// 0 to 1 Product
Mealee — Kitchen Order Taking App
Mealee is a kitchen order taking (KOT) app for Android, designed from the ground up for restaurants and hotels. Built from Jun 2020 to Jan 2021, it replaces paper KOT slips with a fast, role-aware digital system — covering order taking, menu management, kitchen tracking, and sales reporting. Launched in January 2021, it was adopted by 4 hotels in its first rollout phase.
Role
UX/UI Designer
Duration
Jun 2020 – Jan 2021
Team
UX Designer (solo), Frontend Developer, Backend Developer
// Challenges
- >Restaurants relied on disconnected tools and manual processes — no unified solution for orders, billing, inventory, and staff roles
- >Kitchen environments are fast-paced and loud — staff need minimal-tap, high-visibility interfaces
- >Waiters and cashiers needed fast KOT generation without training overhead
- >Menu varies per restaurant — no one-size-fits-all item structure
- >Hotel managers needed quick access to daily sales reports without digging through paperwork
- >Role-based access required — kitchen staff, cashiers, and hotel managers all have different needs
// Solutions
- >KOT interface: minimal tap design optimised for speed in fast-paced kitchen environments
- >Custom Menu Management: add/remove dishes, variants, and pricing per restaurant — fully configurable
- >Order Tracking: real-time status updates from kitchen to cashier with clear state indicators
- >Sales Report Generation: simple daily/weekly summary screens accessible to owners and admins
- >Role-based access: separate flows for kitchen staff, cashiers, and hotel managers
- >Sauce-theme visual identity: warm, food-oriented palette with a consistent style guide across all screens
// Process
Discovery & Research
On-site interviews and observations with hotel owners, cashiers, and waiters — identified pain points in daily order workflows and manual KOT processes
Ideation & Wireframing
Team brainstorming to align technical feasibility with user expectations; paper wireframes covering all key flows — KOT, menu editing, order tracking, and reports
Visual Design & Style Guide
Designed the 'sauce theme' visual identity — warm food-oriented palette, typography, icon system, and component behaviour documented in a full style guide
Prototype & Usability Testing
Interactive prototype demos with real users (owners, cashiers, waiters) — iterated on fast input flows, added table numbers to reduce order errors, improved contrast for low-light kitchens
Delivery & Launch
Delivered Android app in January 2021 — adopted by 4 hotels in the first rollout phase, with continued design iterations post-launch
// Key Decision
Design a kitchen order system that non-technical restaurant staff — waiters, cashiers, and kitchen cooks — could pick up and use immediately in a high-pressure environment
Conducted on-site research in real kitchens before designing a single screen — observed the actual chaos of paper KOT slips, missed orders, and manual billing to ground every design decision in the real workflow
Launched on Android in January 2021, adopted by 4 hotels in the first rollout — waiters and cashiers specifically praised the order speed and reduction in errors
// Outcomes
Launched on Android — January 2021
Adopted by 4 hotels in the first rollout phase
Positive usability feedback from waiters and cashiers on order speed and error reduction
First end-to-end product ownership — from field research to shipped app
// Screens & Design
Paper wireframes — mapping all key flows before going digital
Style guide — sauce theme colour palette, typography, and components
Splash Screen
Login Screen
Home Screen
Create Menu Screen
Take Order Screen
Edit Menu Screen
Add Order Screen
Edit Table Screen
Navigation Screen
Pending Order Screen
Complete Order Screen
All Orders Screen
Sales Report Summary
Settings Screen
// Reflection
Mealee was my first full product design ownership. From on-site kitchen research to Android launch, I learned how to translate messy real-world workflows into a product people actually wanted to use. Watching a waiter pick it up for the first time without any instruction — and get it right — was the most concrete design validation I'd had up to that point.