Yes, Chef
A pantry-aware cooking app that cuts food waste, speeds up meals, and keeps people motivated through step-by-step guidance and social co-cooking.
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Yes, Chef is a pantry-aware cooking app built to cut food waste, speed up meals, and keep people motivated. I worked as a UX Designer on a team of five, collaborating across research, usability testing, and design from concept through final prototype.
The problem
Young adults want to cook more — but it feels like too much work to figure out.
Busy schedules, low kitchen confidence, and recipes, groceries, and plans scattered across different apps turn cooking into a chore. Only 33% of Gen Z feels skilled in the kitchen, and the result is wasted food, last-minute takeout, and the same cycle repeating every week.
Research
Confidence, not skill, was the real divide.
We surveyed 51 young cooks and interviewed 10 more, digging into how they decide what to cook, why they give up on new recipes, and what would make following one easier.
Seasoned cooks experimented freely and shopped less often. Novice cooks stuck to the basics and relied on memory to track what was even in their kitchen. Both groups wanted the same thing underneath: faster, more flexible meals that cut down on waste and decision fatigue.
Solution
Young adults don’t need more recipes. They need support.
Yes, Chef removes the mental load of cooking: it recommends meals from what’s already at home, guides users through each step, and tracks groceries through receipt scans. A private space to document progress turns cooking into a habit, not a one-off effort.
01
Guided Onboarding ↗A short questionnaire captures goals, confidence, and experience — so recommendations are tailored from the very first use.
02
Smart PantryReceipt uploads turn grocery purchases into a live pantry, so suggestions always match what’s already at home.
03
Cook with ConfidenceStep-by-step recipes with videos and timers support in-the-moment cooking and build confidence over time.
04
Community & MotivationUsers share completed meals and rate recipes, building consistency and exposure to new ideas without performance pressure.
Challenges
The hardest thing we designed was what we left out.
The biggest UX challenge was avoiding cognitive overload. It would have been easy to pile on features until the app felt heavy instead of supportive.
We narrowed the product to one core flow, and only added features that reduced friction — never complexity.
Takeaways
Everyone shares the same core need, even when the details differ by skill level. Designing for novice and seasoned cooks meant layering in support without making the interface feel complicated.
We also learned that people skim, not study. Clear, scannable content beat dense detail every time.
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