Grab'n'Go

What is the problem your solution addresses?

Our app hopes to address two main problems: food waste and food insecurity. Food waste is a significant problem and in America, food waste accounts for 18% of the country’s methane pollution, taking up the majority of landfills in the US. On the other side of the coin, food insecurity is becoming a problem in the US, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. As of 2020, 1 in 8 Americans were estimated to be food insecure, with inconsistent access to food. We created this app with the purpose to lessen the food waste that occurs on college campuses, while also helping students that are food insecure.

Why did you pick this solution, and how does it address the problem?

While interviewing college students about their thoughts on food waste, one common problem they’ve experienced is seeing others overestimate the amount of food portions that they can eat. Many people don't know how to gauge the amount of food they want to eat and end up with leftovers, which are typically thrown away or become spoiled. Being involved in organizations, we have also witnessed numerous leftover pizza boxes after meetings and events, which are thrown in the trash. We designed an app that aims to decrease food waste on campus, as organizations or other individuals in the community can advertise their leftovers or free foods/produce to students, which also benefits students that are food insecure.

Inspiration

Sustainable food apps are on the rise on the market with similar aims to reduce food waste, such as Too Good To Go and CookBrite. These apps have a goal of combatting the food surplus problem at a small-scale. Too Good To Go is an app that allows restaurants to put their goods on sale for a cheaper price at the end of the day and is currently trending in big cities, such as New York and California. CookBrite focuses on reducing food waste at home and is an app that allows you to utilize all the groceries that you purchase, and after inputting your grocery list, it will whip up a plethora of recipes. While these apps focused on food waste in restaurants and in the kitchen at home, our team was inspired by these apps with goals of reducing food surplus on campus.

Challenges we ran into

With one of the team member being a complete beginner with no background experience, it was difficult learning the material in a short time frame, and it was also hard to communicate certain ideas. The time constraint was also another challenge, especially with partners in different time zones and schedules. However, we were able to work well together, pitching ideas and creating the app in a timely manner while also getting to know each other.

What we learned

One of our team member is a complete beginner and is transitioning from the healthcare field with the Catalyst event as her first dip into the UI/UX, and with the help of her teammate, she was able to learn about Figma and the steps behind the design process. We were also learned how to be patient and accommodate each other while working in different time zones and schedules. Our other team member is also beginner, but with more experience in the UI/UX field, and from this experience, she was able to learn how to break things down in a more simpler manner that is understandable which can be applied to different audiences.

Built With

• figma