My Role
: Product Strategy & Service Design
Collaborators
: UX Researchers (2No.s)
UX Designers (3 Nos.)
My Responsibility – Product Strategy
- Secondary Research
- Conducting User Interviews
- Synthesizing customer insights
- Defining Service Concept
- Validating Service Concept
- Business Model Canvas
- Service Blueprint
- Pitch at Barcelona Design Week
UX Researcher
- Research Plan & Methods
- Recruiting Candidates
- Documentation
- Interview Scripts
- Synthesizing customer insights
- Defining Service Concept
UX Designers
- Synthesizing customer insights
- Defining Service Concept
- User Interface Design
- Defining Visual Language
- UX Design
- Presentations
- Reports and Videos
Contact
- email@domain.com
Challenge
: Phillips & IBM – Service Design Challange
Result
: Top 8 out of 90 worldwide entries
Duration
: 5 months
THE PROCESS
PROBLEM OVERVIEW
The food system is currently built on an extractive paradigm that depletes natural resources, pollutes the environment, and creates massive amounts of waste.
Restaurants in Pittsburgh alone produce close to 27 million tonnes of food waste. Most of this food currently ends up in landfills despite the presence various of local waste-managing organizations.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Due to resource scarcity, population increase, and environmental unpredictability connected to climate change and global warming, restaurants, NGO, and government organizations are looking at circular economies for the answer. However, each narrowly focuses on its own mission and business and, due to a lack of sharing infrastructure, they miss opportunities to join forces, optimize resources, and leverage each others' capabilities.
" How might we make resource sharing a valuable pathway for
stakeholders in food service industry? "
SERVICE SOLUTION
Recowa is a matchmaking service that connects producers of waste to consumers (waste diverters and transformers) in the local ecosystem to prevent food from ending up in landfills.
The matches are personalized and actionable, ensuring that using recowa is the most effective and least resistant pathway to managing generated waste.
Onboarding
The on-boarding process educates
the users on how the service works.
Waste Profile
Each stakeholder has a profile that collects and provides data insight on waste collection status.
1. IDENTIFY & EXPLORE – opportunities in food value system
SECONDARY RESEARCH – the global impact
Every year, 1.3 billion tons of food ends up in landfills, not only causing financial loss, but also contributing to 10% of global emissions.
SECONDARY RESEARCH – stages in food value system
Food is wasted at different stages along the entire food value system, with levels of preparation and consumption seeing the most waste.
SECONDARY RESEARCH – the impact of restaurants
Restaurants produce the second-highest food waste at consumer levels, in Pittsburgh alone its around 75 thousand kilos per year.
SYSTEM MAPPING – how is food getting wasted, who are the actors?
FINDINGS – existing solutions in Pittsburgh
From food rescue groups (Food 412) that harness
the power of technology to match food donors and communities tackle food loss and waste.
These organizations operate in silos, some overlapping and some tackling a specific node in the ecosystem.
EXPERT INTERVIEWS – speaking with the organizations (5nos.)
INSIGHTS
FINDING 01
There are many organizations tackling food waste in Pittsburgh from food rescue organizations to food banks to compost.
INSIGHT 01
- The problem is not a lack of solutions but that they are not interconnected and operating in silos.
FOOD RECOVERY IS PATCHY
- Currently there is intervention at consumption level, and there are earlier stages with untapped potential.
Step 3: Granting of sustainability credits for waste diversion,
which can be used for discounts on sustainably sourced products on the recowa Marketplace.
OPPORTUNITY GAP – informed by insights generated
" HMW create a sustainable service that supports locally available solutions to share resources and build a capacity to reduce food waste across the food value chain? "
2. EMPATHIZE & DISCOVER - understand the stakeholders in food recovery
STAKEHOLDER INTERVIEWS, CONTEXTUAL INQUIRY & ONLINE SURVEYS – potential area of intervention
Restaurants – 14 No.s
Food Recovery Organizations – 18 Nos.
Online Survey – 14 No.s
STAKEHOLDERS RELATIONAL MAPPING – understand how they function
Mapping out the potential relationships between different food groups within the ecosystem.
FOOD RECOVERY MAP – where have the organizations missed?
Journey of food and exploring current partnerships and opportunity gaps at different stages of food value chain.
FOOD RECOVERY STAKEHOLDER VALUE MAPPING
We identified three overarching values profit, people and planet as the main motivators for each of the stakeholders we spoke to.
When then mapped the values to locate ways organizations could collaborate based on shared values.
INSIGHTS & OPPURTUNITIES
INSIGHT 01
ORGANIZATION WORK IN SILOS
Due to their individual business goals. they
- miss opportunity to join forces.
INSIGHT 02
LACK OF AWARENESS
Restaurants are less aware of different organizations that align with their motivations.
INSIGHT 03
FOCUS ONLY ON POST-FOOD CONSUMPTION
No comprehensive solution exists and there is untapped potential in pre-consumption and other stages.
