The Problem

Cooking for yourself is great, but it's impractical to cook single portions, and difficult finding time to meal prep for multiple days. What if you could just go next door to see what your neighbor was cooking and eat a meal at their place? You could save money and eat more nutritious meals compared to meal-kits and delivery, all while making new connections in your area. But did others in our generation share the same needs and concerns?

The Research

We first sought out existing data on the web. We found a key insight in a 2018 survey by Peapod: Of 1,003 Americans, 77% of respondents preferred eating a home-cooked meal over eating out, and 59% of millennial respondents prioritized cooking more meals at home in 2019. So home-cooked meals were indeed a priority, and not just for people our age but for Americans of all ages (with 'saving money' and 'eating healthy' listed as the top two reasons). But would people want to share a meal with their neighbors?

To learn more, we conducted interviews with people across age ranges. We also spoke to a couple veteran entrepreneurs who had experience with service design for food apps in particular.

Prototyping & Testing

We mapped out a service blueprint to help build a clickable wire-frame in Adobe XD, which we then tested with our target users (urban millennials). The testing, further interviews, and a survey brought to light two key findings that we needed to address: personal safety and trust in the quality of the service.

We added features to address both of these concerns: connecting only to people whom you share a connection with, an in-person vetting process for chefs, and a 5-star rating system for chefs and guests. When we shared these new features with previously concerned users, 88% of those users changed their answer to indicate they would feel comfortable using the service.

Next, we created and placed ads with Google and Facebook to test for user interest in the service in the DC area. In 3 days our Facebook ad reached 876 people, 53 people clicked on the ad, and 1 person shared it.

The Outcome

I set up a table and demo'd the app at MICA's start-up competition -- UP/Start -- where we received positive feedback and interest from a couple local leaders in the Maryland start-up world.

Further development is currently on hold, but you can test the XD prototype here on this page!

Questions to Ask Me in Person

How did this idea develop from a sustainability project?

What were some of the user pain points you faced?

Where would you go next with this project?

The Team

Sharad Baliyan, Jerry Wertheim