Project Overview
Custom ordering platform concept for Paul's Smoke Shack, a BBQ restaurant. Explored as a proof-of-concept for a micro-SaaS studio model — building reusable restaurant ordering infrastructure.
Goal
Design and spec a complete online ordering experience with browse-without-auth UX, streamlined checkout, and a foundation for a scalable micro-SaaS product.
Started
March 5, 2026
Days Active
21 days
Client
Paul's Smoke Shack
Status
Spec Complete
Key Highlights
- •Full UX flow: browse → auth at checkout → payment
- •Comprehensive project specification document
- •Micro-SaaS studio business model exploration
Expertise Delivered
Complexity
Complex
4Moderate
1Architectural
1Work Types
Strategy
2Design
2Docs
1DevOps
1Project Timeline— Started Mar 5, 2026
Mar 5, 2026
160h5 sessions
12:00 PMDesignComplex
Paul's Smoke Shack-Brainstormed and decided all customer-facing UX: browse-without-auth, auth-at-checkout, payment flow
-Designed auth strategy: phone number + name signup, SMS magic link signin
-Decided on cash + Venmo only (no credit card processing at launch)
-Designed revenue model: 20% service fee baked into per-pound pricing, not shown at checkout
-Defined invoicing cadence aligned to Paul's weekly cook cycle
-Designed notification strategy: SMS for critical alerts, web push for secondary
-Built complete interactive customer app mockup (pauls-smoke-shack-customer-app.html):
-- Menu with full-width hero photo cards and inline pound selectors
-- Sticky cart bar with item count and running total
-- Cart review screen with editable quantities
-- Login/signup flow with phone verification
-- Payment method selection (Cash at Pickup / Venmo)
-- Order confirmation screen with pickup details
-- 5-stage order progress bar (Order Placed → Confirmed → Cooking → Ready → Complete)
-- Animated active-stage indicators with contextual status messages
-- Interactive demo buttons to preview each order stage
-- In-app chat with Paul
-- Order history with past order cards
-- Account/profile screen
-All screens use established Smoke Shack visual language with full interactivity
ux-designcustomer-experienceinteractive-prototypeauth-flowpayment-floworder-trackingmessagingmobile-first
36h of UX/UI Designer work
12:00 PMDocsComplex
Paul's Smoke Shack-Created comprehensive project specification document (.docx and .md formats)
-Documented complete platform: concept, key people, platform overview, tech stack table
-Defined full data model with 9 database tables and field-level specifications
-Mapped all API routes with purpose descriptions
-Documented 3-stage order flow (Reserved → Ready → Picked Up) simplified from 5-stage
-Defined weekly cadence (Wednesday menu → Friday close → Saturday shop → Sunday pickup)
-Documented payment architecture: cash-first, Venmo, Stripe Checkout
-Described Request Again demand-signaling feature with auto-reset logic
-Created cost breakdown showing ~$12/year total fixed cost
-Wrote 5-phase 12-week build plan with granular task lists
-Documented key design decisions with rationale for each
-Created 'What Was Cut' table comparing Smoke Shack scope against original FreshPlate
-Rewrote Markdown version by hand after pandoc auto-conversion produced broken tables
-Set up as Claude Project Instructions for persistent context
project-specdocumentationdata-modelapi-designbuild-planscope-managementmarkdowndocx
24h of Technical Writer work
12:00 PMDesignComplex
Paul's Smoke Shack-Pivoted from FreshPlate marketplace to focused Paul's Smoke Shack single-cook concept
-Built customer-facing concept page (pauls-smoke-shack-concept.html) with dark smoky aesthetic
-Designed visual language: charcoal/smoke backgrounds, ember orange accents, Bebas Neue + DM Sans typography
-Created interactive pound stepper demo with live price calculation
-Built meat cards with protein macro tags targeting fitness audience
-Designed How It Works flow, Weekly Drop cadence section, and Your Pitmaster bio
-Built complete cook dashboard (pauls-smoke-shack-cook-dashboard.html) with 4 panels:
-- Menu Manager with on/off toggles, live order counts, Add New Meat bottom sheet modal
