MiNu
40 items on the menu. You've been staring for 8 minutes. Sound familiar?
Decision paralysis and menu anxiety hit Gen Z and Millennials hardest — too many dishes, too little signal, and a waiter waiting. MiNu (Minimized Menu) is an AI ordering companion that cuts the menu to three personalized options so you can decide and the table can turn.
Built for Adobe's College + The Futur Creative Jam ,a two-week pitch to prove a clear goal, value proposition, and envisioned impact.
Role
UX Designer · Interaction Design · Visual Design
Timeline
2 weeks
Team
Akshat Prasad · Snehal Ladke · Vignesh Sanath
Platform
Mobile
Context
Everyone loves food. Ordering it is where the night stalls.
Customers spend an average of 109 seconds scanning a menu and longer times track with lower satisfaction and slower table turnover. Rush hour turns indecision into a line outside and a frustrated waiter inside.
What We Found
40+ items is a blocker
Decision paralysis doesn't only ruin the dining experience it slows the restaurant. Interviews with six foodies and desk research on choice overload surfaced the same themes.
Decision fatigue
Each extra option burns attention. By the time the waiter returns, people pick safe defaults or stall again.
Value for money
Price comparison adds another loop. Students especially weigh quantity vs cost before they commit.
Overwhelming decisions
Dish types, customizations, and unfamiliar names stack into one impossible scroll.
Fear of missing out
FOMO follows the meal. People second-guess the order they finally made.
HOW MIGHT WE
Reduce the cognitive load of options and empower people to make quicker decisions while ordering food?
Key Insight
The product isn't more menu, it's less.
Delivery apps already drown people in choice. MiNu only works if it constrains the set. Three options is enough to feel in control and small enough to decide under time pressure.
Key Insight
Faster decisions aren't only a UX win. They turn tables. The pitch only holds if both sides get something concrete — clarity for the customer, throughput for the restaurant.
Primary Flow
Scan. Get three. Order.
MiNu is a culinary companion for smarter choices — personalized recommendations without the scroll that stalls the table.
Scan
Scan the restaurant QR. MiNu pulls the menu and cross-references your taste profile.
MiNu recommends
Three personalized options surface — ranked by history, diet, and what is popular now.
Order
Tap to add and place. The waiter gets a clear order. Food in ~15 minutes. Table turns faster.
GAMIFIED ONBOARDING
Kickstart your journey with a quick quiz to understand your food preferences.
MINU AI
AI picks the best match from the full menu. Over time it learns your preferences and refines with every order.
SURPRISE ME + AUTOCHOOSE
Surprise Me picks one dish per category (Starter, Main, Dessert) based on what's highest-rated for your profile right now.
Autochoose goes further: turn it on and MiNu places the order automatically. You stay in control, one tap always brings you back.
Business Model
Win-win for customers and restaurants
MiNu is a two-sided marketplace. Customers get faster, better ordering. Restaurants get faster table turnover.
B2C : Free for customers
Users download MiNu, build a taste profile, and use it at any MiNu-enabled restaurant. The more places they visit, the smarter it gets.
B2B : SaaS for restaurants
Restaurants pay a monthly fee to integrate via QR. They get order analytics, menu performance data, and faster turnover offsetting the subscription.
What did the judges say
The pitch landed because the problem was personal.
2nd place out of 106 global teams
Key learnings
Constraint is the feature
AI that still shows forty items isn't solving paralysis. The design move was three and a clear path back to the full menu.
Automation needs an exit. Surprise Me and Autochoose only felt safe with one-tap control.