Designing a trusted restaurant discovery platform for people with food allergies, from research through to launch.
Lead Product Designer
EatSafe is an early-stage platform helping people with food allergies make safer dining decisions through transparent menu information and personalised recommendations. As Founding Product Designer, I led the product from discovery through to launch, combining behavioural research, analytics and iterative design to create experiences that reduced uncertainty and increased user confidence.
Discover
We began by understanding how people with food allergies actually decide where to eat, not simply what features they wanted. Through behavioural interviews, contextual research, competitor analysis and product analytics, I explored how anxiety influences decision-making, what creates trust, and the signals people rely on before choosing a restaurant. As the product evolved, Mixpanel analytics revealed that users were entering primarily through restaurant menu pages rather than the homepage, fundamentally reshaping our understanding of the customer journey.
Define
The research revealed that people weren't searching for the "best" restaurant but rather, they were trying to eliminate unsafe options first. Visual clarity immediately increased trust, and users naturally started with cuisines they already perceived as safe before exploring further. These insights reframed the product around reducing uncertainty rather than simply recommending restaurants, influencing both the information architecture and overall product strategy.
Design
Every design decision focused on helping users make confident decisions with minimal cognitive effort. I designed personalised onboarding, allergen-first discovery, transparent menu experiences, trust-building restaurant cards, and a scalable design system. Rather than hiding uncertainty, the interface surfaced clear explanations, visual cues and personalised recommendations that helped users quickly identify restaurants matching their individual needs.
Deliver
Working in a lean startup meant shipping quickly, measuring behaviour and iterating continuously. Using Mixpanel, A/B testing and ongoing user feedback, I evaluated whether design decisions were improving user behaviour. This resulted in a 33.5% reduction in menu-page drop-off, a 72.3% increase in menus viewed per user, and a 30.5% increase in restaurant card engagement, demonstrating that research-driven design translated into measurable product outcomes.
