Sniffood

As a part-time bakery employee, I noticed daily surplus bread that is still fresh but often discarded due to overproduction. Existing solutions, like Too Good To Go, Left Spring, and Cybake, either focus on redistribution or prediction, but none address both issues at the same time.

I conducted interviews with bakery owners, kitchen staff, and customers in a Melbourne CBD bakery, along with a fight food waste domain expert. Insights revealed that bakery owners want to increase sales, balance profit and waste, and reduce donation risks; kitchen staff need clear daily production plans, real-time inventory visibility, and to avoid overproducing; customers desire flexible purchase times, availability of favorite bread, and cost savings.

To support zero-waste operations, I designed a solution combining production prediction and surplus redistribution. The system has two portals: a merchant portal and a customer app. The merchant portal features an auto-prediction tool that forecasts batch quantities, optimizes tray consolidation, and integrates with POS systems for sales tracking and inventory management. The customer app connects to live inventory, allowing users to purchase surplus bread at discounted prices, while a portion of proceeds is automatically donated to local charities.

This approach helps bakeries optimize production, reduce waste, and support the community, providing fresh bread to customers at lower cost while contributing to a sustainable, socially responsible business model.