FlashGrub - Surplus Food

Role

Product Designer

Industry

Sustainbility

Duration

5 Months

Designing a Two-Sided Food Marketplace

Flash Grüb is a food marketplace that connects customers with discounted pre-order and surplus meals from local restaurants. The platform helps users access affordable food while helping businesses generate additional revenue and reduce food waste.

I was responsible for designing the complete customer and business experience, working closely with the development team from early product planning through implementation.

1. Understanding the Product

Flash Grüb serves two main user groups.

Customers can discover nearby restaurants, browse discounted meals, place orders, manage payments, receive pickup reminders, and collect orders using QR-code verification.

Businesses can create meal listings, manage inventory, receive orders, track pickups, review sales, and monitor product performance.

The main challenge was creating two connected applications that remained simple for customers while giving restaurant teams enough control to manage daily operation

2. Design and Development Process

I started by mapping the complete journey for both sides of the marketplace, from restaurant onboarding and product listing to customer checkout and order collection.

My process included:

Market and competitor research
Customer and business user flows
Information architecture
Low-fidelity wireframes
Complete mobile application screens
Business dashboard design
Interactive prototypes
Responsive design system
Usability improvements
Developer handoff and implementation review

For customers, I focused on fast discovery, transparent discounts, simple checkout, wallet payments, order status, and clear pickup instructions.

For businesses, I designed efficient listing creation, inventory controls, order management, QR verification, performance tracking, and revenue dashboards.

3. Final Solution and Impact

The final product provides a connected experience where customers can purchase affordable meals and restaurants can sell pre-order or surplus inventory through one platform.

Key solutions included:

Customer and restaurant onboarding
Location-based meal discovery
Pre-order and surplus listings
Cart, checkout, and wallet payments
Order tracking and pickup reminders
QR-code pickup verification
Business inventory and order management
Sales and performance analytics
Reusable components and responsive layouts

Flash Grüb received support through the NSF Innovation Corps program and secured two restaurant clients and partners, including Junzi Kitchen.

The project created a scalable product foundation that supports Flash Grüb’s mission of making food more affordable, increasing restaurant revenue, and reducing food waste.