Role: UX/UI Designer
Type: Self-initiated product concept
Scope: Research → IA → User Flows → UI Design → System Logic
Duration: 4 Weeks
Focus: Multi-dish orchestration
Status: Implementation exploration (ongoing)
Intro - Second Chef
Second Chef is not a traditional recipe manager, but a cooking orchestrator.
This project is a self-initiated app concept aimed at fundamentally rethinking how cooking coordination works, with the goal of future implementation.
Cooking is more than a daily routine for many – it is creativity and a social experience. As complexity increases, coordination becomes the real challenge.
Existing tools help users find recipes – but not actually cook.
Second Chef addresses this by introducing two core concepts:
Menus structure multiple dishes, while compositions combine multiple recipes into one unified cooking process.
The Problem
Young adults use social media as their primary source of inspiration. However, content is fragmented and not interconnected. Organizing and synchronizing multiple recipes becomes a challenge – cooking turns into project management.
Recipes are designed in isolation. Cooking, however, is a parallel process.
Ambitious home cooks are capable of preparing complex dishes – as long as they maintain an overview. But when multiple components are involved, common problems arise:
Long cooking processes are started too late
Resting times are not used strategically
Preparation is not bundled
Serving times collide
Research & Analysis
In the first step, I analyzed how existing recipe apps such as Kitchen Stories, Chefkoch, Recime, or Choosy approach planning and coordination. The analysis showed that while these platforms offer extensive recipe collections and import features, they treat recipes as isolated units. A systemic way of linking multiple dishes into a synchronized process is not provided — this is where the identified product gap lies.
My Role
Based on these insights, I independently developed the concept for Second Chef. I defined the orchestration logic, designed the interaction concept, and created the full UI/UX. In the next steps, the plan is to collaborate with relevant stakeholders to structure the technical implementation, validate the system, and iteratively develop it further.
Flow 1 – From Import to Planning
Users can import recipes from various sources, such as sending content directly from TikTok or Instagram to the app, or by pasting URLs. Recipes can then be assembled into a planned cooking experience. Recipes can be saved in cookbooks or combined into menus and compositions. Menus and compositions appear bundled in
the cooking mode and form the foundation of the cooking flow. In a composition, multiple recipes are intentionally merged into a single dish. The dashboard serves as the central control unit for cookbooks, menus, and compositions. The app structures the content and prepares the cooking process.
Open app
Import recipe (URL, photo, or social media)
Save recipe as a composition or in a cookbook
Add recipe to weekly plan
Select meal type (e.g. dinner)
Portions are synchronized and a shopping list is generated
Flow 2 – From Import to Planning
After planning and shopping, the experience shifts into the actual cooking moment. With a single tap on “Start cooking dinner,” the user enters cooking mode — a dedicated environment designed to guide them through the entire process.
Instead of treating recipes as separate entities, Second Chef brings all selected dishes together into one coordinated workspace. Every dish is displayed simultaneously, each with its own progress, active step, and optional timer. This eliminates the need to switch between different sources or apps and keeps the user fully focused on the task at hand.
At its core, cooking mode is about maintaining orientation and control throughout the process. The user can instantly understand what is currently happening, which step requires attention,
whether timers are running, and how far along the overall menu is. This continuous awareness reduces uncertainty and helps users stay in flow while managing multiple dishes. Each recipe is broken down into clear, actionable information. Users can see the current step, required ingredients, necessary tools, and any relevant timers at a glance. Active timers dynamically influence the interface, making ongoing processes visible and ensuring that nothing is overlooked.
By making parallel processes transparent, Second Chef enables users to handle complexity without feeling overwhelmed. Cooking mode does not reduce complexity itself — instead, it restructures it into a system that is easy to follow, predictable, and calm.
Opens the planner
Selects the planned dinner
Starts “Cook dinner”
Gets a coordinated overview of all dishes
Follows prioritized steps with visible progress and timers
Serves the finished menu
From Recipe Tool
to Cooking Process
Second Chef doesn’t just support collecting or planning recipes.
The app transforms the actual cooking moment.
Instead of following recipes one by one or switching between sources, it creates a structured overview of multiple dishes at once. Progress, waiting times, and parallel processes become visible — without requiring the user to manually organize the complexity. The system does not enforce a strict order.
