I went to Taco Bell today, and I must say, the place is in need of a usability expert.
I walked in the door, and was able to determine which way it was to get in line, but not everyone could do this. I’ve been to some Taco Bells where you queue up from the left, and some from the right. Why not a standard! I got in line, placed my order, and then was given a ticket with my order number, which I could sort-of read. The number I saw on the ticket did not look like the number the cashier told me. I decided to go with what I thought the ticket said.
While I stood near the pickup area, with about 5 or 6 other people, I managed to block either the soda dispensing area, the entrance to queue up, and the exit (or entry) door. So as more people came in, they did not realize many of us were waiting for our orders and queued up behind us. Once they figured it out, they got in line, and all I could do was keep shifting around to block something else.
Now, it’s a small place, and it’s 1:00 PM, so perhaps this isn’t always how it goes down, but today Taco Bell got a 2 points out of 10 for it’s usability.
Taco Bell Usability Engineer signing off…
(Maybe next time I’ll actually get into the usability problems of tacobell.com)
1 reply on “Taco Bell Usability (or lack thereof)”
I have noticed the issue with bunching at the pickup area, which is almost always placed next to the drink station and the condiment/napkin station. And of course the effect is aggravated when things are slow behind the counter. However, I’ve never been to a Taco Bell where the congestion at the pickup area affected the entrance or exit to the restaurant – usually the doors are placed well away from that spot. In any case, we tend to get our drink quickly and sit down at a table while waiting for our food.
That doesn’t stop us from eating there several times per month, though. :-)