Shruthi Pawar.
Industry: Social Impact & Food Tech
Duration: 3 Months
Location: Indianapolis, IN
Chef For Grabs
"Chef for Grabs" is a platform designed to support food truck chefs and food rescue organizations in preparing and distributing meals to shelters and underserved communities. It tackles logistical and regulatory challenges by providing a structured system that ensures food safety, improves resource management, and simplifies coordination. The platform empowers chefs to efficiently plan and execute meal preparation while leveraging legal incentives to encourage greater participation. By bridging gaps in food rescue efforts, "Chef for Grabs" promotes a sustainable and community-driven approach to reducing food insecurity.
My Role
My contributions to this project included User Research, Brainstorming, Wireframing, Prototyping, Usability Testing, and Design, collaborating with caregivers to ensure a user-centered and empathetic approach throughout the process.
Tools
01/
Chapter
Understanding The Idea
Food insecurity remains a pressing issue, with many shelters and communities struggling to provide consistent meals. While food truck chefs and food rescue organizations are willing to help, they face logistical barriers, strict food safety regulations, and resource limitations. Coordinating meal preparation and distribution efficiently is a challenge, leading to missed opportunities to feed those in need.
Problem
"Chef for Grabs" streamlines the process by providing a structured platform that helps food truck chefs and food rescue organizations plan, prepare, and distribute meals efficiently. It simplifies compliance with food safety regulations, optimizes resource management, and offers legal incentives to encourage participation. By addressing key logistical and regulatory challenges, the platform ensures a more effective and sustainable meal distribution system.
Solution
The platform enhances meal availability for shelters and underserved communities while reducing food waste. It empowers chefs to contribute their skills more effectively and helps food rescue organizations operate with greater efficiency. By improving coordination and removing barriers, "Chef for Grabs" fosters a stronger, community-driven approach to tackling food insecurity.
Impact
Target Users
Food Truck Chefs – These chefs voluntarily contribute their skills and resources to prepare meals for vulnerable communities. They can source ingredients through partnerships with food rescue organizations or use what they have on hand. The platform helps them streamline meal preparation, comply with food safety regulations, and efficiently serve those in need.
Food Rescue Organizations – These groups collect and distribute salvaged food to those in need. By collaborating with the platform, they can better coordinate with food truck chefs, ensuring optimal use of rescued ingredients while improving efficiency in meal distribution.
Market Opportunity
Why Prioritise Food Trucks?
Food rescue organizations face logistical challenges in transporting meals to those in need, often struggling with distribution gaps and accessibility. Food trucks, as FDA-approved mobile kitchens, provide a flexible and efficient solution by bringing freshly prepared meals directly to underserved communities. Their mobility allows them to reach food-insecure areas more effectively than traditional food distribution methods, ensuring timely access to nutritious meals while reducing food waste. The tax incentives encourage businesses to participate, making it a win-win for both companies and the community.
Design Tools
Interviews
Gathered caregiver insights.
Observation
Studied interactions of caregivers & patients.
Personas
Created user archetypes.
Empathy Mapping
Explored user perspectives.
Storyboarding
Visualized user scenarios & journeys.
Wireframing
Designed iPad prototypes.
User Testing
Refined solutions by user feedback.
Affinity Mapping
Identified key themes.
Ideation
Brainstormed solutions.
02/
Chapter
Research
Journey Towards The Solution
Research Methods Used
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COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
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INTERVIEWS
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BRAINSTORMING SESSIONS
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STORYBOARDING
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PERSONAS
Insights
Competitor Analysis – Assessed existing food redistribution platforms to identify gaps in logistics, compliance, and user engagement, informing our strategy
to streamline connections between food trucks and rescue organizations.
Interviews – Conversations with chefs and food rescue teams highlighted key challenges: regulatory compliance, logistical inefficiencies, and excessive paperwork for food donation.
Brainstorming Sessions –
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Session 1: Focused on simplifying food donation by addressing compliance barriers and transport limitations.
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Session 2: Developed key platform features, including automated documentation and real-time coordination to ease the donation process.
Storyboarding – Mapped user journeys to visualize pain points and refine the donation process before prototyping.
Personas – Crafted profiles of food truck chefs and rescue coordinators, ensuring features align with real-world needs.
03/
Chapter
Design
Proposed Solution
The platform unites food truck chefs and food rescue organizations in a collective effort to combat this problem by collaboratively providing meals to those in need. The food truck chefs have the flexibility to choose between utilizing their raw ingredients, which meet stringent FDA regulations, or sourcing ingredients from food rescue organizations, fostering a holistic strategy that ensures that food truck chefs and food rescue organizations work in harmony to combat food insecurity effectively. Notably, food rescue organizations already conduct rigorous checks on rescued food, ensuring it meets safety and quality standards before being distributed.
Wireframe Overview
Low- Fidelity Wireframes
Started with paper prototypes to visualize core platform functions, refining donation workflows, logistics coordination, and compliance processes. Early feedback helped streamline interactions between food trucks and rescue organizations. We then developed mid-fidelity wireframes to enhance usability, test navigation, and ensure a seamless user experience before moving to high-fidelity designs.
High Fidelity Designs
How The Proposed System Addresses The Problem
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Collaborative Solution: The platform unites food truck chefs and rescue organizations to combat food insecurity.
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Flexible Sourcing: Chefs use FDA-compliant ingredients or tap into food rescue supplies.
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Safety Priority: Rescued food undergoes thorough inspection for safety before distribution.
Main Flows and Features
Food Rescue Organization Dashboard
1. Event Management & Community Insights
Food rescue organizations can easily create events, define cuisines, and track participation, gaining insights into community engagement.
2. Streamlined Ingredient Sourcing
Registered chefs can access real-time inventory from local food rescue databases, making it easier to find and claim available ingredients.
3. Efficient Request Approval System
Organizations can review, approve, or reject ingredient requests from chefs, ensuring a smooth and transparent workflow.
Chef Dashboard
1. Event Participation & Meal Planning
Chefs can register for events, and view meal quantities, locations, cuisines, and dietary restrictions, ensuring efficient meal prep and planning.
2. Real-Time Inventory & Pickup Coordination
Chefs can explore available surplus ingredients from local food rescue databases, reserve what they need, and schedule pickups, making ingredient sourcing seamless and waste-free.
Conclusion
Through this project, I learned the significance of direct user engagement in understanding the real-world complexities of food rescue and donation. Iterative design played a crucial role in refining features like ingredient request approvals and event coordination, ensuring they were intuitive and efficient for both chefs and food donors. Additionally, this experience strengthened my approach to designing for usability, accessibility, and the logistical challenges of surplus food distribution.
Looking ahead, I aim to explore ways to further streamline food rescue operations by integrating smarter matching algorithms and predictive inventory management. Scaling Chef for Grabs to serve more communities effectively will create a more impactful, sustainable solution that bridges the gap between surplus food and those who need it most.
Team
Shruthi Pawar
Ankush Ashok Kumar
Lizeth Quinones
Namitha Murali
Rachana Nataraj