Pomme
Food insecurity solution for international graduate students in Toronto, Canada
This academic project was conducted in a team of four across a period of two months. Our team focused understanding and solving the problem of moderate and severe food insecurity among international graduate students studying in Toronto, Canada. "Pomme" aims to offer a solution to meets the diverse needs of the international students and build a community hub which is by students and for students.
Role: Problem finding, framing and solving
Completed: December 2022
The Challenge
Finding, framing and solving the problem of food insecurity among students.
As part of the "Business and Design Thinking" course at OCAD University (M.Des. SFI program), our initial challenge was to find an intersection between food insecurity and food waste.
Based on secondary research, I decided to focus on the problem of food insecurity and resultant waste among international students in Toronto. As we moved towards the second step of digging deeper into the problem, our team discovered various aspects of this problem and identified the stakeholders, opportunities and barriers associated with it. This process helped us as we moved towards finding a solution for this problem.
Food Insecurity by homeownership, 2021
Food insecurity among adults by household type, 2011-2012
The Approach
Understand the context of food insecurity and food waste in Canada
We started with conducting secondary research to understand the scenario of food insecurity and food waste in Canada. Based of existing studies, the most at-risk groups in terms of food insecurity are:
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Low income groups
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Unattached Adults
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Recent immigrant
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Renters
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People who identified racial background
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Families with children under the age of 17
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Seniors (age 60-64 years)
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Indigenous group
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Households with people with chronic physical or mental health conditions
Household size is also one of the significant factors associated with a decrease in per capita food waste as household size increases, particularly a single-person household may produce more waste due to the large pack sizes that are typically offered in retail settings and they may not have the skills or knowledge in food storage or preservation to extend the shelf-life of food.
Few reports also explained how food insecurity among post-secondary students resulted from insufficient financial resources and was considered to have serious implications on their health and academic success. Moreover, studies have also shown that immigrants are more likely to be food insecure than non-immigrants.
Based on these findings, the scope of the research was narrowed down to international post-secondary students as relatively little research has been done on food insecurity among this group which belongs to the populations most at-risk of food insecurity i.e. low-income, unattached, renters, recent immigrants and students.
Why international graduate students?
The 2021 National Student Food Insecurity Report by Meal Exchange reported the rate of food insecurity to be among the highest among international students, with 74.5% of international students reporting being moderately and severely food insecure (out of 800 international students that responded to the survey).
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We narrowed down the focus to graduate students because:
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Graduate students are more financially independent as opposed to undergraduate students, who get financial support from their families.
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The ratio of international students to domestic students is higher in graduate studies as opposed to undergraduate studies.
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Graduate students do not receive as much funding as post-doctoral candidates.
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Finally, we believe that designing for the margin would help us scale our solution to other user groups as well.
Understanding the user
Developing the User Persona, Journey map and Empathy map, and conducting the Root-cause analysis enhanced our understanding of our user group.
Deeper Insights
After understanding the user, we concluded the following insights to summarize our analysis.
Stakeholders
Identifying the key stakeholders and their relationships with the user group
The key stakeholders involved:
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Government bodies: Global Affairs Canada; Ministry of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour; Ministry of Citizenship, Immigration, and International Trade and Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
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Universities in Toronto: University of Toronto, Toronto Metropolitan University, OCAD University and York University
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Student Unions
These stakeholders fail to centralize information and do not provide enough financial support offerings ("one size fits all").
Stakeholder Map
Key Stakeholders
The Problem Statement
There is a communication/information gap between students and institutions (govt, public universities, student unions), which directly affects students’ well-being with food.
Problem Solving
Answering the "How might we?" questions based on our problem statement
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How might we offer better information and communication regarding financial aid/scholarships/bursaries/ loans to international graduate students?
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How might we provide financial aid/scholarships/bursaries/ loans that cater to diverse international graduate student communities?
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How might we educate and support international graduate students to improve their food and finance management skills? (while keeping their food waste at bay)
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How might we support international graduate students to become more food secure?
To answer each of the four questions, each of our team members generated ideas which could either be the solution or a part of it. Then, we established common threads and narrow down on possible solutions as shown in the diagram above.
Solution must be both financially feasible and in high demand
Our next step was concept development; we refined our ideas by specifying its features, the stakeholders involved, and the issues they addressed. During this process, we came to the conclusion that in order to develop an ongoing solution, it must be viable as a for-profit enterprise and not be heavily dependent on grants and donations.
Front End & Back End
We concluded that our solution will be delivered in two parts. The front-end portion will be centred on assisting users in managing their food-related expenses, offering education and community support to help them get around the new environment, and introducing them to already-existing resources for food delivery, pick-up and surplus programs.
The development of partnerships with existing businesses and our stakeholders will be required for the back end solution (student union, universities, government).
Finding opportunity in the gap between stakeholders and students
We addressed the gap discovered in the problem space by using it as an opportunity to base our solution in. Building an online Hub that will work as an intermediary between international graduate students in Toronto and their main stakeholders (Universities, Government, Student Union). The hub will be the bridge between both parties to make sustainable solutions to keep students food secure and secure their academic and professional futures.
Solution
The Meal Plan
The platform onboards the user via a simple login process using their university login credentials, and then leads the user to an introductory video which further prompts the user to take up a survey. The survey asks some simple questions to complete their profile and understand their food preferences and restrictions. Then, it leads to asking details of the student’s feeding and shopping habits, and finally ends with asking them how much they want to spend on meals in a week. After completing the survey, they land on their dashboard, where they find a link to get their meal plan as per the survey. On finding their meal plan and grocery list, they can either choose to go and shop from the one of the grocery stores recommended to them or use their delivery service.
Coaches and Helping Hand
In case of questions and support, users can either connect to coaches who are fellow students working with Pomme or ask a question from the community.
We also understood that they may be chaotic situations when a student is unable to pay for any food. In this case, they can ask for a helping hand and get options to connect to existing free resources (Ex. Second harvest, food banks, uni pantries, etc.), find resources related to financial aid and support that’s best suited to them.
Finally, they can go to the FAQ page to see if they their questions have already been answered.
Value and Benefits
The value offered by Pomme can be stated as "Pomme helps international graduate students feel empowered with their food choices, through the convenience and personalization of a meal planner, and access to a resource-rick food community."
Based on this value proposition, we were able to define the benefits of the solution as follows:
Moving Forward
Phase 1: Investment
We will introduce our MVP in this phase, with a focus on user acquisition. Revenue streams in this phase will look like securing external funding and 'pay-it-forward donations.
Phase 2: Growth
This phase will look to grow Pomme's user base through a viral loop. Revenue streams in this phase will be pay-it-forward donations, partnerships, and ad commissions.
Phase 3: Plateau
We address potential user growth plateau, Pomme will introduce new features, such as community events, premium services, and a paid subscription model in addition to the free membership. New revenue streams will be the paid subscription model and premium services.
Phase 4: Snowball effect and long term plan
The final phase is focused on ensuring Pomme is self-sustaining. We may look to shift this model to a new entity should it be applicable to future innovations.