PRD for Zomato’s Unified Multi-Restaurant Ordering System

7 min readJun 27, 2024

Product Requirements Document (PRD)

Project Title: Unified Multi-Restaurant Ordering System for Zomato

Document Control

Author: Eesha Verma
Date: June 24, 2024
Version: 1.0

1. Introduction

1.1 Problem Statement: Currently, Zomato does not allow you to order from different outlets and add them to a common cart leading to following pain points:

Platform level minimum order constraints (Order should be above Rs 50) causing customers to either drop out or purchase unnecessarily; bad customer experience
n*x delivery fee for n orders even if the outlets are very close to each other and the delivery can be bundled
Handling separate carts and payments
Dealing with multiple tracking screens for multiple orders
Lesser options/more constraints for variety seeking customers

1.2 Solution Brief:

A Unified Multi-Restaurant Ordering System for Zomato that allows users to order from multiple restaurants and combine these orders into a single cart, thereby simplifying payments and order tracking, resulting in potential reduction in delivery costs.

1.3 Objectives:

To enhance user convenience by simplifying payment and order tracking with a unified system that enables multiple orders in a single transaction.
To remove the barrier of platform level minimum order value with the help of a unified cart
To streamline delivery logistics, reduce delivery charges (only in cases where possible, eg: bundling), and simplify the payment process.
To increase user satisfaction and engagement, potentially driving higher order volumes and AOV per customer, thereby improving customer retention.
To provide customers with more variety and hence a more positive user experience while ordering

1.4 Scope:

This document outlines the features and technical requirements necessary for implementing the Unified Multi-Restaurant Ordering System on the Zomato Customer’s app.

2. User Persona

Name: Ananya Sharma
Age: 28
Occupation: Marketing Manager
Location: Mumbai, India
Tech Savviness: High

Pain Points:

Frustrated by having to add unnecessary items to meet minimum order values.
Annoyed by paying multiple delivery fees for nearby restaurants.
Finds managing separate carts and payments inconvenient.
Struggles with keeping track of multiple orders through separate tracking screens.

Needs:

A seamless and efficient ordering experience
Reduced delivery charges wherever possible
A single payment process for all orders
Consolidated order tracking
Usually places orders from multiple restaurants whenever she orders

Goals:

Enjoy a variety of cuisines without extra hassle or cost.
Save time and effort in ordering and tracking food deliveries.

Quote: “I want a convenient, cost-effective way to order from multiple restaurants without the hassle of managing separate orders and payments.”

3. User Research

3.1: Qualitative & Quantitative research

3.2: Insights and Hypothesis (Is this problem worth solving for)

Assuming user research and internal analysis indicate that solving this problem is valuable.

4. User Stories

As a user,

I want to add items from multiple restaurants to a single cart so that I can place one consolidated order.
I want to see a clear breakdown of delivery charges and taxes per restaurant, so I understand the costs involved.
I want to receive bundled delivery for orders placed from nearby restaurants, so I am charged lower delivery fees.
I want a common checkout, so that I can pay for multi-restaurant orders at once.
I want to see a unified tracking screen, so I can track all orders at once.
I want to receive real-time notifications about the status of my orders from different restaurants.

5. Features

5.1 Multi-Restaurant Cart:

Cart Functionality: Users can add items from different restaurants to a single cart.
Consolidated View: Show all selected items with restaurant-wise segregation and display restaurant-wise taxes and charges.
Order Options: Provide options to combine items into one cart or keep them separate when ordering from another restaurant.
Default Settings: Allow users to choose a default cart type from settings.
Visual Indicators: Use visual cues to distinguish items from various restaurants within the cart.

5.2 Unified Checkout Process:

Single checkout process for all items in the cart.
Combined payment for items from different restaurants.
Order bundling discount on the total, if 2 or more sub-orders are eligible for bundling.

5.3 Unified Tracking Screen & Notifications:

Real-Time Notifications: Provide updates for each restaurant’s order status.
ETA Information: Display estimated delivery times for both bundled and unbundled orders.
Order Preparedness: Show the preparation and collection status for each restaurant.
Combined Order Flow: E.g., “Order 1 (Bundled): Ram will collect from Foo then MCD; ETA: 40 mins.”
Separate Order Flow: E.g., “Order 2 (Separate): Shyaam will collect from KFC; ETA: 30 mins.”

5.4 Delivery Coordination:

Proximity-Based Grouping:

Group orders from nearby restaurants (e.g., within 2 km) into a single delivery to reduce costs and time with revised delivery fee based on proximity and order value.

