I co-founded Kantina to digitize a cultural tradition in Miami's Latino community: weekly meal plans where restaurants offer discounted meals when customers order for the entire week.
I led the product vision and designed the entire customer and restaurant experience, working with a team of five to bring the product to market. We launched in Miami with 50+ partner restaurants and achieved early traction before COVID-19 fundamentally shifted our market, leading us to wind down operations in 2021.
My role: Product strategy, user research, end-to-end UX/UI design for mobile app and restaurant dashboard, brand identity, and go-to-market strategy.
Miami's Latino community has a long-standing tradition of "cantinas": weekly meal plans where customers order a full week of meals from local restaurants at discounted rates. This model works for both sides—restaurants get guaranteed bulk orders with upfront payment, while customers save money and time on meal planning.
Despite decades of popularity, the system remained entirely offline. Customers had to call multiple restaurants to compare menus and prices, often during busy service hours. Restaurants promoted offerings through word-of-mouth and WhatsApp groups, limiting their reach. There was no centralized platform to discover options, place orders, or manage weekly deliveries.
Cantinas thrived through family recommendations and neighborhood networks. Building a digital platform required establishing trust with restaurants skeptical of tech platforms taking commissions, and customers who valued personal relationships with restaurant owners.
Unlike on-demand delivery, meal plans require coordination across an entire week. Orders must be placed days in advance, delivery windows need to accommodate restaurant prep schedules, and customers need flexibility to modify menus without disrupting operations.
The platform needed to serve both restaurants (marketing, order management, upfront payment) and customers (price transparency, easy ordering, reliable delivery), while operating on thin margins typical of the food industry.
Kantina launched in Miami in 2019 with 50+ partner restaurants and grew to several hundred weekly active users in our first six months. Early feedback validated the core value proposition: customers appreciated price transparency and easy ordering, while restaurants valued the marketing exposure and upfront payments.
However, COVID-19 fundamentally shifted the market in early 2020. Our core customer base—office workers seeking convenient weekday lunches—began working from home, where the value proposition of pre-ordered restaurant meals diminished significantly. Simultaneously, many partner restaurants closed permanently, and those that survived shifted focus to survival rather than growth. With our two-sided marketplace depending on both restaurant density and sustained customer demand, we made the difficult decision to wind down operations in 2021.
- Timing and external factors matter as much as product execution
- Two-sided marketplaces require critical mass on both sides to create sustainable value
- Building trust in traditional industries requires more than good UX; it requires deep community relationships
- The product and brand resonated strongly in our target market, validating the core concept despite unfavorable circumstances.
The design system, component library, and product thinking from Kantina have informed my work on subsequent projects, including MondayCall's approach to building trust through clarity.
Kantina is a two-sided marketplace connecting customers with local restaurants offering weekly meal plans. The platform solves distinct problems for each side:
- Discover cantina offerings from multiple restaurants in one place
- Compare menus, prices, and delivery options easily
- Place orders for the entire week through a simple mobile experience
- Save money through bulk pricing while supporting local restaurants
- Promote weekly specials to a broader audience at no upfront cost
- Receive bulk orders with guaranteed upfront payment
- Manage menus, pricing, and delivery logistics through a web dashboard
- Build customer loyalty through consistent weekly engagementRevenue model: Commission on orders (similar to delivery platforms) plus optional premium features for restaurants (featured placement, analytics, automated marketing).
Co-founding Kantina and bringing it to market in Miami's Latino community was a formative experience. Leading product development from concept to launch taught me how to balance user needs, business constraints, and technical feasibility in a resource-constrained startup environment.
Co-Founder & Product Designer
Product Concept
Brand Identity & Marketing
User Persona Research
UX Strategy
Competitive Analysis
Customer Journey Map
Wireframe, Prototype & Testing
Pattern and Component Library
Visual Design
Interation Design
Mobile App
Restaurant Dashboard Website
Marketing Website
