Yeldam

Yeldam

Yeldam

Two separate apps unified into one — serving 140+ corporate users across 3+ offices in Hyderabad.

Two separate apps unified into one — serving 140+ corporate users across 3+ offices in Hyderabad.

Role

UX Designer

Industry

Foodtech

Project Type

Mobile

Duration

3 months

TL:DR

Yeldam had two separate apps, a kitchen subscription service and a snacks ordering platform. I was briefed with three requirements: merge the apps, add store pickup for snacks, and fix food wastage. The first two were straightforward. The third one wasn't "fix food wastage" came with no research, and no defined solution. So I went and found one. I observed real users, talked to employees, and traced the problem back to a broken cancellation system the product had never addressed. Before touching production design, I built a clickable prototype in Figma Make in 5 hours ran it with the team, and two core features changed as a result. Store pickup got a QR confirmation at the right moment. HRMS sync was scoped in.

Project Background

Yeldam is a hyperlocal food platform serving corporate offices across Hyderabad, healthy snacks on demand through Yeldam Snacks, and nutritionist-backed kitchen meals through Yeldam Kitchen. The business wanted to grow, expand into more IT parks, bring both apps under one roof. But before they could merge, two things needed fixing: snacks didn't have a store pickup option, and the kitchen was wasting too much food.

They brought me in to sort it out. I started with food wastage which was bleeding out the business daily. Store pickup could wait as snack sales weren't broken.

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Corporate subscribers

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Separate apps to download

Admin Interaction flow

To understand how administrators actually work, I sat with them, gathered insights, and mapped their interaction flow.

User Personas

Ravi Kumar

Kitchen Admin

Age

45

Work Style

Office-First

Reports to

CEO + HR

Location

Hyderabad

"I pull numbers from POS, emails, HR calls and I'm still the one blamed when food is wasted. I'm not guessing. I'm just working with broken data."

Goals

  • Zero or minimal food wastage every single day

  • Accurate headcount locked before 9:30AM without manual chasing

  • One source of truth, not POS + email + gut estimate

  • No Last minute surprises from chef or ops side

Frustrations

  • Held accountable for waste caused by data he never controlled

  • Leave data buried in HR emails, no structured real-time feed

  • Cancellations never come through, headcount always inflated

  • No feedback loop, waste from today doesn't correct tomorrow's prep

  • No admin app — entire operation runs through a POS terminal

Tasks

  • POS is only data source which usually lagged, fragile, not real-time

  • Monitors HR email thread every morning for leave updates

  • Keeps a personal spreadsheet to adjust previous day's count

  • Relies on gut when data conflicts which is common, not rare

Morning Routine
8:00 AM

Opens email and hunting leave notifications from HR

8:15 AM

Pulls POS data. Cross-checks yesterday's headcount manually

8:45 AM

Estimates today's prep count. Gut fills the gap. No truth to reference

9:30 AM

Headcount locked and sent to chef. Errors locked in too

Ravi Kumar

Kitchen Admin

Age

45

Work Style

Office-First

Reports to

CEO + HR

Location

Hyderabad

"I pull numbers from POS, emails, HR calls and I'm still the one blamed when food is wasted. I'm not guessing. I'm just working with broken data."

Morning Routine

8:00 AM

Opens email and hunting leave notifications from HR

8:15 AM

Pulls POS data. Cross-checks yesterday's headcount manually

8:45 AM

Estimates today's prep count. Gut fills the gap. No truth to reference

9:30 AM

Headcount locked and sent to chef. Errors locked in too

Goals

  • Zero or minimal food wastage every single day

  • Accurate headcount locked before 9:30AM without manual chasing

  • One source of truth, not POS + email + gut estimate

  • No Last minute surprises from chef or ops side

Frustrations

  • Held accountable for waste caused by data he never controlled

  • Leave data buried in HR emails, no structured real-time feed

  • Cancellations never come through, headcount always inflated

  • No feedback loop, waste from today doesn't correct tomorrow's prep

  • No admin app — entire operation runs through a POS terminal

Tasks

  • POS is only data source which usually lagged, fragile, not real-time

  • Monitors HR email thread every morning for leave updates

  • Keeps a personal spreadsheet to adjust previous day's count

  • Relies on gut when data conflicts which is common, not rare

Priya Mehta

Subscriber

Age

45

Work Style

3 days WFO

Reports to

Manager

Travels by

Metro/City Bus

"We planned a team lunch the night before. I couldn't cancel my meal until the next morning by then I was on the metro and missed the window. I still got penalised."

Morning Routine

8:30 AM

Commuting. No notification. No reminder. No trigger to act

8:15 AM

Cancellation window open and she doesn't know.

