A large section of United States citizens live far away from supermarkets and do not have<br/>an easy way to get to one. This portion of the population lives in an area called a food desert.<br/>Food deserts are geographic areas in which access to affordable, healthy food, such as fresh<br/>produce, is limited or completely nonexistent due to the absence of convenient grocery stores.<br/>Individuals living in food deserts are left to rely on convenience store snacks and fast food for<br/>their meals because they do not have access to a grocery store with fresh produce in their area.<br/>Unhealthy foods also lead to health issues, as people living in food deserts are typically at a<br/>higher risk of diet-related conditions, such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.<br/>Harvest, a sustainable farming network, is a smartphone application that teaches and guides<br/>people living in small spaces through the process of growing fresh, nutritious produce in their<br/>own homes. The app will guide users through the entire process of gardening, from seed to<br/>harvest. Harvest would give individuals living in food deserts an opportunity to access fresh<br/>produce that they currently can’t access. An overwhelming response based on our user<br/>discussion and market analysis revealed that our platform was in demand. Development of a<br/>target market, brand guide, and full lifecycle were beneficial during the second semester as<br/>Harvest moved forward. Through the development of a website, social media platform, and<br/>smartphone application, Harvest grew traction for our platform. Our social media accounts saw a<br/>1700% growth rate, and this wider audience was able to provide helpful feedback.

The market for searching for food online is exploding. According to one expert at Google, “there are over 1 billion restaurant searches on Google every month” (Kelso, 2020). To capture this market and ride the general digital trend of internet personalization (as evidenced by Google search results, ads, YouTube and social media algorithms, etc), we created Munch to be an algorithm meant to help people find food they’ll love. <br/>Munch offers the ability to search for food by the restaurant or even as specific as a menu item (ex: search for the best Pad Thai). The best part? It is customized to your preferences based on a quiz you take when you open the app and from that point continuously learns from your behavior. This thesis documents the journey of the team who founded Munch, what progress we made and the reasoning behind our decisions, where this idea fits in a competitive marketplace, how much it could be worth, branding, and our recommendations for a successful app in the future.

We founded an operational startup company and developed a consumable product to sell to ASU students. Our primary objective is the provision of affordable nutritious energy bars to overworked and overwhelmed college students. We aim to support hungry students in efforts to fuel their bodies efficiently and nutritiously; in order to do so, we donate 20% of our profits to charity to support students in debt. Our business won the Business Catalyst Choice Award for having "the most promising business concept".