🍱 LunchFlow - CYF Lunch Order Management System

A full-stack application to help CodeYourFuture London plan and manage lunch orders efficiently.

The system replaces the current manual process (Slack messages, spreadsheets, and repeated discussions) with a centralized workflow tool that tracks lunch planning, assigns responsibilities, and notifies volunteers when action is required.

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📋 Table of Contents

• Problem
• Solution
• MVP Features
• User Roles
• Dietary Requirements
• System Architecture
• Getting Started
• Project Structure
• Database Design
• Lunch Order Workflow
• Notifications
• Data Privacy
• Testing
• Deployment

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📌 Problem

Organising lunch at the CodeYourFuture London office involves many steps and people:

• Checking leftover food
• Estimating attendance across multiple courses
• Collecting dietary requirements
• Creating a food order
• Reviewing the order
• Placing the order manually on the supermarket website
• Receiving the delivery
• Gathering feedback

Current Challenges

The current manual and fragmented process leads to:

• Duplicated work across volunteers
• Confusion about responsibilities and task ownership
• Lack of visibility on order status
• Repeated requests for dietary requirements

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🎯 Solution

This application automates the lunch planning workflow by:

• ✅ Tracking lunch orders
• ✅ Assigning tasks to volunteers
• ✅ Storing food options and dietary defaults
• ✅ Notifying users when action is required
• ✅ Providing a dashboard to view the current order status

Note: Supermarket ordering will still be manual, but the system will manage everything leading up to it.

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✨ Key Integrations

✉️ Email Notifications

• The backend uses Nodemailer to send emails (e.g., volunteer invites, order summaries).
• Configure your email credentials in .env:

  EMAIL_USER=your_gmail_address
  EMAIL_PASS=your_gmail_app_password
  FRONTEND_URL=http://localhost:5173
  

• See backend/src/services/mailService.js for implementation details.

🚀 MVP Features

Lunch Order Workflow

• Create a new lunch order
• Apply default dietary requirements
• Build an order from predefined food categories
• Assign volunteers to different stages
• Review the order
• Mark the order as placed
• Track delivery

Dashboard

Users can see:

• Current lunch orders
• Order status
• Assigned volunteers
• Tasks that need action

Notifications

Users receive notifications when:

• A task is assigned to them
• An order needs review
• An order is ready to be placed

Notifications may be sent via:

• Email

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👥 User Roles

Admin

CYF staff responsible for managing the system.

Permissions:

• Add users
• Assign payment responsibility
• Complete orders

Volunteer

Volunteers help plan and manage lunch orders.

Permissions:

• Create lunch orders
• Build food lists
• Review orders
• Place orders manually

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🍽 Dietary Requirements

To reduce repetitive data collection, the system uses default dietary requirements.

Default options:

• Vegetarian
• Halal

These cover most common needs and can be adjusted when necessary.

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🏗 System Architecture

Tech Stack

• Frontend: React
• Backend: Node.js + Express
• Database: PostgreSQL (or another relational database)

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⚙️ Getting Started

1) Backend

cd backend
npm install
npm run dev

Backend runs on http://localhost:4000 by default.

2) Frontend

cd frontend
npm install
npm run dev

Frontend runs on Vite's default local URL.

3) Run both with Docker

docker compose up --build

• Frontend: http://localhost:5173
• Backend: http://localhost:4000

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📂 Project Structure

Backend

backend/
├── src/
│   ├── routes/
│   ├── controllers/
│   ├── services/
│   ├── models/
│   ├── middleware/
│   └── utils/
└── package.json

Frontend

frontend/
├── src/
│   ├── components/
│   ├── pages/
│   ├── services/
│   ├── hooks/
│   └── styles/
└── package.json

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🗄 Database Design

Users

Orders

Food Categories

Examples:

Food Items

Order Items

🔄 Lunch Order Workflow

Planning
    ↓
Dietary Requirements
    ↓
Create Order List
    ↓
Review Order
    ↓
Order Placed (manual supermarket order)
    ↓
Delivery

Each stage can be assigned to a different volunteer, and notifications will be sent when the next action is required.

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🔔 Notifications

The system will notify users when:

• A lunch order is created
• A review is required
• An order is ready to be placed
• The delivery stage is approaching

Possible integrations:

• Email

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🔐 Data Privacy

Personal trainee information must be protected.

Privacy Rules

• Trainee data only visible to lunch organisers
• Venue information visible to CYF community
• No sensitive data exposed publicly
• Authentication and role-based permissions will be implemented

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🧪 Testing

The project will include:

• Backend API tests
• Frontend component tests
• Integration tests for the order workflow

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🚀 Deployment

The application should be easy for CYF volunteers to maintain and deploy.

platform:*

• Coolify

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📝 License

This project is maintained by CodeYourFuture London.

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👨‍💻 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

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🔗 Additional Resources

🌐 Live Application

CYF Lunch Organizer

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🧪 Demo Access (Admin)

Use the following demo account to explore the application:

Email: admin@codeyourfuture.io
Password: Admin1234!

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📊 Project Presentation

CYF Lunch Organizer Presentation Slides

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🎥 Application Walkthrough

A full walkthrough of the application from both Admin and Volunteer perspectives:

Watch the walkthrough video

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