Food Next Door

The problem we are solving

Many people have lost their jobs and thus their steady income due to the COVID crisis - they are in need of an income and have plenty of time. On the other hand, many people are forced to work from home who either do not want to cook for themselves or do not have the time or skills. We would like to match these groups and provide an extra income to those who need it during these times while providing fresh, healthy and homemade food to the remote workers that don't enjoy cooking.

The solution we bring to the table

We, Food Next Door, connect feeders with eaters. As a first prototype we have set up a facebook group to reach innovators and early adopters. Further, we are working on setting up a two-sided market place homepage through sharetribe to test our assumptions and learn more about the needs of our customers. After a 2 month pilot phase we aim to transition to our own homepage and kick off the development phase of our mobile solution. A click dummy of our vision for this can already be accessed through glide (food-next-door.glideapp.io).

What we have done during the weekend

Our team came up with the idea to start a project that connects neighbors and builds relationships over food about 2 months ago. However, the current situation due to the spread of COVID-19 has made the execution of this project impossible and we gave up on the idea. Taking part in this hackathon, however, we decided to give the idea another chance and adept to the new circumstances. During this weekend, we pivoted our concept and business model. The new project is "compatible" with the drastic societal changes caused by the corona crisis and, moreover, enables us to reactivate potential and provide people who have lost their job with an income. Furthermore, we have developed a first working prototype for the "food next door" app which offers all the most important features.

Our solution’s impact to the crisis

As already mentioned above, Food Next Door gives unemployed people the opportunity to have a steady source of income in order to be able to pay their rents. In addition, we can relieve people who are now working long hours from home while potentially having to take care of their children, from time-consuming chores such as grocery shopping, cooking and doing the dishes. Compared to takeout or delivery services, we can offer true home made food and provide a broader range of options for different dietary requirements. Moreover, people who belong to high risks groups of the corona virus can minimize the number of times they have to visit grocery stores through ordering their food with the Food Next Door App. Further, as food connects people, Food Next Door helps "feeding" relationships during times of social distancing by building "remote" relationships between feeders and eaters.

The necessities in order to continue the project

To continue working on this project we need test users for our market place prototype to challenge our assumptions and gain more knowledge about our target groups and their needs. A major focus of our team during the next months will also be to develop a marketing and growth hacking strategy to attract early adopters to the platform. Further, we will need to, either expand our team or find a service provider to launch the development of the Food Next Door Homepage and native app.

The value of our solution after the crisis

Once established, the Food Next Door platform will be able to provide ongoing value to society also during "normal" times. There will always be people who are passionate about cooking and people who do not want or are not able to cook. Thus, the central business model remains valid. Our platform empowers housemen/housewives, reduces the barriers towards employment and gives access to an independent income. Further, when social distancing is not necessary anymore, Food Next Door can play a central role in revitalising neighborhood communities by inspiring people to share meals with their neighbors.