Surplus Sparky

Surplus Sparky

Inspiration

We often saw leftover food from club meetings, events, and activities around campus just being thrown away. At the same time, many students are skipping meals or struggling to afford them. It felt wrong that food and hunger existed side by side on the same campus. That gave us the idea: what if we had a simple, instant way to connect leftover food with students who need it? That’s how Surplus Sparky was born.

What it does

Surplus Sparky is a real-time notification app. Whenever someone has extra food, they can quickly post what it is, how many people it can feed, where it is, and for how long it’ll be available. Instantly, students nearby get a notification with the details. They can check the live feed or map, see what’s available, and head over before the food goes to waste. To make things even easier, the Giver can also just snap a photo of the food, and the app uses AI image analysis to auto-fill the details like food type and approximate servings.

How we built it

We built Surplus Sparky using Flutter, which allowed us to target Android, iOS, and web with the same codebase. For the backend, we used Firebase:

Authentication: Google sign-in for easy, secure logins.
Firestore: A real-time NoSQL database to sync food posts instantly across devices.
Cloud Messaging: Push notifications to alert students the moment food is available.
Google Maps API: To let students pin pickup spots and view nearby posts.
AI Model (Vision API): For photo uploads, we experimented with using AI to recognize food items and estimate servings automatically.

Challenges we ran into

Making one codebase work smoothly across Android, iOS, and web was tougher than expected.
Setting up Google authentication took more effort than we planned.
We also had to balance adding features with keeping the user experience simple and fast.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We built a working cross-platform prototype in just one weekend.
The real-time posting and notifications worked exactly as we imagined — food posted on one device showed up instantly on another.
The app is not just a demo — it has real potential to create a positive social impact for students.

What we learned

How powerful Firebase can be for rapid prototyping.
The challenges of cross-platform development with Flutter.
That keeping the flow as simple as possible is key — students won’t use it if it feels complicated.
Even small ideas can make a big difference when applied to everyday problems like food waste.

What's next for Surplus Sparky

Partner with student clubs, dining halls, and event organizers to get the app adopted at scale.
Add gamification features like badges (“Food Hero”) for students who share often.
Include analytics to show meals shared and food waste reduced, so the impact is visible.
Eventually launch Surplus Sparky on the app stores so ASU students can start using it in real life.