Inspiration
Food has always been wasted in households, scraps and leftovers going to waste when they're perfectly edible. People making food in kitchens always have the opportunity to make a little more, to do something with what get's leftover. Additionally, people everywhere are lacking time and resources, to make a nice, wholesome meal, and usually resort to eating sub-nutritious food. To solve this problem, we created NeighborCater!
What it does
NeighborCater has a simple goal - To allow household kitchens to become booming small businesses. Thousands of people in local communities look for outside food, when they'd much rather settle for cheaper, home-cooked food. NeighborCater allows this transaction to happen by placing kitchens on the forefront - listing what they make, their location, etc. Buyers can view each Kitchen, contact the "chef" through email and phone number, and eventually buy the item. The "chef" gets a notification of his/her orders and can manage what they are selling throughout the day, what's leftover.
How we built it
NeighborCater is an iOS AND an Android App. We were successfully able to replicate the app on both platforms, using Swift and Java, respectively, which proved much more difficult that we originally thought. Our primary backend was Firebase, holding the restaurant data, buyer info, orders, user authentication, and more. We utilized various CocoaPods and Online APIs including Google AutoComplete, XE.API and the Google Maps API for location address and currency conversion of prices.
Challenges we ran into
Integrating Firebase with our front-end was somewhat difficult, as we had to ensure both iOS and Android would be able to efficiently interface with it. We developed our custom data schema, to ensure both parties would be able to seamlessly integrate. Another challenge that we ran into was our Github workflow, which set us back a few hours. Developing on different machines, and using different dependencies, build files such as the 'gradle.build' were bound to be altered, and required persistent effort to correct.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
One accomplishment that we are extremely proud of is using Firebase as our multi-platform backend. The integration of our backend in both iOS and Android, is seamless. This ensures that anyone is able to use our service, and expands the reach of our app's effect on the community.
What we learned
We learned how to use XE.com's API to efficiently and effectively convert prices into, and from, different currencies. We explored developing a multi-platform application, and the work involved in ensuring a seamless developmental workflow is existent. Throughout development, a Github workflow was put into place, however there were numerous issues we ran into, including merge conflicts. We learned how to resolve conflicts, and correctly issue pull requests to ensure features and snippets of code, are integrated in our base layer.
What's next for NeighborCater
We will expand our project into the field of Web. This expands our range of effect on the community, and makes it available for more users. Also, a set of new features including, reviews, food images, and in-app communication.
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