What House of Aldren is about

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House of Aldren is a CMS-powered digital dining system that replaces the printed menu with a full ordering experience guests access straight from their table via QR code. It's not just a browsable menu — it guides guests through one continuous flow: filter dishes by category, save favorites, search by name, and place an order that's instantly logged and trackable in real time.

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The platform bridges two worlds: a rich, visual-first browsing experience for guests still deciding what to eat, and a fast, frictionless checkout for guests ready to order. Every dish, price, and image lives in a CMS collection, so the restaurant can update the menu without touching code. This project focused on making a fully custom ordering system feel as fast and native as a purpose-built app — built entirely inside Webflow.

Understanding what diners actually struggle with

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The first step was getting out of assumptions and into how people actually behave at a table.

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Discovery work centered on:

• Understanding why printed/PDF menus create friction at the table
• Identifying the gap between "browsing" and "ordering" — most digital menus stop at browsing
• Mapping how guests actually decide what to eat (visuals + quick filtering, not long text)
• Studying where QR-menu experiences lose guests (slow load, no images, no order status)
• Internal discussions on balancing rich visuals with fast performance on mobile data

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Guests don't want a prettier menu — they want to go from "what looks good" to "it's ordered" without flagging down a waiter.

The real problem wasn't digitizing the menu. It was compressing the entire discovery-to-order journey into a single, table-side flow.

Designing for speed and clarity

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The design needed to do something most QR menus skip: turn browsing into an actual decision-making tool, not just a digital price list.

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Making discovery visual-first:
Every dish leads with an image, not a text row. Guests scan visually the way they would a physical menu — quickly, by category — instead of reading line by line.

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Favorites as a decision tool:

‍Favorites aren't just a bookmark — they let guests build a shortlist while browsing before committing to a final order, mirroring how people actually decide what to eat at a table (compare, then choose).

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Embedding a WhatsApp-style highlights slider:

‍A familiar horizontal "stories" pattern surfaces daily specials and chef picks. Guests already know this interaction from messaging apps, so no onboarding is needed — they just tap through.

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QR-first order handoff:

‍Checkout generates a styled, scannable order code. Guests get an instant confirmation, and staff can pull up the exact order — items, table, instructions — without back-and-forth.

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Manual visibility, always:

‍Guests can see live order status (Pending → Complete) without needing to ask a server — the same "make it visible, not a black box" principle applied to service, not just AI.

Final thoughts & what I'd explore next

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Designing a menu system isn't about making it look premium...it's about removing every unnecessary step between "I'm hungry" and "it's ordered."

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House of Aldren's experience is built on a simple principle: a digital menu should do more than replace paper — it should shorten the whole journey from browsing to being served. When guests can filter, favorite, order, and track status without ever needing to flag someone down, the "digital" part actually earns its place.

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With more time, I'd explore:

• Table-side reordering (repeat last order in one tap)
• Multi-language menu support for international guests
• Loyalty or repeat-visit perks tied to CMS-tracked order history
• A kitchen-facing live order dashboard
• Bill-splitting at checkout

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The goal was never to digitize the menu for its own sake. It was to give guests a table-side experience that actually respects their time.