this was a website i launched at the beginning of the uiuc fall 2024 semester. it was designed to help students on a meal plan navigate dining halls by finding food tailored to their dietary restrictions, preferences, and goals.
the tool took off quickly, surpassing 1,000 users in its first week. unfortunately, it was abruptly shut down due to high backend costs and legal pushback from the university.
i accelerated the product through the buildspace nights & weekends program, and initially started the project during a hackathon hosted by buildillinois.
here’s the timeline for that project:
- buildillinois hackathon – dining hall scraper v1
- winter break – dining hall scraper v2, basic web app
- occasional in-and-outs – ongoing development to refine features
- buildspace s5 – built the product in full
- weeks before fall 2024 – finalized for end-users, prepared for product hunt launch
- launch – marketed through word-of-mouth, social media, and flyers
- shutdown – reached capacity and hit with backend costs (suffering from success lol)