MS3

***We talked to the TAs and allowed us to do the brainstorming and the decision process regarding features of the app, as we did this process last week to select the idea. You can check in last week's repository. MS2 repository

1. Brainstorming

Explanation: We began our brainstorming process with a clear understanding of the problem we aimed to tackle: food waste in Bogotá. For this initial phase, we held a Zoom meeting where we used a shared digital board. This method helped us make an initial assessment of what we wanted to include in our app.

To encourage the free flow of ideas, we employed the divergence strategy 'Yes, and...' which allowed each member to build on others' suggestions, fostering a creative and inclusive environment. During the meeting, everyone contributed multiple ideas focused on reducing food waste, exploring various approaches, including technological solutions, operational improvements, and community-driven initiatives.

After that, we realized the converge strategy. In this part, we read everything that we wrote in the diverge part and started proposing categories in which we could group the post-its. After that, we wrote the categories and everyone had to classify 3-5 post-its.

Later, each group member had to selected one of the above categories to located in each heading: the rational choice, the most likely to delight, the darling, and the long shot.

Final ideas: The final ideas were related to special features of the app. These one can be viewed in the next section.

2. Decision process

Diverge:

Converge: We decided to group the post-its by topics regarding features of the app or functionalities.

We chose to group the ideas taking into account similar aspects of the features we came up with so we can make more complex features. For example all the features in grey have either a notification or a geolocalization element on them or both.

Final:

We put the User Interaction and Personalization as the rational choice because it's a more common feature so it's the normal to go choice. The most likely to delight is community and awareness as people really like to be part of a community and get together with other people with a common purpose. The Darling are Donations because it would help the idea a lot and help us as a team to get the idea running. And finally the long shot is Inventory and Demand Management would be an amazing feature to add but its the most complex one so it would be a long shot to implement it.

3. Empathy maps

4. Personas

5. General description solution

In the first place, our problem is the food waste in Bogota. In Colombia, according to the National Planning Department (2023), a food loss of 9.76 million tons per year is recorded, of which 3.54 million tons correspond to waste. This poses a problem because it goes against global sustainable development goals and exacerbates the situation of food insecurity. Additionally, nearly one-third of households in the country suffer from moderate or severe food insecurity. Food loss also leads to an increase in prices, resulting in both economic and social problems. This waste not only represents a significant loss of resources but also contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, worsening climate change.On the other hand, when it comes to food establishments such as restaurants, bakeries, and supermarkets, it is evident that between 4% and 10% of their food supplies are wasted. This waste, according to the National Restaurant Association (2023), represents between 2% and 6% of their costs, which, according to the United Nations Department of Agriculture, signifies a substantial loss for the restaurant industry. These percentages not only reflect a loss of value but also an increase in costs that, although not high, could be reduced. Additionally, much of this food is wasted not because it is spoiled, but because it couldn't be sold and cannot be stored again due to health concerns, loss of quality, or storage costs."

To solve this, we want to focus on the food waste produced by restaurants, bakeries and other food establishments. To explain this business model, the term 'extreme hours' is defined, which refers to times of the day when an establishment, based on known demand patterns, knows that a food item will no longer sell or that the ingredients to produce it are nearing expiration. During these extreme hours, food establishments such as restaurants, supermarkets, and bakeries will post their food items. The items would be posted as Surprise Boxes. To explain this concept, imagine there is an Italian restaurant. In these surprise boxes they would include surplus from different elements from their menu, for example 1 slice of pepperoni pizza, 1 piece of focaccia and 1 bowl of salad. It is a surprise because the user would only be able to select the establishment but not the content, as in that way it would be easier for the restaurant to publish in the app and set up the orders. The customer would be guaranteed a certain amount of food, but he/she won't be able to select items from the menu. These boxes would have a discount of 50% on the regular price that all the items would have. Also, there would not be a delivery service to avoid an increase in costs. Therefore, the customer would have to pick up the order. In general, the app's functionalities would include a variety of features designed to enhance user experience and streamline the purchasing process. Users would be able to search for surprise boxes offered by different establishments, which may contain unsold food items at a discounted price. Once they find a box that interests them, they can add it to their cart for later purchase. The app would also allow users to place an order directly through the platform, offering a seamless checkout process. This would include secure payment options to ensure that transactions are both safe and efficient. Additionally, users would have the ability to select their preferred pickup location, making it convenient for them to retrieve their orders. Overall, the app aims to provide a user-friendly interface that simplifies the process of discovering, purchasing, and collecting surplus food items.