Chef For Grabs
Securely Turning Surplus into Support:
Food Trucks for Food Security
Overview
"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. By bridging gaps in food rescue efforts, "Chef for Grabs" promotes a sustainable and community-driven approach to reducing food insecurity.
Industry:
Social Impact & Civic Tech
Duration:
4 Months
Team:
1 UX Researcher, 2 UX Designers, 1 Developer
Role:
User interviews, literature reviews, competitor analysis, persona development, prototyping, and usability testing.
Tools:
CHALLENGES
How might we design a system that promotes collaboration between food truck operators and food rescue groups, ensuring the effective provision of wholesome meals to food-insecure communities?
Food insecurity remains a major challenge, with shelters often struggling to provide consistent meals. While food truck chefs and food rescue organizations are willing to help, they face barriers such as strict food safety regulations, logistical coordination issues, and limited resources.
To address this, Chef for Grabs was designed as a platform that connects chefs with food rescue organizations, simplifying coordination, ensuring compliance, and enabling efficient meal preparation and distribution. The goal was to create a scalable, collaborative system that reduces food waste and improves access to meals for underserved communities.
What Users Struggled With
User interviews revealed key challenges faced by both food truck chefs and food rescue organizations, highlighting gaps in coordination, compliance, and resource management that hinder efficient meal distribution.
Food Truck Owner
"I tried to donate leftover food but they have too many policies. It's sad to see food go to the trash when there are so many people in need."
Food Rescue Organization
"We often have food supplies, but not enough hands to prepare or distribute it efficiently. "
Restaurant Owner
"It would be great to have one platform where I can say 'I have 10 cans of green beans, does somebody want it?' and an organization could claim it."
Food Rescue Orgaisation
"We have two trucks going out twice a day but we know there's more food out there. We need more trucks, more employees, more volunteers."
DIGGING DEEPER
Why Prioritise Food Trucks?
Food rescue groups struggle with logistics and distribution gaps. Food trucks, as FDA-approved mobile kitchens, offer a flexible way to deliver fresh meals directly to underserved areas, improving access and reducing waste. Tax incentives also encourage businesses to participate, creating a win-win for companies and communities.
25%
of Marion County residents rely on SNAP, WIC, food pantries, & meal programs.
146
shelters, with ~13% near Indianapolis, highlight gaps in food distribution.
160+
food trucks, an underused resource for food rescue in Indianapolis.
TARGET USERS
Food Truck Chefs
FDA-approved mobile kitchens ready to cook and serve on their own schedule.
Food Rescue Organizations
Coordinating community meal events and connecting with chefs who show up.
Breakdown Of the Problem
1.
Food rescue orgs receive ample donations but lack vehicles for delivery to communities.
2.
FDA regulations and liability concerns prevent restaurants from easily donating cooked food.
3.
No centralized platform exists to coordinate food trucks, rescue orgs, and community events.
4.
Food truck owners want to contribute but lack a system to schedule, track impact, and claim tax incentives.
Research Process
BUSINESS STRATEGY
Competitor Analysis
What Did The Competitors Lack?
01
No coordination of mobile kitchens (food trucks)
02
No chef-to-rescue organisation communication hub
03
No event-based meal distribution model
04
No tax incentive integration for donors
Understanding the User
User Analysis
We conducted 10+ interviews with chefs, food truck owners and food rescue organisations, and conducted surveys, to understand needs and expectations. Insights from this research helped us create our personas, Harry and Sarah.
Hard to find time and resources to coordinate volunteer cooking sessions.
Pays high taxes yearly with no clear way to maximize donation deductions.
A system to connect with local shelters and organizations for meal events.
Way to schedule sessions and track the impact of his donations.
Help reducing his tax burden through food contributions.
No platform to plan, schedule, and track volunteer activities.
Meet Harry — Food Truck Chef.
Limited resources to meet the diverse needs of shelter residents.
No reliable way to expand food donation programs or improve meal quality.
Better collaboration tools with local food service providers.
Consistent supply of nutritious meals for residents.
Optimized allocation of food resources across the shelter.
Difficult to coordinate equitably with food donors and minimize waste.
Meet Sarah — Volunteer at a Food Rescue Organisation.
How The Flow Works
After interviewing food truck owners, restaurant chefs, and food rescue organizations, we stepped back to synthesize what we heard and ran a team brainstorming session to map out possible directions. Two scenarios emerged: connecting restaurants to shelters, or connecting food trucks directly to rescue organizations. We chose the latter and designed Chef for Grabs around it.
Designing The
Final Product
ExacqGo
App Experience
Chef for Grabs is a mobile platform that transforms how food truck chefs and rescue organizations collaborate to fight hunger. By replacing scattered coordination with a streamlined event-based system, it connects the right chefs to the communities, reducing food waste, simplifying donations, and making it effortless to give back.
FOOD RESCUE ORGANISATION
Post Events in minutes
Can set the date, cuisine, serving size, ingredient pickup in one flow.
Find the right chef
Approve requests from chefs who match your event's needs.
FOOD TRUCK CHEFS
Events made for you
Only get notified about events that fit your cuisine specialty.
Give back, get back
Every event earns an auto tax receipt worth up to 25%.
ExacqGo
App Experience
Chef for Grabs is a mobile platform that transforms how food truck chefs and rescue organizations collaborate to fight hunger. By replacing scattered coordination with a streamlined event-based system, it connects the right chefs to the communities, reducing food waste, simplifying donations, and making it effortless to give back.
FOOD RESCUE ORGANISATION
Post Events in minutes
Can set the date, cuisine, serving size, ingredient pickup in one flow.
Find the right chef
Approve requests from chefs who match your event's needs.
FOOD TRUCK CHEFS
Events made for you
Only get notified about events that fit your cuisine specialty.
Give back, get back
Every event earns an auto tax receipt worth up to 25%.
Mapping Out the Flow
How it works
Two user flows, one shared mission, food rescue orgs post events, chefs join and cook, and the platform handles everything in between.
Low-Fi 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.
Core System Features
Onboarding Screens
1. Guided Walkthrough
New chefs and food rescue organizations are introduced to key features through an interactive onboarding journey, ensuring a smooth start.
2. Intuitive & Accessible Design
The onboarding process is designed for clarity and ease, allowing chefs to quickly navigate the platform and begin sourcing or sharing food effortlessly.
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.
Tax Deductables?
Some Tax Deducatables Are:
-
Mileage and transportation costs
-
Cooking gas
-
Kitchen rental
-
Water to refill food trucks
-
Food Inventory donation
-
Out-of-pocket expenses incurred during the volunteer service
Impact That Speaks for Itself
"This app is a great solution and it aligns perfectly with the problem of food waste and insecurity."
"Intuitive enough for first-time users to adopt without any prior knowledge."
"Great work! The UI is stellar, and in terms of user experience, it’s incredible."
"The fact that chefs get a tax receipt automatically? That's what makes people actually show up."
