Cactus
The Problem
Meet Lisa, a stay at home mom out for a rare night of drinks and appetizers with her friends. She is feeling adventurous this evening and wants to try one of the establishment's specialty cocktails rather than go for her usual pinot grigio. She asks her bartender (that’s me) to make her my personal favorite drink. This happens to be a scratch margarita made with Del Maguey Vida mezcal, fresh muddled jalapeno, and a taijin salt rim. Lisa bravely takes a huge gulp and immediately regrets it. She dislikes everything about this drink.
Goal To have a good time with her friends and try something new
Behavior Typically drinks wine and doesn’t know much about cocktails
Likes Beverages with a light, sweet and fruity flavor profile
Dislikes Spicy and smoky flavors and any beverage with a strong alcohol presence
How might we
create a personalized drink for Lisa that is new, fun and exciting for her to enjoy?
The Solution
Scope
Deliverables A positive and satisfying dining experience complete with a delicious beverage
My Role Bartender/Guest Experience Researcher and Designer
Duration 10 minutes
Tools Customer Service, Cocktail Knowledge, Figma (just kidding)
Research
At this point I realized I needed to conduct a user interview. I asked Lisa the following questions.
What is your go to drink?
Which spirits do you prefer?
Do you prefer drinks that are sweet or dry?
Do you prefer liquor flavors to be subtle or noticeable?
I quickly affinity mapped the insights and came up with an “I” statement.
“I like rum based drinks that are sweet and fruity, that don’t taste too strongly of alcohol.”
Synthesis
Ideation
With my research to back me up I began brainstorming cocktails that I thought would meet the users criteria. I thought a mojito, made with fresh mint, agave syrup, fresh squeezed lime juice and barbarosa silver rum would fit the bill. But I needed to up the “fruity” factor.
I came back to the user, Lisa, and inquired whether or not she liked prickly pear flavor which would add a nice sweet and fruity element to her mojito. In fact she was not sure because she had not had prickly pear before. I described it to her as a mix between raspberry and watermelon flavor profiles. I could see she still had some apprehension, and I realized I needed to conduct a usability test. I offered her a sample of prickly pear puree, and too both our delight she found it to be delicious.
Iteration
Deliver
Execution
Wasting no more time I quickly returned to the bar well and added all the ingredients to a pint glass, packed it with ice, snapped on a shaker tin and shook the hell out of it to really release the mint flavor. I returned to the user with her new cocktail and waited to see how she liked it.
Results
The user showed delight and enthusiasm for her individually hand crafted cocktail, and ordered a second when her first was completed. She also left a generous tip and wrote in to leave a glowing review.
Next Steps
Further research and testing could lead to a more unique and personalized beverage for the user, leading to a more personal experience. Also, I still need to take her food order!