FeedLoc

An app that enables connectivity between restaurants and the hunger spots between their localities.

High-Fidelity Wire frames

To view the high fidelity prototype of this application please follow this link.

Research

Primary Research

The primary research process involved interviews with

Local restaurant
2 star restaurant
Catering Service
Bakery
Food donation NGO

Findings

Raw food items waste more
Waste management techniques followed
- Decomposition plants
- Feed at poultry farms
- Employees take home extra whole meals
Only one business actively contacted an NGO
Businesses purchase fewer ingredients because of the pandemic
NGOs usually target one hunger spot at once

Challenges

Restaurants

Awareness about different methods is lacking
The effort to contact NGOs is a lot compared to other remedies
Time of collection is essential - restaurants usually supply spoilt food
Keep track of food about to expire
Investing in a proper way to store food items for donations
Estimation of the amount of food to give away

NGOs

Difficult to calculate food required for multiple targeted spots
Manage different restaurant collections to supply to numerous spots
Make use of raw items from restaurants
Manage amount of trips required to collect all the items
Storage of items/food overnight
Arranging items to be given to different hunger spots

Secondary Research

JOURNAL AND NEWSPAPER ARTICLES

Sakaguchi, L., Pak, N., & Potts, M. D. (2018). Tackling the issue of food waste in restaurants: Options for measurement method, reduction and behavioral change. Journal of Cleaner Production, 180, 430-436. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.12.136
Bharucha, J. (2018). Tackling the challenges of reducing and managing food waste in Mumbai restaurants. British Food Journal, 120(3), 639-649. https://doi.org/10.1108/bfj-06-2017-0324
Times, T. R. (2019, May 31). 5 Stellar Restaurant Food Waste Management Techniques. The Restaurant Times. https://www.posist.com/restaurant-times/restro-gyaan/5-easy-ways-reduce-food-wastage-restaurants.html
Ananth, M. K. (2016, April 12). App to identify hunger spots. The Hindu. https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Coimbatore/app-to-identify-hunger-spots/article8463505.ece
Barua, A. (2020, March 11). Leftovers To Donations: 3 Unique Ways Indian Restaurants Are Cutting Food Waste. The Better India. https://www.thebetterindia.com/219210/india-restaurants-food-waste-fight-hunger-leftovers-donation-collection-ana79/

Findings

An insight into the amount of food wasted in India
Areas where awareness regarding the topic can be raised
Methods in which pre-existing studies attempt tackle the food waste situation
Strategies to use up edible food waste and to hunger spots
How identification of hunger spots works
Pre-existing small scale solutions to redirect edible food to hunger spots

Concept Flow

Restaurants

Restaurants input closing time to know the average time for collection (giving a 3-hour frame after closing)
Meals to be given are to be added to the inventory manually at the end of each day
Raw items required and to be given are calculated in inventory*
- Iceboxes for meals and raw items are to be separate
Switch on the “collect button” for food collection (shows collection time/status of collection)
- Food collected from a single destination should be >20 meals (both meals and with raw items*)
Verify collection by receiving with NGO representative name, NGO and vehicle number

*Using Recipe Standardisation- calculating the amount of items required according to meal consumption rates in restaurant using the recipe for one serving.

Inventory - Restaurants

Manage record of raw items and meals of the entire stock
Estimate amount to buy and amount leftover with recipe standardisation
Keep tabs on mfd date, date purchased, and expiry date if specified (estimate otherwise)
- Arrange the inventory having soon expiring items first
Give away things about to expire three to four days before
- We can estimate how much to freeze from here
Input raw items to be given in a separate section and the number of meals in another
Notifications for ice change/addition recommended once in 2 days

NGOs

Assuming NGOs have details about hunger spots (population, location, etc.). Few Restaurants and nearby hunger spot(s) make clusters. If there are n clusters, the NGO deploys n collection vehicles for n branches. Looking at one branch:

They collect the filled iceboxes and provide the restaurants new iceboxes
Store meals and items overnight in iceboxes in collection vehicles
Prepare food in the morning with the raw items collected
- A branch with extra ingredients gives to another that has less*
- Catering services arranged to cook these meals
Supply in the afternoon with a map presented by the system

*Using Recipe Standardisation- calculating the amount of items required according to meal consumption rates in restaurant using the recipe for one serving.

