Catered Leftovers
Challenge:
BU Sustainability Services and BU Dining
Services face difficulties managing
leftovers from catering events which
leads to higher rates of food waste.
Solution: Create a website application that allows for leftovers to be posted by staff and viewed by students.
Solution: Create a website application that allows for leftovers to be posted by staff and viewed by students.
Ideation
User Types and The General Scenerios That Occur
BU Dining Sustainability Staff
BU Student Body
BU Dining Sustainability Staff
-
Upload and post event immediately
after event
- Upload and save event beforehand to post after (Will be able to edit listing if anything changes)
BU Student Body
- Get email notifications of
preferred leftovers
- See all events providing leftovers
by logging into website
User Research
1. User Interviews
We interviewed two BU dining staff to learn the process of catered events on campus and to learn any additional info we need to take into account when designing. Some important information we learned:
- CaterTrax is utilized by thousands of food service operations including the BU dining team, to automate tasks and efficiently manage events and daily operations and integration with this software would be ideal.
- Any leftover food waste from events are currently being discarded.
- An allergen notice is very important in the upcoming initative because
- A website would be more ideal for staff and students
- There are varying amount of time that a food is deemed safe to consume based on item, time, and temperature.
2. Competitor Analysis
We conducted competitor analysis on Free Food Alert, FeedShare, Zot Bites, and here are opportunities we established:
- Personalized Food Preferences: Allow users to set food preferences or dietary restrictions to receive more tailored alerts.
- Gamification and Rewards: Introduce a points system for both administrators and recipients to encourage participation. Points could be redeemed for rewards or discounts.
- Feedback System: Beyond ratings, include a feedback loop for continuous improvement based on user experiences.
- Sustainability Tracking: Offer users insights into their personal impact on food waste reduction and sustainability goals.
- Integration with Campus Events: Integrate with university event schedules to automatically notify the web app of potential surplus food from planned events.
We interviewed two BU dining staff to learn the process of catered events on campus and to learn any additional info we need to take into account when designing. Some important information we learned:
- CaterTrax is utilized by thousands of food service operations including the BU dining team, to automate tasks and efficiently manage events and daily operations and integration with this software would be ideal.
- Any leftover food waste from events are currently being discarded.
- An allergen notice is very important in the upcoming initative because
- A website would be more ideal for staff and students
- There are varying amount of time that a food is deemed safe to consume based on item, time, and temperature.
2. Competitor Analysis
We conducted competitor analysis on Free Food Alert, FeedShare, Zot Bites, and here are opportunities we established:
- Personalized Food Preferences: Allow users to set food preferences or dietary restrictions to receive more tailored alerts.
- Gamification and Rewards: Introduce a points system for both administrators and recipients to encourage participation. Points could be redeemed for rewards or discounts.
- Feedback System: Beyond ratings, include a feedback loop for continuous improvement based on user experiences.
- Sustainability Tracking: Offer users insights into their personal impact on food waste reduction and sustainability goals.
- Integration with Campus Events: Integrate with university event schedules to automatically notify the web app of potential surplus food from planned events.
User Personas
Branding
Mid-Fidelity Wireframes
User Testing
One issue we encountered during admin user testing was during uploading a new event to the event. One admin brought an issue of serving size and the amount of information displayed.
On the student size, we occured generally no main issues besides wording which we also implemented.
On the student size, we occured generally no main issues besides wording which we also implemented.
High-Fidelity Wireframes (Admin and Student)
Summary of Project Poster
Demo Catered Leftovers Yourself