It creates transparency.
Prioritization remains in the hands of the user — but is based on clearly structured information.
Second Chef creates
clear value for:
Ambitious hosts
Complex menus become manageable. Stress does not come from the dishes themselves, but from a lack of overview. Second Chef reduces this mental load.
Health-conscious frequent cooks
Unstructured social media recipes are translated into repeatable processes. Multiple dishes can be prepared efficiently and executed in parallel.
Everyday households
Planning and execution are connected. Food waste and duplicate work are reduced, as processes become visible.
The Cooking Orchestrator
Preparation Mode
Step View
Second Chef combines linear recipe guidance with a parallel menu overview.
In preperation mode, all dishes of a menu are visible at once: progress, next steps, and active timers can be understood at a glance. Multiple recipes can be managed in parallel without switching between apps or sources.
The step view remains intentionally linear and focuses on what matters: only the ingredients, tools, and actions needed in the current moment. This creates clarity within a structured overall process.
The difference does not lie in individual recipe logic — but in the coordinated representation of multiple dishes.
Second Chef does not make decisions for the user. It creates clarity.
Why Automatic Scheduling Was Not Implemented in the MVP
Although Second Chef is structurally based on an adapted job-shop principle, the MVP deliberately avoids automatic prioritization of all steps.
Kitchen environments are highly variable: oven capacity, number of stovetops, individual cooking speed, kitchen size, and personal preferences all significantly influence the optimal sequence. Fully automated prioritization therefore carries the risk of making incorrect decisions and undermining user trust.
Instead, the MVP follows a transparency-driven approach. All dishes within a menu are displayed in a shared dashboard — including progress, active timers, and upcoming steps. Structural organization (step types, progress, status) creates clarity, while actual prioritization remains with the user.
Second Chef therefore focuses on coordination — not autonomy.
The system is architecturally prepared for rule-based prioritization, but in the MVP, it emphasizes assistance over automation.
Designsystem
The design system of Second Chef follows a clear functional logic. The goal was to create an interface that structures complex cooking processes without introducing additional visual complexity.
The color system is based on defined surface tokens (base, subtle, muted, inverse), which clearly differentiate layers, states, and interactions. Muted base tones create a calm and stable interface for handling parallel content. Accent colors in pink and lavender are used deliberately and sparingly — exclusively to highlight actions, active states, and process progress. Color therefore serves a navigational purpose, not a decorative one.
Typographically, Second Chef combines Neue Haas Grotesk Display and Inter. Neue Haas strengthens the brand identity through a distinctive, editorial presence, while Inter ensures high readability, clear hierarchy, and functional precision in instructions and UI components. Typography thus supports both identity and usability.
The visual language is inspired by the clarity of modern cookbooks: generous typography, clean grids, and reduced surfaces. As Second Chef coordinates multiple dishes simultaneously, the interface remains intentionally restrained and prioritizing. Design serves orientation — not decoration.
Learnings
Initially, the goal was to fully deconstruct multiple recipes using a rule-based job-shop principle, algorithmically reprioritize them, and then recombine them into an optimized overall cooking process. The aim was to minimize waiting times, intelligently bundle parallel tasks, and create a highly efficient workflow. In this vision, the app would take over full orchestration — independent of the original recipe structure.
However, during the conceptual and prototyping phase, it became clear that real cooking processes cannot be easily translated into a strictly linear, system-optimized model. Cooking is highly situational, context-dependent, and shaped by individual pace, kitchen setup, and experience. While a fully algorithmic reordering might theoretically increase efficiency, it would also significantly disrupt the user’s mental model. Especially in more complex menus, trust is not built through optimization alone, but through clarity and predictability.
The core challenge therefore shifted away from technical feasibility toward product acceptance. A system that autonomously changes sequences directly interferes with the user’s sense of control. To avoid underestimating this barrier, a conscious decision was made not to implement a fully autonomous reorganization of recipes.
Instead, an intelligent, prioritization-driven dashboard was developed. It applies the logic of the job-shop principle in a transparent way, making dependencies visible and structuring parallel processes — without completely overriding the original recipe logic. Automation therefore remains supportive and explainable.
This approach not only enables efficiency, but more importantly builds trust — a key requirement for coordinating multiple dishes in real cooking scenarios.