Case story FoodOp
FoodOp has a vision to reduce food waste and help canteens, restaurants and hotels to measure and reduce their food waste. With FoodOp, chefs get a digital tool that can measure food waste and guests' preferences. They can use these insights to optimise future menus based on composition, quantities and climate footprint.
FoodOp came across this idea due to a lack of knowledge about how much of the food was eaten and how much food ended up in the garbage can.
FoodOp contacted us and we talked about different solutions, at a concept level. First we talked about a camera that could film the buffets or a spoon that could weigh the food you scooped up on your plate. But it was important for FoodOp that the solution models were anonymous and didn’t take focus from the menu or the buffet. It was also important that the guests(users) were anonymous. We came up with the solution: a scale with sensors in it, which is placed under the serving dish. The scales automatically collect data on how much of the food is taken and wasted for each dish.
Throughout the process, usability was the primary design specification, which gave us a number of interesting challenges. One of the first challenges was the battery time, here we ended up with a design where the battery lasts over a year. Another challenge was how could the guests benefit from the solution? For that we developed removable and magnetic digital displays, which shows the users the dish is on the scale, allergens and the CO2 footprint of each dish.
Yet another challenge, the design of the scale should be able to withstand hot dishes and be part of an environment with food. By combining the competencies from Move Innovation's mechanics, design and construction department and FoodOps vision, we developed a design that lived up to the design specifications and today the solution helps solve one of the world's biggest climate challenges.
The development process
We at Move Innovation have been involved from the beginning, in concept development. Over time, the nature of the collaboration has changed and FoodOp has continuously taken over the further development of the cloud and back office part.
We at Move Innovation developed an app foundation, which FoodOp built on. Slowly, FoodOp took over the software part as well, as they hired employees. Move Innovation now acts as a development partner and supplements FoodOp's as needed.
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The purpose of the development
The purpose of these scales with sensors is to collect data on food waste and guests 'taste preferences in canteens, restaurants and hotels, so chefs can adapt their menus to the guests, make the right quantities and find inspiration for more climate-friendly menus.
Food waste is estimated to account for 8-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions and a large part takes place in canteens, where 20-50% of total raw material purchases end up in the bin. This testifies to the fact that it can be difficult to know what the guests want and how much food to cook.
With the FoodOp IoT scale, chefs get a digital tool that can measure food waste and guests' taste preferences, and use these insights to optimise future menus based on composition, quantities and climate footprint.
Read more about FoodOp here
Tools
- Asynchronous programming
- Bluetooth module
- E paper display
- Android app development
- BLE - Bluetooth Low EnergyLow power - even if the weights samples 4 hours a day.
- Design for manufacturing
- C++