If you're looking for your next snack between classes or a Costco-like food freebie, it's time to download FeedShare today. Launched by Yo Yo Fu, DMSB'17, in 2015, the app allows students to find and share free leftover food at Northeastern University.
Designed with food waste in mind, the app connects hungry users with free leftovers such as pizza in a study hall or coffee in a nearby lobby. Instead of the food going to waste, students and even faculty, have a little more to share with one another.
“I wanted to find a way to connect students who want free food with leftovers that would otherwise be thrown away,” said Fu. “There's so much waste that can easily be saved.”
Fu decided to seek third-party opinions and validation from 100 initial users before continuing to fine-tune the app, a strategy he learned from many of his D'Amore-McKim professors.
“The biggest problem with startups is that there are a lot of unknowns,” said Fu. “You want to make as many of those unknowns known before building something that no one will want.”
More than 3,000 students, faculty and staff have downloaded FeedShare. To date, Fu estimates that the app has saved more than 1,900 pounds of food from going to waste.