Non-bundled deliveries:

Treat non-bundled as separate deliveries with standard delivery fee based on distance/order value.

5.5 Pricing and Discounts:

Standard Delivery Charges: Apply standard delivery charges for non-bundled orders based on distance and order value.
Bundled Delivery Discounts: Offer discounts for bundled deliveries to encourage efficient grouping and clearly communicate these savings to customers.
Combined Order Value: Ensure the combined order value across all selected restaurants meets platform-level order thresholds.
Offers & Free Delivery: Maintain usual offers such as free delivery for orders above a certain amount (e.g., Rs XYZ). Ensure restaurant-specific coupons and offers work as usual, including for bundled orders.

6. Design

6.1 Wireframes

Combined cart and total bill view: A split view showing items from different restaurants with separate sections for each with a combined summary of all items, delivery charges, taxes, and total amount.

Order Tracking: Unified tracking screen with status updates from each restaurant.

6.2 Final Figma File (Dummy)

7. Functional Requirements

7.1 Frontend:

Modification of the cart to support items from multiple restaurants.
Enhanced checkout process to handle combined payments.
Unified tracking screen for multi-restaurant cart orders
Notifications system to update users on multiple order statuses.

7.2 Backend:

API changes to handle multi-restaurant orders.
Delivery/logistics logic optimisation to handle bundled order deliveries and calculate revised delivery charges/discounts
Calculation logic for combining delivery charges and taxes for unified payment and checkout
Integration with existing payment gateways to handle combined payments for multi-restaurant orders

7.3. Dependencies

Updates to the delivery partner application to support multi-pickup and drop-off points.
After order customer support provision in chat for unified orders.

7.4 Database:

Schema modifications to support multi-restaurant orders.
Efficient storage and retrieval of multi-restaurant cart data.

8. Non-Functional Requirements

8.1 Performance:

The system should efficiently handle a high volume of multi-restaurant orders without causing significant delays in delivery times. This will require an improved route and delivery partner optimisation logic.

8.2 Scalability:

The solution should be scalable to accommodate increasing numbers of users and different types of orders- single and multi-restaurant orders

8.3 Reliability:

Ensure high availability and reliability of the ordering system
Ensure accuracy in delivery costs and ETA calculation

9. Risks and Mitigations

Increased complexity in delivery logistics (Z)
Potential delays due to multiple pickups for bundled orders affecting customer experience. (Z, C)
User confusion/lower adoption with a more complex ordering process. (Z)
Other restaurants may see dwindling numbers in AOV as sides and other items, that were usually combined from the same outlet, can now be ordered from a customer’s favourite other restaurant. (M)
Since merchants will have less AOV even though Zomato’s AOV may increase, in the long run, less merchants may onboard with Zomato/more might start leaving. (Z, M)
Inaccuracy of delivery bundling and delivery fee revision/reduction logic/complexity to build an accurate logic for the same (C, Z)
Bad customer experience due to higher delivery times of bundled deliveries. (Z, C)

9.2 Mitigations:

Develop robust routing algorithms for efficient deliveries.
Provide clear instructions and assistance through the app interface.
Conduct thorough testing and phased rollouts to manage potential issues.
Decide on ideal limit of # of restaurants allowed per unified cart
Rolling out unified cart and delivery bundling/discounting separately to reduce complexity.

10. Success/Impact Metrics

Increased user satisfaction and engagement
Increase in number of orders and AOV per customer
Reduction in delivery costs for users
Improved customer retention rates

11. Timeline (Tentative)

Phase 1: Requirements Gathering and Design (3 weeks)
Phase 2: Development and Internal Testing (6 weeks)
Phase 3: A/B testing with TG and CG groups (4 weeks)
Phase 4: Full Rollout and Monitoring (3 weeks)

12: Tasks & Testing Use Case Sheet:

JIRA/ Asana Tasks (Dummy)
Q/A Testing Use cases (Dummy)

13. Open Pointers / Q/A

Prioritisation of order bundling and revised delivery fee logic:

For the sake of simplicity, we may exclude order bundling and reduced delivery fee calculation from the MVP’s scope, and just test a unified cart and checkout process, by following the existing logic for assigning delivery partners with standard delivery fee for each order.
The logic revision for order bundling, revised delivery fee calculation might take time to build and should not act as a blocker to test the convenience that a unified cart can offer to customers.

2. Delight features post MVP:

Popular combos for bundled deliveries so that customers can save on delivery costs and enjoy variety.
Past order bundles so that customers can just add them to cart and place orders. Can increase repeat orders.