Coffee Shop Ordering System Design

System DesignOpenAILast reported April 2026Low Frequency

Reported: 1× across candidate reports
First seen: April 2026
Last reported: April 2026
Reported outcome: unknown

Problem Overview

Design a coffee shop ordering system. The interviewer frames it with a concrete in-store coffee shop scenario — not a general e-commerce or payment platform. The system should…

2 candidate-reported follow-ups — the exact probes interviewers asked, with the trigger for each
The rest of the problem statement — full requirements, constraints, and edge cases
Approach and trade-offs — what passing candidates did, and the mistakes that sink people

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Verified Source

Every question is reconstructed from multiple independent candidate reports. Verbatim follow-ups, not invented ones.

Codex Fact-Checked

Technical claims, formulas, and scale numbers are reviewed against primary sources.

Interviewer Follow-ups

The exact follow-ups reported by candidates, with the trigger that prompts each one — plus the mistakes that sink people.