Meal Credit Marketplace
Helping students sell excess cafeteria credits
Overview
Underclassmen must buy meal credits they can't finish before they expire—I lost ~$2,000 my freshman year. Meanwhile, off-campus upperclassmen find campus dining convenient but pricey. Feed Me connects the two: a marketplace to buy and sell leftover meal credits.
We built it at HackPrinceton 2019 (a 36-hour hackathon) where I was the sole product designer and front-end engineer, then I redesigned the interface afterward to improve usability.
Problem
Objective
Outcome
6000+
potential users
Pain Points
In 36 hours, I ran online research and interviewed 10 upperclassmen who lived both the on- and off-meal-plan life. Synthesizing their input, we landed on the core problems to solve:
💸 Wasted money
On-campus students wish they could get their money back for leftover credits.
🗑 Food waste
On-campus students would buy food they don't need to avoid wasting credits.
🧍❌🧍 Lack of connection
On-campus students don't know who to give their meal credits to.
💰 Expensive
Off-campus students find on-campus dining too expensive despite its convenience.
Project Goals
How can we connect students with excess meal credits to other students who want convenient and cheap on-campus meals?
Incentivize Givers to share by helping them earn money
Create a safe and easy way to share and claim meals
Sustain user engagement and activity throughout the year
Final Designs
After the hackathon, I revamped Feed Me into the designs below.
Design 1
Quick Sharing
Only 2 clicks to share a meal! When a Buyer meets the Giver at the dining hall, they confirm the transfer in two taps.
Design 2
Easy Claiming
Just 2 clicks to claim a meal. Buyers can call or text the Giver when they arrive at the dining hall.
Design 3
Secure Payments
Users can pay with their existing school currency Bear Bucks. No bank cards are required!
Design 4
Customizable Prices
The Giver can decide on a credit's price, ranging from $0 to $5. Because there will be a surplus of credits at the end of the semester, Givers will lower prices to get rid of credits ASAP. Therefore, we encourage Givers to sell throughout the year to maximize their profits.
Design 5
Profile
Every student can switch between being a Giver or Buyer. If a Giver runs out of credits, they can always buy credits from their peers too.
Reflection
We took Feed Me into a competitive startup class to keep building. Like a lot of side projects out there, it never fully saw the light of day—but I learned a ton in the process.
My biggest takeaway: whenever I got stuck chasing engagement, the fix was always to refocus on users' real pain points. Scope tightly, design for the whole experience over aesthetics, and test relentlessly.
Thanks for reading! If you'd like to chat more about my work, I'd love to hear from you.
First iteration — our 36-hour hackathon build.
…and how far Feed Me came.