Problem Overview
While food waste in Australia exceeds 3.1 million tonne annually, this case study specifically focuses on waste caused by food delivery cancellations.
Often, meals that are cancelled after preparation ends up discarded by restaurants, contributing significantly to daily avoidable food loss. This system aims to address that particular gap in the delivery ecosystem.
Business Opportunity: Introduce a fast, opt-in feature that allows canceled food to be re-offered to users nearby at a discount, increasing user engagement while reducing waste.
Goal: Design a fallback system for canceled orders that reroutes freshly prepared food to nearby users — reducing waste while maintaining trust and efficiency.
Research & Insights
Industry Data: Cancellation rates on delivery platforms reportedly range from 15% to 30% (HashStudioz).
While working as an Uber Eats delivery driver in Wollongong, I witnessed frequent cancellations, often after I had picked up the food.
This sparked a question: Could that food be saved and rerouted instead of thrown away?
Objectives
Solution: Meal Saver
The Meal Saver system targets Uber Eats users who cancel their orders after food prep begins, and local users in the vicinity who may opt-in for quick discounted meals.
Used Uber’s Base UI for structure and accessibility consistency.
Adopted Uber’s illustration language (diagonal composition, spot/hero variants, clean vector design with no black outlines) and used Sora AI to generate the artworks.
Visual Design
System Framing (A Smart Fallback): Meal Saver is not a user-facing feature with tabs or toggles.
User Receives a Notification: Nearby users receive a notification offering the cancelled meal. A push notification styled with Uber’s tone and clarity. Highlights the deal, freshness, and discounted nature of the rescued meal.