8:45 AM

Arrives at office. Hasn't opened the app. Window still open

9:30 AM

Window closes. Meal prepped for a no-show. She never knew

Goals

  • Hot meal at the pantry with no extra thought required

  • Easy way to skip on WFH or leave days without hunting for it

  • Cancel meals in advance when plans change not just same morning

  • Minimal app interaction to act fast and move one

Frustrations

  • No notification system, cancellation required unprompted app visits

  • Cancel flow buried, 4+ taps to reach the action with no shortcut

  • No consequence for inaction, food prepared regardless of no-show

  • Completely unaware that her inaction directly drives food wastage

  • WFH days have zero cancellation trigger which is highest waste contributor

Tasks

  • Plans social lunches but can't cancel in advance because system doesn't allow it

  • No system ever prompts her to cancel its entirely self-initiated

  • Only opens the app either to collect food or check menu

  • WFH days are the highest missed-cancellation scenario

  • To avoid penalty she has to check and update admin in person

Priya Mehta

Subscriber

Age

30

Work Style

3 days WFO

Reports to

Manager

Travels by

Metro/City Bus

"We planned a team lunch the night before. I couldn't cancel my meal until the next morning by then I was on the metro and missed the window. I still got penalised."

Goals

  • Hot meal at the pantry with no extra thought required

  • Easy way to skip on WFH or leave days without hunting for it

  • Cancel meals in advance when plans change not just same morning

  • Minimal app interaction to act fast and move on

Frustrations

  • No notification system, cancellation required unprompted app visits

  • Cancel flow buried, 4+ taps to reach the action with no shortcut

  • No consequence for inaction, food prepared regardless of no-show

  • Completely unaware that her inaction directly drives food wastage

  • WFH days have zero cancellation trigger which is highest waste contributor

Tasks

  • Plans social lunches but can't cancel in advance because system doesn't allow it

  • No system ever prompts her to cancel its entirely self-initiated

  • Only opens the app either to collect food or check menu

  • WFH days are the highest missed-cancellation scenario

  • To avoid penalty she has to check and update admin in person

Morning Routine
8:30 AM

Commuting. No notification. No reminder. No trigger to act

8:15 AM

Cancellation window open and she doesn't know.

8:45 AM

Arrives at office. Hasn't opened the app. Window still open

9:30 AM

Window closes. Meal prepped for a no-show. She never knew

Ravi Kumar

Kitchen Admin

Age

45

Work Style

Office-First

Reports to

CEO + HR

Location

Hyderabad

"I pull numbers from POS, emails, HR calls and I'm still the one blamed when food is wasted. I'm not guessing. I'm just working with broken data."

Morning Routine

8:00 AM

Opens email and hunting leave notifications from HR

8:15 AM

Pulls POS data. Cross-checks yesterday's headcount manually

8:45 AM

Estimates today's prep count. Gut fills the gap. No truth to reference

9:30 AM

Headcount locked and sent to chef. Errors locked in too

Goals

  • Zero or minimal food wastage every single day

  • Accurate headcount locked before 9:30AM without manual chasing

  • One source of truth, not POS + email + gut estimate

  • No Last minute surprises from chef or ops side

Frustrations

  • Held accountable for waste caused by data he never controlled

  • Leave data buried in HR emails, no structured real-time feed

  • Cancellations never come through, headcount always inflated

  • No feedback loop, waste from today doesn't correct tomorrow's prep

  • No admin app — entire operation runs through a POS terminal

Tasks

  • POS is only data source which usually lagged, fragile, not real-time

  • Monitors HR email thread every morning for leave updates

  • Keeps a personal spreadsheet to adjust previous day's count

  • Relies on gut when data conflicts which is common, not rare

Priya Mehta

Subscriber

Age

45

Work Style

3 days WFO

Reports to

Manager

Travels by

Metro/City Bus

"We planned a team lunch the night before. I couldn't cancel my meal until the next morning by then I was on the metro and missed the window. I still got penalised."

Morning Routine

8:30 AM

Commuting. No notification. No reminder. No trigger to act

8:15 AM

Cancellation window open and she doesn't know.

8:45 AM

Arrives at office. Hasn't opened the app. Window still open

9:30 AM

Window closes. Meal prepped for a no-show. She never knew

Goals

  • Hot meal at the pantry with no extra thought required

  • Easy way to skip on WFH or leave days without hunting for it

  • Cancel meals in advance when plans change not just same morning

  • Minimal app interaction to act fast and move one

Frustrations

  • No notification system, cancellation required unprompted app visits

  • Cancel flow buried, 4+ taps to reach the action with no shortcut

  • No consequence for inaction, food prepared regardless of no-show

  • Completely unaware that her inaction directly drives food wastage

  • WFH days have zero cancellation trigger which is highest waste contributor

Tasks

  • Plans social lunches but can't cancel in advance because system doesn't allow it

  • No system ever prompts her to cancel its entirely self-initiated

  • Only opens the app either to collect food or check menu

  • WFH days are the highest missed-cancellation scenario

  • To avoid penalty she has to check and update admin in person

"The wastage wasn't a kitchen problem. It was a signal problem and signals start at the user touchpoint."

Design fixes

Fix 3

Order snacks, pick up at store

Users are provided a way to order snacks on demand and pick them up from a nearby store without waiting, without guessing, without asking anyone.

