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The week I worked in a restaurant kitchen

1 min read

An open notebook headed Experience > Insight beside an Outlet Visit badge, handwritten sticky notes, and a Design Decisions checklist on a clipboard.

I was designing internal tools for Hangry’s outlet operations. I had the briefs, the data, the user interviews. Enough to start building.

Then I spent a week actually working in one of the outlets.

Hangry had a program for HQ teams to experience outlet life firsthand. I joined. Rush hour, real pressure, the full thing.

It didn’t teach me new information. It taught me what the information actually felt like.

Some friction points you can read about and understand. Others you only really get when you’re standing in the middle of them, wondering why this flow works the way it does.

That week changed how I weighted certain decisions. Not because the data changed, but because I finally knew which parts of it actually mattered.

There’s a difference between designing for people and designing with some understanding of their day. That week is where I found it.

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