Performance Food Group — Customer Ordering Mobile App

Project Type

Mobile App Design, UX Architecture, UI Design, Design System Extension​

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Role

Senior UX Designer​

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Background

Performance Food Group is a national family of foodservice distribution companies serving restaurants, retail, and institutional food service vendors. Previously, customers used a web portal to manage accounts and place orders, but the organization recognized an opportunity to improve access and efficiency through a mobile experience. A mobile app would allow busy professionals to check inventory, build orders, and manage accounts from anywhere, improving speed and usability on the go.

Problem

The web-only experience limited flexibility by making it difficult for customers to manage multiple locations or reorder quickly. The lack of a mobile solution created friction in time-sensitive workflows, especially for those managing inventory and restocking tasks in real time. The new app needed to be fast, lightweight, and intuitive to address the challenges of out-of-stock scenarios, multi-location accounts, and real-time alerts.​

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Approach

As Senior UX Designer, I worked as part of a cross-functional team including two other designers, a product owner, business stakeholders, and IT. I was responsible for both wireframing and primary UI design, while also contributing to copy, interaction flow, and handoff specifications.

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After joining the project, I was able to concentrate on building user flows and wireframes, as foundational research and feature prioritization were already completed. I reviewed the competitive research, best practice documentation, and prioritized features, then began building comprehensive user flows and interactive wireframes to ensure the team could validate navigation logic and technical feasibility early.

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Solution

We designed a full-featured mobile app that included ordering, account management, and location switching. The wireframes accounted for edge cases, error states, offline usage, modals, and notifications, reflecting the operational complexity of the food service industry.

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Working within an established design system used across PFG’s digital ecosystem, I extended the system by designing new mobile-specific components and patterns. Our design work directly contributed to the system’s evolution and alignment across app, web, and email products.

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Prototyping & Testing

We created high-fidelity interactive prototypes in Figma and tested them internally and with real users through stakeholder-facilitated sessions. Though testing was conducted informally, the feedback received helped validate the app's core functionality and usability. Field users appreciated the ability to act on alerts, build orders quickly, and move between accounts with ease, especially when navigating product availability or substitutions.​

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Challenges​

• Handling complex business rules and frequent shifts in feature definitions

• Designing around out-of-stock inventory alerts and varied account structures

• Working within semi-flexible system constraints while scaling the design system

• Ensuring functionality was intuitive for a wide range of users, including non-technical field staff

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Results​

• The first release of the app launched successfully

• Design work contributed directly to the evolution of PFG’s digital design system

• The foundation created for mobile will support future releases with reduced design dependency, thanks to scalable UI components and documentation

• Helped unify brand and interaction standards across mobile and web experiences

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Impact

This project enabled Performance Food Group to offer a faster, more flexible way for customers to manage their business on their schedule; it improved access, reduced ordering friction, and created a more scalable UX foundation for ongoing innovation across platforms.