Stakeholder & customer research · UX principles · Test-and-learn framework · Future-state vision
Reimagining the Drive-Thru Through Intelligent Menu Design
Turning static digital menu boards into a dynamic, intelligent sales channel for a global QSR brand's highest-value touchpoint.
Hero image — drive-thru menu board concepts
ROLE
CX & Innovation Strategist (research & experience lead)
CLIENT
Global quick-service restaurant brand
TIMELINE
6 weeks
TEAM
Me + digital signage SME, designer · client marketing & product teams
MY FOCUS
Research synthesis · UX principles · future-state vision
METHODS
Stakeholder interviews · site visits · benchmarking · working sessions
THE CHALLENGE
The drive-thru was the brand's largest channel — the majority of all transactions — and the company had invested heavily in digital menu boards to match. But the experience itself hadn't caught up: an analog experience in a digital environment. Menu content was static and blind to customer context, there was limited ability to test and optimize, and insights were generated manually rather than in real time.
The result: customers experienced the menu as overwhelming at exactly the moment that matters most — deciding what to order. The brand's highest-value channel was being run like a poster, and our team was tasked with designing the customer-centric, data-driven foundation for what comes next.
MY ROLE
I owned three threads of the engagement: the research synthesis that built the insight foundation, the customer-first UX principles and menu design recommendations, and the final readout that carried the future-state vision to the client.
Synthesized research across stakeholders, customers, and competitive analysis into the insight foundation the strategy was built on
Defined the customer-first UX principles and menu design recommendations, working with a designer and a digital signage SME
Shaped and delivered the final readout and future-state vision to the client's marketing and product teams — and helped define the test-and-learn framework for ongoing optimization
APPROACH
Understand the current state
Built a comprehensive view of the existing ecosystem: stakeholder interviews across the brand and partner teams, on-site visits and menu board analysis across locations, competitive benchmarking, and cross-functional working sessions.
Redesign around decisions
Translated insights into customer-first UX principles: simplified menu structure for faster decisions, visual hierarchy that highlights high-value items, a modular system built for testing, and context-awareness like time of day.
Build the optimization engine
We designed a system to improve itself over time: a decision framework to guide optimization, a structured test-and-learn backlog, measurement tying menu changes to business outcomes, and a roadmap toward AI-driven personalization.
Make it land
Shaped the final readout so a cross-functional executive audience could see the same future state — and what to do first.
SOLUTION
A future-state vision that transformed menu boards from static signage into a dynamic, data-driven experience: multiple menu variations per day based on context and performance, a modular system that made experimentation routine instead of exceptional, and a clear path toward AI-powered personalization.
Behind the vision sat the operating pieces — the UX principles, the decision framework, and the testing backlog — so the client wasn't left with a concept, but with a system they could start running.
Future-state menu system / concept boards
IMPACT
In six weeks, the work laid the foundation for long-term transformation of the brand's highest-value channel: a scalable framework for continuous experimentation, more relevant and engaging customer experiences, the groundwork for AI-driven decisioning and personalization, and significant revenue upside identified through improved merchandising and optimization.
WHY IT MATTERS
This project wasn't about improving a menu — it was about redefining how physical retail experiences become intelligent, adaptive, and data-driven. Bridging CX, data, and technology is exactly where experience strategy is heading, and this is proof I can lead work at that intersection.
It's also the full arc of strategic ownership in one engagement: I ran the synthesis that found the insights, wrote the principles that shaped the design, and delivered the readout that moved the client to act. Insight to decision, end to end.
NEXT PROJECT
© Millie Rosasco