Contextual Inquiry & Affinity Diagramming: Upland Brewery and Kitchen

Duration: January 28th - February 13th 2018 (2 On-Site Contextual Inquires in One Week & One Week Focused on Affinity Diagramming) All content here was produced and conducted by a team of one.

Summary

The topic of the semester was “food waste” I identified the goal as learning more about “food waste” through contextual inquiry. This was an exploration and practice of conducting a contextual inquiry as well as collecting the data from this method. I conducted two contextual inquiries in the kitchen of Upland in one week. Then I worked to practice how to interpret the data that I had collected. I then wrote up our inquiry insights, with other data from previous research; then organized my insights to an affinity diagram to find patterns, multiple interpretations of the data sets, and connections the research insights to the design concepts. Then I sketched my research insights and design concepts, to help communicate the concepts as well as to consider other possible design concepts. I chose Upland because I knew one of the chefs in the kitchen which helped me get the contextual inquiry scheduled quickly within a short timeframe.

My Role: Contextual Inquiry, Connecting with Company & Interviewees, Ideation, Affinity Diagramming, Sketching, Prototyping, Iteration, Photography, Documentation

Design Challenge:  Find out what’s important to the people behind activities related to food waste and why/how they do what they do.

Tools: Large Empty Wall, Post-Its,  Email, Keynote, Photography, Valerie Casey Lenses, Sketch Noting, Camera, and Tape Recorder

Objective of Contextual Inquiry:

• Find out what’s important to these participants and why they do what they do.

• Find out how people work and cooperate in the kitchen.

• Observe how people work, where do they work, and how does their work environment look and feel.

• Direct Attention to 6 models of contextual inquiry: Mental Model, Tools, Terminology, Methods, Goals, Value System.

• Find pain points in the environment.

This Contextual Inquiry was conducted to learn:

• What are the job and duties?

• How does participant manage the kitchen, staff, and food (both going in and out)?

• What kind of waste occurs in this kitchen?

• Where does the kitchen try to cut waste?

• Do they play a role in the local community?

Mental Model

Recipes: A mental model that is found within the kitchen of Upland is the recipes used to make a dish. It helps to verify the operations of a process or tool is not apparent to the person they are assigned to.

Slicers: A mental model that is found within the kitchen of Upland is the repurposing of tools for multiple purposes with utility and ease of use such as the slicer. Used for: Jalapeños, Cucumbers, Carrots, etc.

Scale: A mental model that is found within the kitchen of Upland is the repurposing of the scale to portion out specific sizes and weights of meat, pasta, and other parts of the main dish.

Tools

• Operational/Managerial Tools: Ticket Order Computer System, Paper, Pen, Excel, Email, Telephone, Computer, Calendar

• Executive Tools: To-Do List, Paper, Pen, Task List, Recipes

• Tools that create waste: Take out containers, ramekins, straws, food safe gloves, paper tickets, wrong orders

• Tools that use energy: Ticket Order Computer System, Excel, Email, Telephone, Computer, Dishwasher, Stove, Oven, Toaster, Walk In Fridge, Mixer, Sink, Aprons, Towels, Ice Machine, Fryer

• Tools to make food: Trays, Pans, Spices, Knives, Cutting Boards, Mixers, Bowls, Plates, Measuring Cup, Whisk, Spoon, Ladle, Sink, Stove, Fryer, Toaster, Oven, Walk In Fridge, Ticket Order Computer System, Recipes, Silverware, Apron, Towels

Terminology

To-Do List - There are items on the to-do list that are then put on the prep task person’s task list. The To-Do List is the master list that has items done from it daily to make the work more manageable.

Task List - List of assigned prep items ranging between 7-10 task per person, these items come from the To-Do List

“Behind!” - What someone says when they are walking behind you for your safety.

“HOT!” - What someone says when walking near you to alert you to not move for your safety to not get burned.

86 - to get rid of something on the computer queue when it is temporarily out.

Methods

• The To-Do list is broken down into Task Lists for each prep chef, then they must complete the Task List 7-10 items within a timely manner.

• Use protocols for the turn on and turn off times on the kitchen start up and shut down schedule.

• Recycle as much as possible and compost to create as little waste as possible.

Goals Related to Waste

• Compost- Grain Waste, Food waste to create organic compost. Currently in process of opening Upland Composting center with a grant from City of Bloomington.

• Recycle- Aluminum, Glass, Plastic, Grease, Cardboard are separated in bins in the parking lot. All are picked up by the city.

• Upcycle- to reuse anything and everything as many times as possible. Such as boxes. The scraps that are not compostable go to the farmers and are fed to the pigs, which then are reintroduced to the Upland kitchen overtime.

Goals in the Kitchen and Community

• Complete tasks that are assigned to the cook within a reasonable amount of time.

• Clear your queue of food items, once they are made and accurate. To help get the whole order out within a timely manner and all together.

• Minimize kitchen’s energy cost as much as possible to help offset the whole brewery and kitchen’s total energy cost. Such as protocols for turn on times for ovens, stoves, flat-tops etc.

• Help to sustain the local community with the usage of local produce, breads, meat, and dairy.

