Freshify

Connecting you to local grocers, sustainably and simplified.

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Inspiration 🌍

With the rise of COVID-19, many independently owned grocers faced difficulties remaining in business. At the same time Canadian consumption habits are unsustainable, in fact mass-agriculture contributes to over 600 Million Metric Tons of annual CO2 equivalents. [1] That’s why we decided to create Freshify. Fresify is a platform that fuses both the local community and sustainable consumption. Through our advanced matching algorithm, users are able to receive meal plans and recipe prompts from local grocers based on their own needs and location optimization. Shopping locally not only supports the local economy during times of difficulty, but it also supports the environment. This way, Freshify empowers local grocers & farmers, and their communities to work together in creating a better and more sustainable world.

What it does 🥖

Freshify is a platform that allows customers to make and select their meal plans from ingredients from independently owned grocers. On sign up, the user is prompted for their location and food preferences, along with any dietary restrictions (vegan, peanut-free, etc). With this system, our app uses an advanced matching algorithm to curate a list of meals and their ingredients. The algorithm then uses the user’s location to find independent grocers near them with the needed ingredients for a selected recipe. Through our platform, users are able to make purchases from these local grocers for a healthier and more sustainable meal.

How we built it 👩‍💻

We had first started prototyping our web page in Figma along with the paths and flows the user would encounter. After that, we used Miro to mock up our backend and frontend architecture, which allowed us to effectively divide up our roles. On the frontend, we used React, React Bootstrap and React Router to build a responsive PWA. For the backend, we used a combination of Flask + Firebase to construct a fast database and login integrations while also allowing us to have flexible, but powerful endpoints to curate the recipe and location services. Using Python and Flask, we integrated a variety of APIS including HereMaps Place API, Edamam FoodAPI, FireAuth, and MapBox to allow location selection.

Challenges we ran into ❓

Throughout the project, we faced a few challenges. In the beginning of the event, our team had trouble structuring the idea. Although organized visually, we found it was difficult coming to a general consensus and making sure all of the details of the platform were transparent. It was important for our team to communicate in order to resolve the issue. Moreover, we also had difficulty selecting the backend architecture as well as implementing and creating our own API. Although arduous, we were able to succeed in smoothing out any issues that occurred in the backend.

  • Project structuring 🗨
  • Backend Architecture 👨‍💻
  • Name of the project 😂

Accomplishments that we're proud of 📜

We’re proud that we were able to structure and plan the project effectively, as this ultimately served as a base for the success of our platform. Moreover, we also take pride in the custom API that we created specifically for this project. Among our backend developers, they learned how to navigate React and APIs to create a fully functional product.

What we learned 🔍

Throughout the project, we each strengthened our react skills and deepened our knowledge of making custom APIs. More importantly, we learned the importance of communication at the ideation stage of the project. We each had different directions that we wanted to take the project in, and eventually had to settle for one.

What's next for Freshify ⏭️

We are planning on expanding the existing algorithm-generated meal plans and work on integrating a delivery system among communities. Users would be able to have access to select meal delivery plans that renew on a weekly basis. Currently, our api is designed and targeted towards the Canadian population, but in the future we look to expand nationally to further the impact of our goals. Our team strongly believes in Freshify’s initiative and will continue to build out the platform to improve the user’s experience and overall site functionality. We hope that through our platform, Canadians and those alike, will be even more encouraged to shop, eat and consume with their local communities.

[1] https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions

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