Timeline

This project took us two weeks from Discovery to Delivery while completing our studies. It was aimed at addressing Sustainable Development Goal 12.3, which aims to halve per capita global food waste by 2030.

🎨

User Research

Market Analysis

🎉

Ideation

RESEARCH

🗝️

Evaluating feasibility and viability

💙

Minimum Viable Prototype

🔐

Value Proposition

🗂️

Business Model Implementation

DESIGN

🧢

Growth Strategy

🗺️

Financial Projections

💰

Pitch and Funding Offer

DELIVER

here, I led a team of 5.

Research (Discovery)

This phase of the design process involved exploration of the problem space with regard to young people - a target audience which we understood closely.

We conducted a survey with 50 participants, alongside 4 laddered interviews and 2 focus groups. We also conducted and visualised existing solutions in the market.

The research revealed a key issue:
People tend to overbuy groceries, leading to cooking more than needed and consequently, food wastage.

This insight guided the problem statement and user personas, aiming to help users buy only what they need for the following week.

Figure A (left) shows an affinity map used to find common motivations, needs, likes and wants from the qualitative research.

Market research showed us that existing solutions for shopping cart optimisation were not personalised and often required manual input of data and preferences.

I identified a gap for automation and intelligence here, brainstorming ideas with smart technology like NFC, AI, RFID etc.

App named OLIO used to track your pantry.

Key points from market research

App named MyKitchenPal for recipes.

Pain Points

Most of these pain points were entangled with each other.

The root cause of our problem lies at the lack of planning which can be addressed to reduce overbuying and unawareness.

Overbuying

Many users frequently purchase more food than needed, leading to excess and eventual waste.

Unawareness of Expiry Dates

Users tend to forget about expiring food items in their pantry, leading to spoilage and wastage.

Lack of Planning

Users often do not plan their meals effectively, resulting in cooking more than necessary and throwing out leftovers

Inefficient Use of Discounts

Users miss out on clearance items and discounts, which could help reduce costs and prevent waste.

Ideation
(Design)

During the design phase, we ideated as a group through the Crazy 8's method using an interactive whiteboard on Miro. We generated over 40 ideas for products and features against our problem statement.

The problem statement was as follows:
‍
How might we support young adults to minimise their household food waste?

Our solution

Eliminate the human error in meal planning to minimise the time, money and effort spent during the shopping experience.

Ability to support the local food industry by connecting with local producers, and seamlessly take stock of your pantry while engaging with supermarket loyalty programs to accumulate savings.

“The MVP is not fully interactive, it only prototypes the primary user flow which was recorded for the final pitch.” – Gautham Srinivas

View Prototype

The outcome

We received a cash prize and offer for funding with further improvements.

“Foodpile is a solution that integrates with any existing loyalty card system. It can save time, money and effort for grocery shoppers.” – Gautham Srinivas

View Prototype

wait there's more.

Features Overview

Generate Shopping Lists 

Minimise your wasting potential by generating shopping lists based around your chosen recipes.

Notifications for Expiring Food and Items on Clearance 

Notify you of expiring foods in your pantry. Notify you of products on clearance/sale at your chosen supermarket.

Recommendations for Recipes based in Ingredients 

Query the supermarket recipe database for meals based on what's in your pantry.

Environmental Impact Visualisation 

Visualise your impact on the environment through usage statistics and a competitive Facebook leaderboard.

Marketplace for Leftovers 

Buy and Sell from reputed vendors in your areas to support local economy and reduce food waste.

Integrates with Loyalty Card to automatically populate Inventory (Only occurs when you tap the loyalty card.) 

Use NFC to tap your loyalty card and populate your pantry with ingredients you have just purchased. It is a stockpile in many ways.

Like what you see? Reach Out!

reducing household food waste with smart grocery lists