Brick Oven Bus

A responsive website and visual redesign for a local food truck in Minnesota.

Project Type: End-to-end responsive website redesign + branding
Roles: Sole UX/UI designer + UX researcher + brand designer
Industry: Pizza, Food Truck
Tools: Figma, FigJam, Miro, Zoom, Google Sheets

DISCOVER

What is the Brick Oven Bus?

Brick Oven Bus, a local food truck in Minnesota's suburbs, has ingeniously converted their bus into a brick oven, crafting fresh dough pizzas on the go.

With four trucks, they cater to breweries, private events, schools, churches, markets, and public gatherings. Their menu showcases brick oven pizzas with bold tomato sauce, capturing authentic flavors that redefine street food.

EMPATHIZE
Competitive Analysis | Secondary Research | Interviews

Food Truck Industry

The food truck industry is growing rapidly at 7.9% per year, showing high demand for mobile food experiences and changing customer preferences.

What makes a food truck successful?

Competition is high. As more food trucks pop up, standing out with a unique brand and exceptional experiences is key to attracting and keeping customers. 

Reaching the audience. Websites help reach more people, share their story, menu, and events! Having a digital presence can help food trucks show their offerings, gain loyal customers, and reach more people as the industry grows.

Motivations for starting a food truck...

Food trucks serve varied goals, from testing the market to expanding catering services, requiring tailored strategies for each business. 

The food truck industry is flexible, allowing businesses to adapt based on their goals and resources.

Pizzaria / Restaurants / Food Trucks

Getting to know our competitors

I compared websites evaluating direct competitors in the food truck and pizza business, as well as broader players in the food industry, including restaurants and catering services. Additionally, I explored third-party influencers like breweries, fairs, and events that actively promote food trucks. My primary focus was assessing how they communicate their services and the user-friendly features they offer.

Main components for food truck websites

• Menu
• Merchandise
• Online ordering
• Booking services
• Links to social media
• Background / story / about section

User-friendly Features:

Food trucks, like the Parlour Bar (also an established restaurant), often offered calendars that showcased a schedule of what food trucks were offered each day. 

Third Party Navigation:

Breweries, like Back Channel Brewing, usually promoted food trucks on their events page and included a website & contact information.

Anaylizing Brick Oven Buses' current website layout & identifying opportunities based off research findings.

Concept Highlight

Creative bus-to-brick-oven concept needs better website representation to capture its uniqueness effectively.

Story Enhancement

Utilize fresh ingredients to craft a compelling brand story on the website, strengthening customer connections.

Interactive Booking

The existing Google Calendar lacks interactivity for booking the food truck. It redirects users away from the website, featuring an outdated, less user-friendly appearance.

Social Media Focus

Current emphasis on social media for news and events. Opportunity to expand through a dedicated website for broader reach and engagement.

Menu Improvement

Menu lacks transparency on dietary restrictions and substitutions. Enhancing this aspect can enhance the overall dining experience.

Interviews

I interviewed 5 people who have interacted with food trucks with varying demographics, and motivations. I conducted 3 interviews via zoom, 1 via phone call, and 1 in-person. 

Expected outcomes:

• Gain insights into user spending on food trucks for profit analysis.
  
• Understand booking behavior.
  
• Identify website interaction and user search patterns.
  
• Discover trends in foot traffic on food truck sites.
  
• Explore and grasp customer preferences for service tailoring.
• Discover location tracking and event awareness during user search.

DEFINE

SYNTHESIZING RESEARCH
Affinity Mapping | Personas | HMW | POV Statements

Understand how users interact with food trucks & identify pain points.

Search Preferences

• 3/5 users proactively search food truck menus in advance.
  
• 4/5 users find food truck websites through third-party websites that host events.
  

Important Features

• 4/5 users said location awareness is crucial, emphasizing the need to know where the food truck is located.
  

• 4/5 users make comparisons between food trucks and other competitors primarily based on the quality of food offered.
  
• 3/5 users express trust in a food truck when they are assured that safety and health codes are consistently followed.

• 3/5 users prioritize checking food truck menus for dietary restriction information as a decisive factor in choosing to eat there.

  FUN FACT: About 30% of Americans deliberately avoid gluten. Gluten-free dishes now appear on 26% of US restaurant menus. Gluten intolerance has around 200 potential symptoms. Between 1% and 13% of people have non-celiac gluten sensitivity

How might we connect users to our website who are entering the site through a third party?

