When I am cutting sugar, I want to order something that suits me, so I do not have to drop the habit of going out with everyone.

Job context

Who

Someone with a health reason to reduce sugar

When

At every order

Trigger

A doctor's instruction

Situation

Sweet is the default and unsweetened is the exception

Constraints

No numbers anywhere on the menu

5 Pains

• No idea how much sugar is in a cup

  High

  Including ones that do not taste especially sweet.

  Root cause: Sugar sits in syrups, condensed milk and the tea base, not only in what is added

• Asking for less sugar means something different everywhere

  High

  Seventy percent here equals a hundred elsewhere.

  Root cause: The percentage is measured against each shop's own recipe

• Unsweetened options are few

  Medium

  And usually the least appealing item on the menu.

  Root cause: Menus are built around the majority palate

• Having to explain the reason at every order

  Medium

  In front of a group waiting to order.

  Root cause: An unusual request obliges the asker to give a reason

• Quitting entirely means losing the occasion

  Medium

  Going for a drink is about meeting, not about drinking.

  Root cause: The drink is a pretext for a social occasion

5 Desired Outcomes

• Know the sugar in the cup they order

  Functional

• Have a less-sugar request mean the same everywhere

  Functional

• Have something good that is not sweet

  Functional

• Order without explaining themselves

  Social

• Still go along with everyone as before

  Emotional

5 Existing Solutions

A solution is not the same thing as a product, a customer can hire a behaviour or a workaround too.

• Ask for the lowest sweetness available

  Behaviour

  The commonest approach, where the lowest level is a different number everywhere.

• Order only tea or black coffee

  Workaround

  The most certain route, discarding most of the menu.

• Look up nutrition data from large chains

  Product

  Real numbers, published only by large chains.

• Make it and carry it

  Behaviour

  Total control, useless at a meeting.

• Question the staff about ingredients

  Behaviour

  The only route in a small shop, where staff often do not know either.

2 Opportunity Gaps

• The only person who can describe what is in a cup is whoever is at the counter, and they know the recipe, not the numbers.

  Why existing solutions fail: Sugar enters the cup through several routes at once, syrup, condensed milk, a pre-sweetened tea base, so even whoever pours it cannot total it, and their most honest answer is still a wrong number.

  Potential opportunity: Publishing at the recipe level rather than the cup level: whether this base is pre-sweetened, which milk this is.

• Menus are designed for the majority palate, and whoever must cut sugar is pushed into whatever is left over, items designed for nobody.

  Why existing solutions fail: This group is small enough not to warrant its own line and large enough to be real lost revenue, so every shop handles it by lowering a percentage, an adjustment to something already sweet rather than a drink designed for them.

  Potential opportunity: A line conceived as unsweetened from the start, rather than a reduced version of a sweet one.