Debriefing

Mr. Winston, a provider of software and hardware solutions for the hospitality industry, has tasked us with creating an app that enhances the customer experience for restaurants. By gathering personal data and preferences, the app aims to create a personalized experience while also rewarding customers for their loyalty. Our task is to develop a reservation app that assists customers with the technological aspects of dining at a restaurant, such as making reservations, paying with their phone, and leaving reviews. After a discussion with Koen and Kees, we have a clear understanding of the project and plan to create an app that allows customers to easily make reservations at any restaurant, and send updates, remove, and check availability of reservations. To ensure a seamless experience for both customers and restaurant employees, the app will be user-friendly and low-code, with separate versions for customers and employees, and will be compatible with both phones and tablets. The key requirements of the app are as follows:

• The ability for users to make reservations.
• Data management capabilities (updating, removal, and availability check).
• User-friendly interface.
• Low-code development using Appsemble.
• Two versions: one for the customer and the other for restaurant staff.
• Compatibility with mobile and tablet devices.

Research

Mr. Winston:

Mr. Winston has a variety of products for restaurants, bars, hotels, and more. Their main product is a system that allows customers to place orders in restaurants. The waiter takes the customer's order using the device, and the order is received in real-time in the kitchen. This system is fast and easy to use for restaurants and operates over Wi-Fi. In addition to ordering systems, Mr. Winston also offers other products such as register systems, production systems, reservation systems, self-ordering, home-ordering, and a loyalty system. These products can be used in various branches of the hospitality industry such as restaurants, hotels, cafes, catering, and recreation. Mr. Winston's system is available for purchase starting at €48 per month and is affordable. The company also has an app for businesses that can be downloaded from the App Store and Google Play. The usage of Mr. Winston's system can be summarized as follows:

• Online reservations made by customers
• Arrival at the restaurant.
• Greeting by an employee.
• Seating at a table by an employee.
• Waiter takes the customer's order using a phone or tablet.
• Order is received in the kitchen.
• Customer waits for food and drinks.
• Customer receives and eats food and drinks.
• Payment.
• Customer leaves the restaurant.
• Customer returns to the website to give a review and earn rewards in points or euros. 

D-centralize & Appsemble:

D-centralize is a company that provides a platform for businesses to easily create, manage and analyze mobile apps. The company offers a wide range of services and tools such as Appsemble.

The mission of Appsemble is to provide a low-code, open-source platform where anyone can create user-friendly apps without the need for technical knowledge. The company has chosen to use open-source technology in order to allow software projects of any size to grow into something that many people can use and build their own adaptations.

Appsemble has been developed with several key principles in mind:

• Open-source technology, with no vendor lock-in
• Use of modern standards such as Progressive Web App (PWA), React/Node.js, Docker, Kubernetes, OAuth2, and JSON Web Token (JWT)
• A focus on minimal functionality over a great app that may not be available in the near future
• An app recipe is created in a human-readable format (YAML/JSON) and building blocks are chosen and configured here
• Emphasize on ease of sharing, copying and customizing apps
• The graphical choices are independent of the app and are defined at the organizational level.
• Overall Appsemble is a tool that can help businesses, organizations and developers to create professional-grade mobile apps without the need for extensive technical knowledge.

Assignment:

Building basic reservation system that can be offered as a free product. This system can utilize APIs for both accepting and processing reservations, such as using Google's reservation API for accepting reservations and the Mr. Winston API for processing them. Additionally, it's possible to implement the system through a website widget or an email notification to provide a low-barrier option for customers to make reservations.