Restaurant OS · YC-Backed · Business-to-Business-to-Consumer
Explorex
Scaling a Founder-Built Point-of-Sale (POS) into a robust Restaurant Operating System.
Scaling a Founder-Built Point-of-Sale (POS) into a robust Restaurant Operating System.
As the first and lead designer in a 4-person product pod, I designed the complete user experience across all five product surfaces — from the merchant POS to the consumer loyalty app — delivering high-fidelity prototypes, a token-based design system, and interaction logic that engineering built directly from. Field research at partner venues was my primary method: peak-hour observation translated into measurable reductions in onboarding time, support tickets, and End-of-Day (EOD) reconciliation effort.
I owned the complete UX architecture across five core product surfaces: Bridge Mobile Point-of-Sale (MPOS), Partner Backend, Kitchen Display System (KDS), QR Ordering, and the Elite consumer app. I translated the extreme operational complexity of high-volume restaurants into highly scalable, cohesive digital workflows.
I conducted deep contextual field visits implementation shadowing and peak hour observation at partner venues. This research was not a design phase it was the strategic foundation used to strictly measure and reduce the cognitive load our interfaces imposed during live service.
I produced high-fidelity prototypes, comprehensive user flows, and cohort maps that closed the gap between product requirements and the engineering source of truth. I embedded complex operational rules — dynamic discount logic, tax calculations, and pricing tiers — directly into the design architecture so engineering built from specification, not interpretation.
I built a scalable component library using a token-based architecture from a blank canvas. This became the definitive visual and interaction language across all five core product surfaces, fundamentally accelerating engineering velocity and enabling rapid platform scaling across new restaurant partners.
I owned the complete UX architecture across five core product surfaces: Bridge Mobile Point-of-Sale (MPOS), Partner Backend, Kitchen Display System (KDS), QR Ordering, and the Elite consumer app. I translated the extreme operational complexity of high-volume restaurants into highly scalable, cohesive digital workflows.
I conducted deep contextual field visits implementation shadowing and peak hour observation at partner venues. This research was not a design phase it was the strategic foundation used to strictly measure and reduce the cognitive load our interfaces imposed during live service.
I produced high-fidelity prototypes, comprehensive user flows, and cohort maps that closed the gap between product requirements and the engineering source of truth. I embedded complex operational rules — dynamic discount logic, tax calculations, and pricing tiers — directly into the design architecture so engineering built from specification, not interpretation.
I built a scalable component library using a token-based architecture from a blank canvas. This became the definitive visual and interaction language across all five core product surfaces, fundamentally accelerating engineering velocity and enabling rapid platform scaling.
Follow the money through a scaling venue's operations. Revenue enters healthy — then leaks at three joints. None is individually fatal. At volume, the combination is.
The Version 1 system hit a hard ceiling against enterprise requirements. Scaling to major metros demanded a comprehensive financial operating system — not a basic POS with a menu bolted on. I defined the scope gap and drove the case for the V2 platform architecture.
Four parallel research tracks ran before a single screen was designed — embedded with post-sales and implementation teams, observing live onboarding at partner venues.
In a high-pressure hospitality environment, the interface that demands the least attention wins. I designed around that constraint from the first frame — every additional tap is a direct training cost and a live service risk.
Transformed desktop and Mobile Point-of-Sale (MPOS) systems to proactively guide staff. Shifted the interface from static data entry to a predictive visual first engine to accelerate service delivery.
Eliminated service bottlenecks by enabling instant frictionless ordering. Built an acquisition pipeline that captures impulse revenue without requiring an initial app download.
Engineered a unified consumer platform designed to drive high margin footfall, increase average order value, and build long term customer loyalty.
Designed a decentralised operating system that gives local teams full operational independence — covering franchise onboarding, daily workflows, and large-scale event logistics without requiring central IT support on every action.
Designed automated accounting and inventory workflows that eliminated manual data entry, secured profit margins at the ingredient level, and connected back-of-house procurement directly to front-of-house revenue reporting.
Designed the operational hardware layer — FOH event entry and KDS — to handle high-traffic edge cases and physically demanding environments without service interruption.
Transformed desktop and mobile POS systems to proactively guide staff. Shifted the interface from static data entry to a predictive visual first engine to accelerate service delivery.
Eliminated service bottlenecks by enabling instant frictionless ordering. Built an acquisition pipeline that captures impulse revenue without requiring an initial app download.
Engineered a unified consumer platform designed to drive high margin footfall, increase average order value, and build long term customer loyalty.
Designed a decentralised operating system that gives local teams full operational independence — covering franchise onboarding, daily workflows, and large-scale event logistics without requiring central IT support on every action.
Designed automated accounting and inventory workflows that eliminated manual data entry, secured profit margins at the ingredient level, and connected back-of-house procurement directly to front-of-house revenue reporting.
Designed the operational hardware layer — FOH event entry and KDS — to handle high-traffic edge cases and physically demanding environments without service interruption.
Lessons from the designer seat: my critical insights on product viability, resource allocation, and the true business cost of building the wrong thing.
We built a granular ingredient-level tracking layer — technically flawless, commercially irrelevant. Zero adoption. The setup demand was unsustainable for hospitality staff already running at capacity. I shipped something nobody could maintain.
An 18-month backend overhaul monopolised the entire engineering team. The consumer ecosystem — our highest-growth surface — sat frozen while we waited on infrastructure. I watched a commercial window close because a technical rebuild had no phased deployment strategy.
Enterprise software mandated from the top fails without the people executing it. I pushed workflows that solved management problems onto floor staff running a live service. Adoption was poor. The software was right. The rollout strategy was wrong.
WHAT'S NEXT
Close to three years of building restaurant infrastructure that shipped and scaled. The architecture decisions, the field research, and the trade-offs are best explored in a live conversation.