area of opportunity

Initially, my research focused on ways to promote a healthy diet. However, through preliminary user research, I discovered that people's eating habits and happiness were positively impacted when they ate together. As a result, I shifted my focus from what people eat, to how people eat.

Eating together provides an opportunity for human connection, conversation, stress-relief, and relationship building, while also encouraging healthy eating habits.

Unfortunately, barriers like living arrangements and busy schedules can make it challenging for people to eat together. Currently there are no available apps to address this issue.

challenge

How might we build connections with others by uniting people through a shared meal?

Phase 1: Understanding the Problem

research

Studies show the decline of people eating together.

I began to draw from research articles on the topic of eating together. Articles from the Toronto Sun & Globe and Mail, proved that meal time has become a lonely experience for many people. This data further validated my idea:

Loneliness

According to Statistics Canada, a survey done in 2021 revealed that more than 1 in 10 people aged 15+ regularly feel lonely.

This insight allowed me to determine my target demographic — young adults, aged 20 to 28. Further research and interviews helped to understand why this age group is isolated:

Questionnaire

I learned that 75% people regularly eat dinner alone, however of that group 90% prefer to eat with others.

15+ young adults, aged 18 to 28 were interviewed to understand the difficulties that prevented them from regularly eating with others. The following insights were gathered from this user research:

Observation

Participants were asked to write a food diary and track their meals and mood. The following insights were discovered:

triangulation

I triangulated the different forms of research I conducted to find the overlapping themes.

competitor Analysis

I looked into other attempts that have been created to address this problem:

• Supper Clubs, like TXA TXA Club, based in Chicago host monthly themed dinners, but they are costly to attend and require the user to do research to find one in their city.
  
• Other apps, focus solely on dating or the food.
• The YouTube channel, Stranger Kitchens, explored the concept of going door—to—door in London asking the homeowner if they can cook them lunch. Allowing the hosts to build connections over a simple meal.

This informed my decision for Gather — to create a product that allows people to eat simply and eat together.

empathy map

From my interviews, I compiled common themes to gain a better understanding of the user.

The main issues were:

• Participants were living alone for the first time — far from family or in a new city.
  
• Struggling with maintaining a healthy work—life balance.
• Schedule is different than friends and family.
• Missing conversation — someone to talk & laugh with about the day/world events.

Phase 2: Synthesis & Testing

Synthesis

Based on the research, I made a final list of the following features that would be included in the product:

• User can attend or host nearby dinner parties.
  
• Location feature that only shows the user dinner parties set distance around them (ex. 30km).
• User safely – host has ability to approve guests, then the guest can ONLY see their address after approval.
• Promote conversation — by including a message feature in the app & adding question prompts in profiles.
• Food allergies — make sure the host is aware of guests allergies & ask if they can accommodate.

user flow

Attending Flow:

Hosting Flow:

User Testing

Paper Prototype

Insights I gathered during user testing:

• Writing a bio is hard, add question prompts to promote conversation.
  
• Dietary restrictions — add more & make it clear that the user does not have to choose any if not applicable.
• Add a review feature.

Low-Fidelity Prototype

Insights I gathered during user testing:

• Add an approval process.
• Guests can only see the host's address after they have been approved.
• Allergies! Include in the on-boarding process & ask the host if they are able to accommodate.

High-Fidelity Prototype

Insights I gathered during user testing:

• Guest bar does not make sense — find more effective way to display information
• Add chat feature! Follow or friend people on the app.
• Automatically create group-chat with people attending the same dinner party.
• Option to remove RSVP if the user can no longer attend.
• Add confirmation screen.
• Change icons on the navigation bar.

Style Tile

Phase 3: Solution

key features

At a glance.

View dinner parties occurring near you. Filter the results by distance to discover gatherings within the desired proximity. This feature not only enables users to explore new flavours but also provides an opportunity to meet and connect with people in your community.

Host with ease.

Easily create and organize dinner parties. With options to create menus and themes, hosts can specify the number of guests, the number of hours needed to RSVPs to avoid last minute guest, and approval of guests. To ensure safety, hosts maintain control over guest lists, with guests only receiving the address once approved.

Chat with like-minded people.

Send messages to your to other people attending the dinner party from within the app. Create connections before the gathering, that will continue to grow after the initial dinner party.

key Screens

Gather, Meet, Repeat.

Browse nearby dinner parties, sent an RSVP, once approved visit the gathering in the calendar, after approval the user can see the address of the gathering, view other guests attending. Have a conversation in the message function before the gathering, continue the conversation after.

Gather Together

Easily create and organize dinner parties. With options to create menus and themes, hosts can specify the number of guests, the number of hours needed to RSVPs to avoid last minute guest, and approval of guests. To ensure safety, hosts maintain control over guest lists, with guests only receiving the address once approved.

The Onboarding Process

Create your profile, upload a photo, write a bio, answer questions from the prompts. Filter the distance you would travel to attend a gathering and your diet. Gather will only show you dinner parties within those set filters.

Thanks for reading ツ