store iPad app allows customers to place their orders themselves for dine-in or takeaway purposes. It works for any restaurant, and is fully customisable with branding, discounts and more.
The rewards system is unique to competitor in-store rewards apps, letting users apply credits from their own phone (they don't have to be physically present to scan a code).
Hungry Mart also now lets you make a reservation at a restaurant, which automatically comes through to the restaurant owner/staff app.
User Experience
The customer app opens with a tutorial, letting users clearly understand how the app works and how to engage with their friends by sharing their referral code, earning credits and more. The app is as simple as search, select and submit.
Restaurant options can be sorted by cuisine, location (postcode, suburb or current location) or order type (delivery, pick-up, dine-in).
The user is able to clearly view available restaurants, menu items, specials, customisation options and make payments securely through the app. Each food item includes images (if supplied by the restaurant) making it visually easy to follow. They are also kept informed of their status of meals.
On the restaurant side, customers can place their order at the counter, or iPad menus can be introduced at the tables too; a level of professionalism previously reserved for franchises or high-end restaurants with big budgets.
The staff app receives push notifications anywhere at anytime when a new order is received. Staff can accept an order with the tap of a button, which talks back to the in-store printer, generating a cleverly-organised ticket ready for the chef. Receive > accept > print! It's seamless!
Project Marketing
The client has gone with door-to-door sales to get restaurants on board which has been very successful so far. A beautiful marketing website was also created to explain how HM works and printed material has been produced for both owners and customers.
Hungry Mart have recently employed a social media manager to build the brand and create ground swell. The intent is to keep building this up on an ongoing basis and engaging in digital advertising.
Hungry Mart also users a powerful 4-tiered referral system within the app, encouraging users to refer friends to a particular restaurant. This means the potential for return to an initial referrer is huge! Anytime a restaurant has a happy customer, they bring a lot more with them. It provides an effortless advertising cycle not just for Hungry Mart, but importantly offers a marketing opportunity for the restaurants too.
The system is commission-free, being a much more affordable and therefore attractive option for small business owners. Instead they charge just a small daily fee which means restaurants don't have to give up a large percentage of their revenue and can plan their expenses with certainty. This has been well received and has meant a high uptake with business customers.
Hungry Mart's focus is on low-cost, organic and viral growth, which to date has been very advantageous.
Project Privacy
The suite of apps are hosted using a secure Amazon Web Services server, keeping data secure.
A third-party payment provider, Stripe, has been used to ensure best security practices are also met in this regard.
Using TLS, traffic between the client and the server is verified and encrypted. It verifies that the owner of the domain and the owner of the server are the same entity, preventing attacks. Hungry Mart are also compliant with the PCI Data Security Standards.
The only card data returned is non-sensitive including card type, the last four digits of the card and the expiry date.
2017 TECH Design Awards
Food Tech
What, where and how we eat and drink is an important element of culture and who we are. Tech gets this and connects people with the food and drink that they're looking for. This category rewards tech such ordering platforms as well hospitality reviews and guides.
More Details
