2022 · Operations

1.5× the output without 1.5× the kitchen

Demand was growing faster than Calo could hire staff or build kitchens. Instead of adding headcount, we fixed the tool the kitchen runs on.

Role: Product designer
Users: Chefs, sous chefs, cooks
Scope: Internal kitchen tool
Result: 1.5× meals produced

Kitchen display screens showing component lists by station

Discovery

I went into our kitchens and watched staff work. The tool was the bottleneck: too few devices, one generic view for every role, hard navigation and poor readability. Finding a single ingredient took far too long.

The kitchen display on a screen in the Calo kitchen — On the floor
The display in use in the kitchen. Readability was one of the main complaints we heard on the floor.

What shipped

A station bar that jumps straight to any station
A search that shows which station a component is at right now
Different layouts for different roles, set automatically at login

Components check: station tabs across the top and a Start now button per component — Station tabs across the top; each component has its own Start now action.

Component check: components listed by station with weights and a search on every row — Component check by station, with a search on every row to see where it is.

Key decision

One tool, different views by role.

Cooks focus on one station, and chefs need the whole line. Two separate tools would have doubled the work, so the login decides the layout and no one has to set anything up.

Try the ideaSimplified demo

Outcome

1.5× the meals with minimal new hiring or equipment.

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