BJ’s Restaurants is a popular food and brewhouse chain throughout Texas, California, and Florida. While they had a mobile site, it was my responsibility to design the iPhone and Android app. I had daily scrum meetings with the stakeholders at the company as well as the developers to make sure everyone was happy. Even after the design aspect of the project was finished, I was still personally requested to listen in on the scrum meetings. I must have been doing something right!
COMPETITIVE RESEARCH
One of the most challenging aspects of the BJ’s Restaurants app was ordering pizza. The toppings provided an extra complication because the pizza was highly customizable. I went through and screenshotted the best UX practices from other apps such Dominos and Pizza Hut and presented them to the client as to what works and why. Other features included store finder, table reservations, and club member points.
DESIGN COMPROMISE
Satisfying clients requires design education. The client simply wanted the mobile site copied over for the app. Their original mobile site left a lot of room for improvement and it did not match the design guidelines for either Apple or Android. I had to sit them down and educate them on what needed to be improved and what would be acceptable for the Apple and Play store to approve. Afterall, apps can’t simply be uploaded to these stores without approval. Apple required a specific user navigation and Android required a different path so there had to be slight differences.
RESULTS
To this day, the BJ’s Restaurants app is used by millions across the nation and everyone gets to enjoy their ‘pizookie’. Both apps have a 4+ star rating in the app store. The app was even featured in a TV news spot. My success with designing this app lead my firm to be in good favor with BJ’s Restaurants stakeholders as well as future clients such Bass Pro and Olive Garden.