The Pantry

May 27, 2023 | Case Study

Challenge

Food bank nonprofit Feeding Hawaii Together purchased a new 10,000 SF building for a new food bank distribution center in Kalihi, Oahu. The building turned out to have a parking problem with only 12 available stalls at the end of a residential cul de sac. Shopper load for the operation was estimated to be 3-400 clients, so the parking count should have been 150-200 spaces by retail zoning requirements.

Solution

We created an online shopping application that allows clients to select food items prior to visiting the store. The application includes-commerce shopping, backend inventory and volunteer picking systems. Once orders have been picked by volunteers, the system generates an email and/or text message to notify the client that their order is ready for pick up. This serves to manage visitation to the site. An added benefit was that the COVID Pandemic hit soon after release of the app, allowing picking to continue as the pre-app model was that clients would enter a warehouse facility to pick their own products.

Studies were conducted to determine the number of clients with smartphone devices. Study results showed that over 98% of clients had smartphone devices. For those who don’t have smartphones, on-site pads are available for volunteers to help clients place orders.

The application was also designed to uptake client demographic and health status information as those on food assistance programs are obliged to provide such data. This creates grant funding opportunities for food products to conduct health care and nutritional research. It also provides opportunities to suggest specific food items to clients. For example, a client who is diabetic can be suggested to get a sugarless version of a food product rather than a sugared one. Access to recipes to teach best use of products can also be made available. Services provided include:

  • ✓ SaaS Application Design & Coding.
  • ✓ Client Membership Module.
  • ✓ Shopping Module.
  • ✓ Inventory Module.
  • ✓ Picker Module.
  • ✓ Notifications & Reports Module.
  • ✓ New Brand Development (name, logo, URL).
  • ✓ Environmental Graphics Design.
  • ✓ Website Design & Development (ThePantry.org).
  • ✓ Merchandise Design (t-shirts, bags)