 How might we make the location clear to users?

How might we make dietary substitutions known to customers quickly so they don't lose interest?

Based off of interviews, I created three personas to represent the Brick Oven Bus customers and align my design decisions with their goals and needs. 

The High School Grad 

Christina

Age 18 | Minneapolis, MN

A high school senior who is looking to have a food truck at her grad party in the upcoming spring. 

Goals
Create a unique experience for her friends and family

Needs
Affordable options
Convenience
Good quality of food

Pain Points
Budget constraints
Party logistics
Limited Space

The Brew Enthusiast

Brad

Age 40 | Minneapolis, MN

Brad has a love for craft beers and local breweries. He's a regular at various breweries, always seeking new flavors and unique beer experiences. He often likes to order a snack from a local food truck to pair with his beer. 

Goals
Order a tasty snack that pairs well a beer

Needs
Social media sharing
Taste adventure
Pairing Perfection

Pain Points
Long lines
Food intolerances

The Foodie

Chase

Age 27 | Minneapolis, MN

A social media guru who loves to keep track of the tasty foods he discovers at restaurants and food trucks. He is on a quest to find unique and memorable menu items to share with his friends and followers. 

Goals
Support a local food truck 

Needs
Social media sharing
Taste adventure

Pain Points
Location inaccurate or difficult to find

DEVELOP

IDEA GENERATION
Prioritization | Information Architecture | User Flows | LoFi Sketch

Private Event vs. Public Event

Depending on the user's need's and motivations, the user will follow different flows to discover Brick Oven Bus' website. 

Here is how someone who typically sees food trucks at a public event, such as a brewery or festival, might discover a food truck website:

Here is how someone who typically sees food trucks at a private event, such as a grad party, might discover a food truck website:

In both flows, it is common to discover the food truck through a third party site.

Information Architecture

Current Site Map

Most touch points direct the user to a different site, drawing their focus away from Brick Oven Bus' website. 

Proposed Site Map

Creating an engaging site for customers and keeping their attention on the Brick Oven Bus' website with every click! Keeping all the information for the user on one website. 

By keeping more information and tasks such as booking, contact, and a social media preview on the Brick Oven Bus website, we are able to keep the users attention and engagement focused on the food truck. 

LoFi Ideation

Exploring layouts, grouping pizza styles, creating actions that make users want to venture throughout the site. 

User Testing

Checking in with the users to see if the flows are working & user is engaged with the website.

Insights

5/5 users clicked on menu first
2/5 users asked about gluten-free dough vs. crust
2/5 users asked about multiple classic pizzas
4/5 were inclined to scroll instead of swipe
2/5 users wanted to know drink prices

BRAND DEVELOPMENT
Mood | Typography | Photography

Typography

Bitter

I chose Bitter for the brand's typeface because of it's combination of kid-friendly curves and serifs, along with its elevated look, to effectively convey a family-friendly atmosphere while also showcasing specialty pizza offerings.

Type pairing: Raleway

Incorporating Photography

Because the Brick Oven Bus has so many unique features on the converted bus, it's important to showcase those features through photography. 

DELIVER

INTERACTION DESIGN
Feedback | Iteration | HiFi Prototypes

Feedback & Iteration

Priority Revisions

1. "Gluten free dough" to "gluten free crust"
2. Organizing the classes of pizza "classic vs. pizza of the day"
3. Adding directional cues with booking

HiFi Wireframes

How does the responsive website redesign address user needs?

The Problem

Brick Oven Bus' website was outdated and multiple features were directing users to other sites and disengaging the user's attention. The creative concept of the converted bus was poorly represented and main features like the menu were lacking sufficient information and selling points. 

The Solution

A responsive website offering a location & booking feature, sufficient menu and dietary information, and an engaging story line without redirecting users to other sites overall increasing user's attention and focus on the food truck. 

Desktop Prototype

Next Steps

1. Social media campaigns to increase user traction.
   
   
2. Collaborations with companies to build brand identity and expose the Brick Oven Bus name to the local community.

Key Takeaways

1. Focus on the "why", not the "what". By focusing on the why, I was able to understand what users actually wanted vs. what they think they wanted. 
   
   
2. Creating low fi prototypes saves a lot of time! Even a quick sketch of a flow can be helpful to see if the architecture makes sense to the user. 

LifeTime Fitness

Adding a new feature