Inventory - NGOs

Adds food from restaurant inventory to NGO branch inventory
Adds the number of meals from raw items using recipe standardisation (clearly shows that it is an estimate)
Calculates hunger spot(s) requirements with hunger spot details provided
System checks the requirement with the inventory to determine if the branch has excess or lack of food

Flow for NGO heads

Input Hunger Spot details and NGO worker details (excel, csv) before getting started

Collection process

Enter number of zones to divide the map
- This divides the NGO helpers into that many branches
Send map with hunger spot details
Restaurant details add automatically as they mark up for collection
Catering services informed about the amount of food to be madeThey collect the filled iceboxes and provide the restaurants new iceboxes

Clustering

Calculate food requirement of a hunger spot with its population details provided
Put hunger spot(s) and restaurants in a cluster on the basis of restaurant mark up and amount of food they will give
- Meals collected can be ±50 than the required amount
- If mark up is between collection, closest branch is notified for collection
Each cluster is assigned to an NGO branch
Vehicles required can vary on collection amount
Map details are sent to the people assigned to the branches
- They can also be shared as pdf/google maps

User Flow

Sign Up/Log In

Restaurants

Restaurant Accounts

Collection - Restaurants

Inventory Management

NGOs

NGO Heads' Accounts

Starting a trip

NGO Workers' Accounts

Collection - NGOs

Low-Fidelity Wire frames

Sign Up/Log In

Welcome screen on opening the app
Sign Up an choose Restaurant or NGO
Log In if information already exists

Sign Up fields for restaurants and NGOs are different
Condensing all the details to be input to the most important for proper collection for restaurants and identification for NGOs

Restaurants

Home Page

Introductory home page asks required details
Contact NGO to get ice boxes and be eligible for collection

Regular home page shows countdown to collection and ice change
Meals donated are kept check
Items expiring soon are displayed on the home page in categories

Collection Drives

Different notifications regarding collections and ice change
Shows countdown to collection
Only mark up for collection after ice change and meals>50
View map to see route and track location of NGO vehicle
View vehicle details

Various notifications when a collection drive commences

View Map

Once the NGO finalises the trip, the restaurants can view the route they will be taking
The restaurants can also talk directly to the branch
They can plan their day according to the information given here
Once the NGO updates vehicle information, they get info about that too

Map showing NGO's collection drive route

Inventory

View in stock items and keep track on items going bad, running out etc.
Recipe standardisation gives close estimate of amount of the item required between collections
Choose to donate amount of certain food items
Update pre-existing item amounts
Add new item
Search for any required items

Inventory - Donated

Shows list of various items and meals that have marked for donation and kept in ice box
Shows the percentage status of in ice box
Update quantities of pre-existing items on the list
Search for any items if required

List of items to be donated at collection drive

Menu and Notifications

Notification panel shows various important notifications regarding collection and food
Menu gives access to small utilities to help with the overall management of the app

Other Utilities

Edit account details

View previous collections and view summary reports of each

Contact your NGO regarding any queries via phone or text during the collection drive

NGOs

Home Page

Introductory home page asks required details from NGO head

Home page shows option to start a new trip with the team
Stats from previous trip are shown if any exist

Hunger Spot List

After adding hunger spots with file upload, you can view hunger spot detail in the menu
You can also add new hunger spot place to your database

Hunger Spot - Delivery and Edit

Edit details about pre-existing hunger spots
View details about previous trip to the hunger spot
Delete hunger spot if required

Worker's Details

Shows details about every worker at the NGO after the file upload
Details can only be edited from the worker's accounts
View contact number of workers

When a new member joins, the head's get a notification to approve them

Worker's Home Page

New members are asked to complete their profile
Regular members who have been on a trip get stats about their previous trip

Start with a trip

After the heads have input all the required details, they can start a trip
Option to start trip is on the home page of the heads
The heads can also view stats from their previous trip

Hunger Spots and Zones

First step is to select hunger spots to serve
Second step asks the NGO head to input the number of teams they wish to deploy, and time of collection and delivery
This divides the map into that mumber of zones
Restaurants are automatically assigned to these zone teams when they mark up
As there are a lot of restaurants in a specific area, NGOs can conduct drives at a higher frequency than restaurant collections

Maps

After setting up the drive, the workers can view
- Route
- Collection countdown
- List of restaurants donating
- Total meals collected
- Team members
Workers have the option of opting out of drives
Heads have option to cancel drive as well

Collection and Delivery

Home Page

After starting the trip, home page will be the same for all workers
The system makes an estimate of items required from viewing previous trips under the NGO
- If the NGO is new, the system waits until there are at least 3-4 restaurants donating to study trends and recommend items required
Collection details are displayed on the top with the number of meals donated
Map and other collection details are also provided

Inventory

Workers can view items required to complete meals with raw items donated
Update quantity of items required once purchased
Items needed are different for each branch and will have to be updated by the branch themselves
Real time view of items being donated by restaurants

View Map

After collection, workers get delivery countdown and if there are/need extra meals
Use the system to notify for meals

Menus and Notifications

Notifications panel shows the
- restaurants marked up
- branches notifying for less/more food
- collection drive notifications
Through the menus, the workers can view previous stats
NGO heads can alo manage worker and hunger spot details, and edit NGO details

Previous Drives

Shows all previous hunger spots visited
Shows stats about meals, date, and address
Shows list of team members, and restaurants that contributed to the drive

Contact Restaurants

View details regarding restaurants in the particular collection drive
View meals donated and details of items and meals donated
Contact the restaurant from here

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