Meals is an innovative app designed to modernize the meal management process in hostel messes by replacing the traditional coupon system with a digital solution. This app provides a streamlined experience for both students and hostel staff, improving convenience, security, and food management.
The traditional coupon system in hostels presents several challenges:
- Inconvenience: Students must physically go to the hostel office to collect their monthly coupon booklets, which is an additional step if they are on campus.
- Security Risks: If a coupon booklet is lost or stolen, students lose access to all their coupons without a chance of recovery or refund. This can result in not being able to get meals.
- Cost Inefficiency: Students are charged for all meals in advance, regardless of whether they use them. If they skip a meal, the cost of the coupon is still deducted.
- Food Management Challenges: Hostels often struggle to predict daily meal attendance, leading to either food wastage from over-preparation or shortages when fewer students show up.
- Seamless Digital Management: Students log in to the app using their unique ID and password. Upon login, they see options for the day’s meals (breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner) and can select or deselect them as needed. By default, all meal cards are selected, but students can modify their choices up to two hours before each meal period starts.
- Cost-Effective Meal Selection: If a student opts out of a meal, they will not incur charges for that meal. The app calculates daily and monthly expenditures based on the meals selected, allowing students to easily track their spending.
- Accurate Attendance Tracking: Each student’s app generates a QR code that refreshes for each meal period. The same app, when accessed with an admin account, includes a QR code scanner for mess staff to mark attendance. This system ensures accurate tracking and prevents fraud or misuse.
- Real-Time Food Menu: Students can view the menu for each meal of the day, which is not possible with the traditional coupon system. This transparency helps students plan their meals better.
- Enhanced Security and Flexibility: The app eliminates the issues of lost coupon booklets and ensures that students are only charged for the meals they select. This also means students don’t need to worry about carrying physical coupons or managing their loss.
- Efficient Food Preparation: By providing real-time data on meal selections, the app helps hostel mess staff better predict the number of meals needed, reducing food wastage and ensuring that all students receive their meals on time.
Meals features a modern two-tone design with red and white as its primary colors, creating a clean, visually appealing, and user-friendly interface that enhances the overall user experience.