INSIGHT 04
RESTAURANTS FOCUS ON THE MONETARY OF WASTE
However, the existing systems are expensive. lean path for tracking. food diversion cost 500$.
OPPORTUNITY 01
SHARED INFRASTRUCTURE
Provide a collaborative platform – An online platform.
Matchmaking process based on their needs.
OPPURTUNITY 02
SPREAD AWARENESS
Spread awareness and make their presence. Increase business by engaging with the platform.
OPPORTUNITY 03
VALUE ACROSS VALUE CHAIN
Waste producers find value across all stages of the value chain, and connect with the appropriate organizations.
OPPORTUNITY 04
TAX & DIVERSION FEES REDUCTION
Waste diversion fees are now lower with more producers on board and consolidated waste collection points. They can gain tax deduction and sustainability credits.
4. IDEATE & DEVELOP
BRAINSTORMING – CREATIVE MATRIX, MIND MAPPING & AFFINITY MAPPING
OPPORTUNITY STATEMENT
" How might we make resource sharing a
valuable pathway
for stakeholders in food service industry? "
PERCEPTION OF VALUES
Stakeholders across the food value chain each have different missions, structures, and restrictions that tie them to different values.
MATCHING VALUES
- Not only do stakeholders value different things,
- they also prioritize them differently.
- Step 2: Matchmaking on recowa to find the most suitable pathway-based for waste based on the food recovery pyramid.
Step 3: Granting of sustainability credits for waste diversion,
which can be used for discounts on sustainably sourced products on the recowa Marketplace.
DEFINING SERVICE CONCEPT
RECOWA
A matchmaking service that connects producers of waste to consumers (waste diverters and transformers) in the local ecosystem to prevent food from ending up in landfills.
The matches are personalized and actionable, ensuring that using recowa is the most effective and least resistant pathway to managing generated waste.
CUSTOMER SEGMENTATION
VALUE PROPOSITION
WORK TOGETHER – SHARED INFRASTRUCTURE
- Waste producers and consumers now work hand in hand through a
- matchmaking process based on their needs. Together, they are able to meet their business and sustainability goals.
VALUE ACROSS FOOD VALUE CHAIN
- Waste producers now find value in food across all stages of the value chain (even when it’s no longer consumable by guests at their restaurant).
FOOD RECOVERY IS NO LONGER EXPENSIVE
Waste diversion fees are now lower with more producers on board and
consolidated waste collection points.
PLATFORM TO PROMOTE BUSINESS
Producers also directly
benefit through tax deductions as well as through increased business by engaging
with the platform.
SERVICE COMPONENTS – features that make the service
01. Matchmaking
The algorithm considers stakeholders in four different user categories and finds the easiest way to divert waste in three simple steps:
- Step 1: Waste Profiling for waste producers and managers
- Step 2: Matchmaking on Recowa to find the most suitable pathway-based for waste based on the food recovery pyramid.
Step 3: Granting of sustainability credits for waste diversion,
which can be used for discounts on sustainably sourced products on the Recowa Marketplace.
02. Waste Profile
Restaurants largely generate three kinds of waste:
Pre-consumer waste: Vegetable peels, heads, meat snipping, etc.
Post-consumer waste: Plate waste and food that is prepared but not sold.
Waste for singular attention: such as oyster shells, used cooking oil, etc.
03. Marketplace
The Recowa marketplace is where food waste is redefined. The products available here are sustainably sourced and regularly used by restaurants like soaps made from used cooking oil and biodegradable packaging for takeaways.
SERVICE MAPPING – how components connect
CUSTOMER FEEDBACK – validating service concept
"I'm really excited about what you're doing;
I think it's a great idea.
I encourage you to keep pushing forward with it!"
- VP of Retail Operations, Millie's Homemade Ice Cream
4. IDEATE & DEVELOP
SERVICE WORKING
With three easy steps and just a few minutes, restaurants are matched with the right waste to be collected and transformed.
Onboarding
The on-boarding process educates
the users on how the service works.
Waste Profile
Each stakeholder has a profile that collects and provides data insight on waste collection status.
PRODUCT DEMO – point of view of restaurant owners
SERVICE BLUEPRINT – relation between service components
BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS – business viability
IMPACT
01. PHILIPS X IBM SERVICE DESIGN CHALLENGE
Top 8 out of 90 worldwide entries.
02. BARCELONA DESIGN WEEK
- Top 12 selected entries to pitch at the Dragon’s Den.
03. DESIGN FOR AMERICA
- Collaboration to bring the idea to reality – MVP.
Contact
- email@domain.com
04. JURY STATEMENT
“Recowa deserves special recognition for using the principles of service design to orchestrate a complex and scalable value exchange between a diverse set of B2B ecosystem partners.
Their Recowa platform concept and demo showcase how user-centered design, systems thinking, and technology can help companies do well by doing good.”