-- Orders panel with revenue summary, payment split, order list
-- Grocery List with total pounds banner, per-item breakdown with proportion bars, 10% shrinkage tip
-- Messages with broadcast-to-all and individual threaded conversations with chat detail view
-Iterated on navigation design based on Stephen's feedback: removed redundant top tab row, made bottom nav sole navigation
-Removed sticky top bar that overlapped content, replaced with per-panel contextual headers
ui-designhtmlcssmobile-firstinteractive-prototypecustomer-facingadmin-dashboardnavigationiteration
32h of UX/UI Designer work
12:00 PMDevOpsModerate
Paul's Smoke Shack-Taught foundational JSX/React concepts: what JSX is, how compilation works, project setup options
-Recommended VS Code with ESLint, Prettier, and Tailwind CSS IntelliSense extensions
-Set up GitHub Pages hosting for architecture-overview.jsx under steveo8998/FreshPlates repo
-Debugged two white-screen errors caused by Babel failing to parse emoji characters in JSX
-Resolved by producing a self-contained index.html with inline Babel compilation
-Added mobile viewport meta tag, touch-friendly tab scrolling, responsive CSS grid breakpoints
-Fixed syntax error in Costs tab (color property)
-Established working deployment workflow: edit locally → push to GitHub → live on Pages
github-pagesreactjsxbabeldebuggingdeploymentdeveloper-toolingonboarding
8h of Senior Developer work
12:00 PMStrategyArchitectural
Paul's Smoke Shack-Full product discovery session for FreshPlate multi-cook meal prep marketplace
-Defined complete platform scope: cook app, customer app, backend architecture
-Made key tech stack decisions: React Native + Expo, Next.js, Supabase, Stripe Connect, Google Maps API, rembg image processing
-Designed multi-tenant data model with 12 PostgreSQL tables and Row-Level Security
-Built interactive React architecture overview (architecture-overview.jsx) with 6 tabs: System Overview, Tech Stack, Data Model, Feature Map, Build Phases, Cost Estimate
-Built mobile-optimized HTML pitch page (freshplate-pitch.html) for Paul to review on his phone
-Designed Menu Intelligence system: one-tap 'Request Again' on order history + weekly polls
-Added 4 new database tables for menu intelligence (menu_item_requests, menu_polls, menu_poll_options, menu_poll_votes)
-Updated architecture overview with new API routes, database tables, feature map entries, and extended build timeline
-Created comprehensive project instructions markdown (freshplate-project-instructions.md) for Claude Project context
-Removed Reorder feature based on rotating menu insight, replaced with Request Again system
architectureproduct-designdata-modelreactsupabasestripedocumentationmarketplacediscovery
60h of Senior Developer work
Mar 6, 2026
20h1 session
12:00 PMStrategyComplex
Paul's Smoke Shack-Explored custom micro-SaaS studio business model using Paul's Smoke Shack as proof-of-concept
-Defined value proposition: bespoke tools for small operators between spreadsheets and expensive agencies
-Analyzed three pricing models: flat project fee, monthly retainer + hosting, hybrid build + maintain
-Identified Claude as competitive advantage for maintaining healthy margins on flat-fee pricing
-Designed two-phase engagement model: paid Discovery & Scope phase → flat-fee Build phase
-Defined formal scope management: Project Spec as contractual boundary, change request process
-Discussed milestone-based delivery, client demos, deposit structure (50% upfront)
-Created reusable project scoping template (.docx) with 7 sections:
-- Project Overview, Features In/Out (with explicit out-of-scope table)
-- Tech Stack, Data Model, Build Phases with milestones
-- Costs & Pricing (project fee + optional maintenance retainer)
-- Working Agreement with change request policy, code ownership, and signature lines
-Template includes orange callout boxes for critical scope boundaries
-All sections use bracket placeholders with contextual guidance, modeled on Smoke Shack project structure
business-modelpricing-strategymicro-saasscope-managementclient-engagementtemplatedocxservice-business
20h of Business Consultant work