Problem

Retailers often turn away perfectly good food because they lack inventory space, refrigeration capacity, or the ability to adjust delivery routes. Since it is cheaper to discard this surplus than to reschedule logistics, large quantities of usable food are routinely sent to landfills instead of reaching communities that need it.

Solution

RescueRoute is a mobile platform that alerts local food pantries when surplus food becomes available for pickup. Through features like timed matching, location sharing, and automatic receipt generation, the app makes it simpler and more cost-effective for retailers and drivers to reroute excess food to pantries rather than the trash.

Design 

Our primary users are pantry operators and truck drivers, so we focused on creating a seamless, low-friction mobile experience. The interface emphasizes clarity and speed, allowing users to donate or accept food with minimal steps. Balancing simplicity with the need to display essential, information-dense details was central to our approach. Designing the map views and ensuring that critical location and timing information remained intuitive was both the biggest challenge and the most rewarding part of the design process.

Tech Stack

Food Recovery is a full-stack mobile application. The frontend is developed using Expo (React Native) and styled with Nativewind, enabling cross-platform development with consistent UI components. The backend is implemented in ExpressJS and deployed on Vercel.

The system integrates several cloud services. Firebase Firestore serves as the primary data store, while Firebase Cloud Storage manages all image and file uploads. Firebase Authentication handles both email-password logins (for recipient organizations) and mobile-number logins (for drivers). SMS-based OTP delivery is powered by Twilio.

Together, this stack enables a scalable, mobile-first workflow for drivers and recipient organizations to coordinate rejected food pallet recovery in real time.

Features

Donation Form

In order for truck drivers to find food pantries and nonprofits who may be willing to take their food pallet, drivers first fill out a donation form for their pallet. On this form, drivers fill out detailed information about their food pallet, including photos, category, storage requirements, and required legal documentation to ensure an efficient and safe redistribution. Drivers can also fill out their location and customizable preference information, such as their preferred pickup radius and wait time, to allow for a better donation experience.

Delivery Request

For nonprofits, food pantries, and other organizations who would like to receive donations, they can browse incoming donation offers will full visibility into details such as photos, category, storage requirements, and documentation. Once organizations find a donation they're interested in, they can share their location, hours, and contact information so drivers can coordinate the redistribution quickly and efficiently.