SecondServing

AI request matching
Donor Analytics
Requestor Dashboard
Add a food request
View available requests
Donor Inventory

Inspiration

The idea sparked when a friend working at a gastronome brought home perfectly good food that was meant to be thrown away. Curious, I asked how much food gets wasted daily—and the answer was shocking: a lot. That moment pushed us to dig deeper into food waste statistics, and we quickly realized the scale of the problem. We knew technology could help bridge the gap between surplus and need.

What it does

Inspired by seeing perfectly good food wasted at a friend's workplace, Second Serving was built to connect surplus food from donors to shelters in real time—using AI to ensure safety and fight hunger.

How we built it

Second Serving is a full-stack web app designed to make food donation seamless and intelligent: Frontend: Developed using React.js + TypeScript with Tailwind CSS, ensuring a responsive and intuitive UI for donors and shelters.

Backend: Built with FastAPI, providing a high-performance, scalable API layer.

AI Integration: Verifies expiry dates from uploaded images.

Uses a matching algorithm to pair donations with nearby shelters based on needs and location.

Includes a QR scanner for quick data entry and verification.

Database: MongoDB manages donor, shelter, and food listing data securely.

Challenges we ran into

Efficient Matching: Designing an algorithm that accurately matches food donations to shelter needs in real time, considering location, quantity, and preferences.

Expiry Prediction Accuracy: Ensuring reliable AI predictions for food items nearing their expiry, especially from varied packaging formats and image quality.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Built a functioning MVP that connects donors and shelters seamlessly Integrated AI features like expiry verification and donation matching Created an intuitive, responsive frontend and scalable backend Established a solid foundation for future enhancements and real-world impact