A pickup flow that feels immediately familiar that has no learning curve, no extra steps, no room for confusion.

Fix 3

Order snacks, pick up at store

Users are provided a way to order snacks on demand and pick them up from a nearby store without waiting, without guessing, without asking anyone.

A pickup flow that feels immediately familiar that has no learning curve, no extra steps, no room for confusion.

Fix 3

Order snacks, pick up at store

Users are provided a way to order snacks on demand and pick them up from a nearby store without waiting, without guessing, without asking anyone.

A pickup flow that feels immediately familiar that has no learning curve, no extra steps, no room for confusion.

Fix 3

Order snacks, pick up at store

Users are provided a way to order snacks on demand and pick them up from a nearby store without waiting, without guessing, without asking anyone.

A pickup flow that feels immediately familiar that has no learning curve, no extra steps, no room for confusion.

Fix 2

Auto-cancel when the system already knows

Employees shouldn't have to remember to cancel during leaves or WFH days the system already has that information. It just never acted on it.

"It becomes another task to remember to cancel the meal during WFH or leaves. I already have enough on my plate"

Fix 2

Auto-cancel when the system already knows

Employees shouldn't have to remember to cancel during leaves or WFH days the system already has that information. It just never acted on it.

"It becomes another task to remember to cancel the meal during WFH or leaves. I already have enough on my plate"

Fix 2

Auto-cancel when the system already knows

Employees shouldn't have to remember to cancel during leaves or WFH days the system already has that information. It just never acted on it.

"It becomes another task to remember to cancel the meal during WFH or leaves. I already have enough on my plate"

Fix 2

Auto-cancel when the system already knows

Employees shouldn't have to remember to cancel during leaves or WFH days the system already has that information. It just never acted on it.

"It becomes another task to remember to cancel the meal during WFH or leaves. I already have enough on my plate"

Fix 1

A much needed trigger

Employees need a trigger that doesn't just sit in the status bar, but one that makes them actively choose to accept or cancel their meal prep

"On the way to office, my head is full with DSU prep, unfinished tasks and presentations. Lunch? I'm not thinking about lunch."

Fix 1

A much needed trigger

Employees need a trigger that doesn't just sit in the status bar, but one that makes them actively choose to accept or cancel their meal prep

"On the way to office, my head is full with DSU prep, unfinished tasks and presentations. Lunch? I'm not thinking about lunch."

Fix 1

A much needed trigger

Employees need a trigger that doesn't just sit in the status bar, but one that makes them actively choose to accept or cancel their meal prep

"On the way to office, my head is full with DSU prep, unfinished tasks and presentations. Lunch? I'm not thinking about lunch."

Fix 1

A much needed trigger

Employees need a trigger that doesn't just sit in the status bar, but one that makes them actively choose to accept or cancel their meal prep

"On the way to office, my head is full with DSU prep, unfinished tasks and presentations. Lunch? I'm not thinking about lunch."

Possible ways to cancel a meal

Version 0.5

Before moving to production, I built a clickable prototype of the unified app concept in Figma Make in 5 hours, enough to put a real flow in front of the team for flow review

View AI Prototype

App Merge

The two apps shared a brand but not a design language. Some components overlapped, most didn't and the user journeys were built in completely different directions.

That was the real problem. One journey is routine and time-bound you know when lunch is, you just need to act on it. The other is on-demand, you're browsing, deciding, ordering whenever. Getting both to live on the same home screen without one drowning out the other took more than just combining two nav bars.

A bottom navigation bar gave each service its own space. Shared components were cleaned up and made consistent. And the home screen was designed to be context-aware — showing you what matters based on where you are in your day, not everything at once.

The
Designs

One login, personalized experience—corporate gets Snacks + Meals, individuals get Snacks.

Store pickup flow
Fixing food wastage

Morning push notification prompts users to confirm or cancel before prep starts

Fixing food wastage

HRMS sync auto-cancels meals when leave or WFH is approved.

The
Designs

One login, personalized experience—corporate gets Snacks + Meals, individuals get Snacks.

Store pickup flow
Fixing food wastage

Morning push notification prompts users to confirm or cancel before prep starts

Fixing food wastage

HRMS sync auto-cancels meals when leave or WFH is approved.

Core Insight

"The system required users to remember and act. The redesign flipped this — the system acts, the user responds."

Future Projection

Version one fixed what was broken. Here's what version two unlocks

  • Geo-fenced Attendance: Meal confirmation activates only within office premises, preventing false attendance.

  • Nutritionist Insights: Every day, a short note from the nutritionist on what's in the meal and why it was put together that way.

  • Nutrient Tracker: Meal-by-meal nutrition tracking with calories, vitamins, fats, and carbs aligned to health goals.

Praveen Kumar

Projects

Resume

Designed by Praveen © 2026

Praveen Kumar

Projects

Resume

Designed by Praveen © 2026

Praveen Kumar

Projects

Resume

Designed by Praveen © 2026

Praveen Kumar

Projects

Resume

Designed by Praveen © 2026

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