You work at Yelp. How would you create a system that would provide good advice to users of new restaurants to try?

Clarification

When we say "try" a restaurant, I'm going to make the assumption that users can try a new restaurant by dining in, picking up takeout, or ordering delivery.

In terms of what constitutes a restaurant let's use Yelp's existing definition, everything from McDonalds to Michelin Star restaurants.

Goal

Before we dive into creating this system, we should first take a step back and think about why are we doing this. What is our motivation here and what do we hope to accomplish?

A good way of uncovering that is by relating the task at hand to Yelp's mission statement which is to connect people with great local businesses. By recommending new restaurants for users to try we are directly connecting them with local businesses. 

Let's have our goal be to increase the number of users who try a new restaurant.

User Segments

It's tought to come up with a magic bullet that solves everything for everyone, so one of the ways in which I like to narrow scope is to by look at the different user segments and choose on to focus on:

1. Gourmands -> Very interested in fine dining and fancy restaurants
2. College Students -> Tight budget and not the most refined palate. 
3. Busy Professionals -> Have money, but not time. Convenience is important.
4. Families -> Large group of people, 3-5. May have younger or older family members.

1. Word of mouth
2. Online Reviews
3. Suggestions from Delivery Services
4. Ads

1. How do I know if the food is going to be good
2. Online reviews are unreliable
3. Is it going to be within my budget
4. So many different options, which one to choose?
5. Is it easy to get to? Most college students don't have car

1. New and Near You - List of recently opened restaurants that are within X travel distance from the user. X will be based upon the methods of transportation available to the user
2. Friend Picks - Using Yelp's profile and contact list capabilities, we will display the list of nearby restaurants to the user that their friends have been to and enjoyed.
3. Local Guide Suggestions - Feature different reviews from established local guides or personalities on the platform for newly opened restaurants.
4. "I'm Hungry" button - Will launch the user into a conversation with a chat bot to guide them to a restaurant based upon questions they answer. 

This is a product design question

Step 1 : Clarify:

Are these new users or new restaurants

Do we have the system to recommend a specific dish/cuisine

Is the system to be designed for a particular geo, region or platform

Step 2: Select user group

Review writers

Review consumers

Establishments

Since this requirement is about recommendation to a users of a new restuarant, we will focus on Review consumers as our user group

Step 3:  What are their pain points

a) Know what the new restaurants are, location and cuisine

b) Number of quality reviews

c) Credibility of reviews

d) What to try

f) Deitary options- Kosher, Halal, Vegan etc.

g) Average cost for 2 people, 4 people etc.

Step 4: Prioritization of pain points:

a) Know what the new restaurants are, location and cuisine

b) Number of quality reviews

c) Credibility of reviews

d) What to try

Deitary options can be found by calling the restaurant or looking up their website, Average cost can be looked by reviewing the menu

Step 5: Solutions

a) Pop up with snapshot of restaurants launched over past month. This will have details of the cuisine, location, summary of key reviews, etc.

b) Send a notification or email alert to users with >certain number of reviews to visit the restaurant. offer discount to try the food and provide reviews. This will create new reviews and also increase credibility of reviews

c) Give a chance to a new restaurant to address any negative review for first 2-3 months before publishing on the portal

d) Provide an option to post pics of dishes on instagram/facebook to create engagement. These pics can also be uploaded in the restaurant profile

e) Allow restaurant to create a blog/page for their restaurant to talk about their latest dishes and offers

f) Allow restaurants to provide coupons in their review sections

g) Allow restauranters to upload a short video talking about their restaurant

Step 6: Prioritization of solution:

Priority 1: High Impact, low implementation cost

a) Pop up with snapshot of restaurants launched over past month. This will have details of the cuisine, location, summary of key reviews, etc.

b) Send a notification or email alert to users with >certain number of reviews to visit the restaurant. offer discount to try the food and provide reviews. This will create new reviews and also increase credibility of reviews

d) Provide an option to post pics of dishes on instagram/facebook to create engagement. These pics can also be uploaded in the restaurant profile

f) Allow restaurants to provide coupons in their review sections

Priority 2: Medium Impact, Medium implementation cost

c) Give a chance to a new restaurant to address any negative review for first 2-3 months before publishing on the portal ( There is no guarantee that reviewers will agree to change their reviews)

e) Allow restaurant to create a blog/page for their restaurant to talk about their latest dishes and offers ( Difficult for users to read over a phone)

g) Allow restauranters to upload a short video talking about their restaurant ( Users will be impatient and will prefer to read over watching a story)