PoyoPop

Start-up app idea for pop-up cafes and food in the area!

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Inspiration

One of our group members began baking and dreamed of hosting a pop-up to share her creations. But without a strong social media following or a clear way to reach potential customers, she struggled to get the word out. Her experience—combined with our shared passion for discovering new food and drink—sparked the idea for PoyoPop: an app designed to connect curious consumers with local pop-up vendors, making it easier for small food businesses to be found and enjoyed.

What it does

PoyoPop bridges the gap between curious food lovers and local pop-up vendors. For consumers, the app features an interactive map that highlights nearby pop-ups based on their current location. Each listing includes details about the food or drinks being offered, the vendor behind the booth, and . Scrolling down reveals a curated list of nearby pop-ups, along with personalized recommendations based on the consumer’s past reviews and preferences. For pop-up owners, PoyoPop provides a simple way to create and share event postings—letting them showcase their offerings, set up location details, and reach a wider audience without relying solely on social media.

How we built it

PoyoPop connects food lovers with local food and drink pop-ups in their area. For consumers, the app features a dynamic map showing nearby pop-ups based on their current location. Each listing includes details like the vendor’s name, menu offerings, estimated attendance, and more. Users can scroll to explore a curated list of pop-ups and receive personalized recommendations based on places they’ve visited before. For pop-up owners, PoyoPop offers a simple way to create event postings—sharing when and where their booth will be, what they’re selling, and tracking how many visitors they’ve attracted. It’s a platform built to help small food businesses grow and food lovers discover their next favorite pop-up.

Challenges we ran into

Initially, we considered adding a rating system to allow consumers to review pop-ups. However, we realized this could discourage pop-up owners from participating—especially those just starting out—which goes against our core mission. PoyoPop is meant to be a welcoming space where anyone can share their culinary creations and be discovered. Instead of ratings, we implemented a visit count feature on each vendor’s profile, offering a positive and nonjudgmental way to track engagement and growth. Another challenge we faced was designing an interface that’s intuitive for users of all ages while still offering robust functionality. To address this, we built a clean, straightforward home screen that provides easy access to all key features without overwhelming the user. Lastly, we encountered a problem when attempting to integrate an interactive map API into our app. Our goal with this was to provide users with a dynamic experience that would provide accurate and precise geographical information. Initially, this feature was challenging to implement due to time constraints and limited expertise. However, we worked together to teach ourselves as much as possible despite our lack of experience with coding. With a little more refinement and time, we were able to execute this dynamic map feature into our program.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Our team is made up of students from diverse academic backgrounds: Computer & Information Systems Technology, Business Analytics, Accounting, and Chemistry, all united by a shared passion for food and innovation. For half of us, this was our very first hackathon, making the experience both exciting and challenging. Despite our different disciplines and varying levels of technical experience, we came together to build an app and a business concept we truly believe in.

One of our proudest achievements was developing a working prototype in Figma and diving into UX/UI design for the first time. Many of us had never used Figma before or integrated code into a design tool, so the learning curve was steep but incredibly rewarding.

What we learned

Through this project, we learned how impactful collaboration can be when people from different fields come together. Each of us brought a unique perspective from understanding user needs and business feasibility to implementing technical design elements. We gained hands-on experience with Figma, prototyping workflows, and user-centered design principles. We also learned how to balance feasibility and creativity keeping our idea technically realistic while still making it fun and engaging. Most importantly, we discovered the value of testing ideas early and iterating quickly based on feedback, a mindset we’ll carry forward into future projects.

What's next for PoyoPop

Our next steps for PoyoPop focus on expanding our reach to better serve both consumers and vendors. For consumers, we'll target avid food lovers through social media campaigns, influencers, and local foodie communities. For vendors, we'll reach out to small business owners, culinary students, and student organizations through business networks and farmer's markets. By starting off small, we hope that word of mouth and our online presence grow large enough to attract large local organizations, city markets, and non-profit communities. On the product side, we hope to make each PoyoPop homepage tailored to each person, with personalized recommendations based on their favorite cuisines and past visits. We hope to launch a beta version of PoyoPop in one or two cities and see how consumers react to it, allowing us to gather real-world feedback to refine our design and make any modifications.

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