Shake Shack

A self-service strategy for The Shack.

The Brief

Shake Shack came to Fuzz to help them create their first in-store, self-service ordering experience for a new restaurant in NYC. The Shack is almost as well known for their hospitality as they are for delicious burgers and shakes — the challenge was to bring that warm, welcoming feeling into a kiosk.

Fuzz | Lead UX Designer | 2017

Unpacking the secret sauce, so to speak.

How does a brand develop a cult following? What keeps the regulars coming back again and again and again? What makes people wait in line for a burger? Good food only goes so far. We had to unpack what makes the Shake Shack experience so special, so we could bring that exceptional feeling into a kiosk.

We embarked upon an intense discovery phase — visiting Shake Shacks all over NYC to gain an understanding for the atmosphere and flow of the stores, what the pain points and moments of joy were for customers and where efficiencies could be made.

We interviewed a dozen customers and gathered insights about why they love Shake Shack. We audited all the kiosks we could find to determine their strengths and weaknesses. We interviewed key Shake Shack stakeholders to uncover their vision for not only the kiosk, but the future of Shake Shack stores. With our research findings we created personas and user journeys that would enable us to design for customer needs, as well as operational.

A strategy for staying true to the Shake Shack brand.

The final output of my work on the project was a comprehensive experience brief and an IA for the kiosk interface. We defined principles that would help designers translate the brand’s famous hospitality into the digital world. We mapped the pieces that make up an ordering process and advised on how to integrate the new kiosks into the store so they felt intentional, not tacked on. We laid a foundation for creating a uniquely Shake Shack experience.