Second Serving

Inspiration

Everyday, we see tons of food being thrown into the bins by the UCSD dining halls. While it's dining hall food, it's still food. Food that could go a long way to feed the stomachs of the hungry all around San Diego. It's not just the dining halls, most restaurants all over America and even individuals throw away all of their leftover food for lack of a better option. While the poor go hungry because there's no other option for them. That's when it hit us, why not connect the two?

What it does

Second Serving is a dual-platform solution (mobile and web app) designed to bridge the gap between food surplus and food insecurity. The platform connects restaurants and individuals with leftover food to homeless individuals in need through strategically placed Nourish Hubs — smart locker systems located near homeless shelters. Goal: Second Serving aims to eradicate hunger among the homeless while significantly reducing food waste from restaurants and households — creating a sustainable, tech-enabled food redistribution network.

How It Works:

For Donators: Donators use the mobile or web app to register leftover food, either by describing it or uploading a photo (which can be processed using Gemini AI to identify the items).

A Nourish Collector picks up the donated food and delivers it to the nearest Nourish Hub.

At the hub, food is sorted into containers and stored inside secure, smart lockers.

For Consumers: Homeless users access the web app, which shows nearby hubs with available food.

Each user is assigned a unique QR code to unlock food lockers — limited to twice per day to ensure fair access.

This system allows users to retrieve food conveniently, privately, and respectfully.

How we built it

We divided our workload according to our skillsets. One of our teammates made the app/webapp for donators with the flutter framework so that it is super easy for them to create a donation. With the help of the Gemini AI we were able to add image recognition to auto fill all the details as well.

Then our other teammate built the webapp using the express framework for the consumers to make it super easy for them to find and receive nourishment.

All our code was connected by using Firebase Firestore as a common database.

Challenges we ran into

Our first challenge came in terms of dividing work. All of us had very different skillsets so we had to think of a way to build this project so that we could utilise everybody's strong suits. Then the next hurdle came in the form of hosting. We'd never hosted any sites live and it was a lot of work figuring it out. Thankfully firebase makes it easy. And our last major problem was building a good UI. None of us are good at the UI/UX part so it was really hard doing that. Then there were some bugs that were really persistent. For example, we had no idea how firebase hosting treats cookies and it took us 4 hours to just fix that. But overall, I'm glad we were able to do what we set out to do

Accomplishments that we're proud of

As first-time hackathon participants, we’re proud to have built a functional prototype that addresses real-world issues — food waste and homelessness. From designing a dual-platform app to implementing QR-based access to smart food lockers, we pushed ourselves beyond our comfort zones.

We faced challenges like setting up user authentication and creating a clean, intuitive UI/UX — solving them through online research, tutorials, and teamwork. At times, we disagreed on the direction of the project — such as whether to use a delivery model or locker-based system — but ultimately made thoughtful decisions as a team.

Most of all, we’re proud to have built something meaningful that reflects both our technical growth and social awareness.

What we learned

Although all of us came in with some coding experience — in Python, JavaScript, CSS, HTML, and Flutter — this hackathon pushed us far beyond what we were used to. We quickly realized that building a full app in a limited time requires not just knowledge, but adaptability and teamwork.

We taught ourselves how to work with Firebase, set up user authentication, and design a functional UI — mostly through YouTube tutorials, documentation, and collaborative problem-solving. Whether it was improving our CSS styling or learning to manage backend data flow, we gained hands-on experience in both front-end and back-end development.

Most importantly, we learned how to learn fast, divide responsibilities, and support each other to bring our idea to life.

What's next for Second Serving

Implementing a project like this has huge potentials. The numbers show that it could actually solve hunger problems in America even if we get 20 percent of restaurants to join the initiative. But it also has big costs. Hence the only way to get this working in the real world is to partner up with bigger NGOs. They have the funds and we have the facilities. In terms of development, we just have to build the driver facing app and appropriate nourishment lockers which can unlock and dispense food.