Values that are Present in the Kitchen of Upland

1. Efficiency - using the slicer for multi purpose cutter.

2. Accuracy -using the scale to weigh portions.

3. Cleanliness - Gloves and washing hands help to not cross contaminate and keep germs minimized.

4. Timeliness - to accomplish tasks within a reasonable time frame.

5. Recycling and Upcycling - to minimize waste produced by the kitchen and brewery and offset the energy used by the brewery and kitchen.

6. Teamwork - dividing work among the prep team and the line teams to get more work done in the same amount of time is increasing the efficiency and timeliness.

Design Implications

When Chris and I talked about the places that waste is a prominent factor of the business. We talked about how the minimization of the waste starts at the kitchen. Putting out less food, making the portion just enough to eat in that one sitting, making less to no take home containers.

I brought up the topic of straws. If you want a straw you have to ask, and he said it creates less waste if they do not automatically give them out then there is less of a cost on ordering them as well. There are also the ramekins (little cups about 2 ounces) that hold sauces and condiments Chris talked about being adamant in the near future changing out the plastic that is not recycled to something more sustainable. The kitchen currently does their best effort to recycle as much as possible though I saw multiple times there were recycle items thrown in the trash.

The brewery composts its grain (from the process of making beer) for a local farmer. The kitchen has scraps that go to a local compost at a farm or go to pig farmers that will use scraps feed for the pigs.

There soon will be a composting site on the Upland property that will have been completed with a grant from City of Bloomington. It will be an organic, with worms serving as a source of fertilization. The kitchen will have no distance between themselves and the compost.

Insights from Contextual Inquiry

• Upland works to support the community they are apart of. They work with local farmers, local companies, and local distributors to help support the local economy.

• Upland works to make as much of its food from scratch as possible, when I visited there was one item that was "pre-made". While it makes labor costs higher, it gives jobs to the community as well as cuts down the cost of “prepared food” that they could be serving. There is more physical energy going into the food made from scratch but the costs of the ingredients are lower from the beginning.

• Pre-packing and weighing out portions of food helps to portion control and not waste food on plates. This as well takes physical energy but it is worth the cost in the end saving money on containers and wasted food.

• If there are any left overs from the prior week the food generally goes into the specials or into soups.

Reflection on Contextual Inquiry

While conducting the contextual inquiry it brought me back to my memories of being home during break making food with my mom. I really enjoyed talking with the chef Chris. He had a lot of really great insights into issues that he has seen previously in the industry, what issues he sees in the industry as a whole, and what issues he found within his own kitchen. The materiality of food waste in the kitchen is really apparent when kitchens do not make an effort to help reduce, reuse, and recycle. I felt that I really connected to the research and the topic of the project. I valued the research maybe more then most because of my background cooking with my mother.

Affinity Diagramming

The Contextual Inquiry information from above has been used to help synthesize the data for the affinity diagram. I used sorting and grouping to help logically find couplings of overlapping content to find patterns.

Insights from Affinity Diagramming

While composting is conducted in the kitchen I think that it does not occur as frequently as it is intended to occur. I observed this due to two things: one the lack of composting receptacle and two because there is not enough knowledge now what is good composting material and what is not good composting material that can be used in the compost.

While observing in the kitchen I noticed that there are times when working in a rush there is no time to walk to the only recycle receptacle in the whole kitchen, then the item is hastily thrown in the trash. On the other side, of the double sized industrial kitchen, is where the recycling container is located. It is a give and take equation for the chef, waste time or get food out faster making less ticket build up. So, the recycling becomes forgotten in the rush. I think that if there was at least more then one recycling receptacle so that it makes more visual impact as well as distance impact on the chef’s time equation.

One strategy that I witnessed in progress was the portioning of the meals. This strategy Chris and I talked about in depth and at length as a cause and effect of the waste equation. The waste starts in the kitchen. The portioning of the food can make minimize the waste that is created by the consumer. The consumer creates waste in a two ways: by leaving left over extra food and by taking a take out container for food. This equation could be balanced by reducing the portion size.

Design Solutions Found from Affinity Diagramming

COMPOST EDUCATION & BINS Composting education creates more awareness of the need to compost while working in the kitchen. Increasing the presence of composting bin locations in the kitchen to help make it more visually prevalent and trigger the action of composting while working. Having compost containers at each station to have less of a need to move to a different location than the location the chef is currently at.

RECYCLING LOCATIONS Recycling education creates more awareness of the need to recycle while working in the kitchen with things that can be recycled. There is currently one location for recycling in the Upland Kitchen. Increasing the number of bins, would make it less strenuous while working on numerous involved tasks. Making the time it takes to break away less of an impact to get caught up on something else, as a distraction.

PORTION EDITING Having the menu implement portioning would be one good way to test out the theory of using smaller portions on peoples meals to leave less food at the table by the end of the meal. Currently the restaurant does not offer different sizes or portions of food on its menu. This could be a good way to see if it was well received and create market research.

Reflection on Affinity Diagramming

I found it really hard to-do Affinity Diagramming with the lack of a partner. I learned that you have to make post it notes really insightful but not with too much text otherwise they weigh the process down. Post-its that have too much text then can go into too many categories. I learned that asking for clarification is the best thing to-do otherwise you could be on the wrong path. When working on a partner project and your partner is gone it is best to complete the work yourself rather than assume you are to get an extension and do it together in the more ideal timeframe.

Join them for a brew and chow at 350 W. 11th St. Bloomington, Indiana 47404.