Home Chefs – A marketplace platform connecting people with home-based cooks

The service allows home cooks to create their own profiles, showcase their dishes with descriptions and photos, and sell them in a way that resembles how restaurants operate - just in a home-based format. Customers can browse menus available in their area, order the dishes they’re interested in, and either pick them up themselves or have them delivered.

The platform brings together all key processes: cook registration, identity verification, menu management, orders, availability, and required documentation. It also offers automated delivery handling thanks to an integration with the Stuart API, enabling fast and efficient food delivery.

Challenge

The goal of the project was to build a platform that:

• enables home cooks to safely and legally sell their meals without needing to run a full restaurant,
• allows cooks to easily manage their menus, orders, and dish availability,
• provides customers with quick access to local, home-cooked meals,
• integrates ordering, payments, and communication into one intuitive and consistent system for both cooks and customers,
• gives administrators a centralized dashboard for managing users, orders, dishes, and support requests.

The biggest challenge was combining many complex processes - order logistics, payments, documentation workflows, and constant real-time changes - into one clear and easy-to-use system.

Solution

The Boring Owl team designed and implemented a comprehensive technology architecture covering all key processes of the platform:

• Frontend: Next.js - fast, responsive, and SEO-friendly framework used to build dynamic, high-performance user interfaces.
• UI: shadcn/ui & Tailwind CSS - modular component system combined with flexible utility-based styling, enabling a clean, consistent, and modern interface design.
• Backend: Nest.js - scalable and modular backend framework responsible for business logic, user management, dish availability, and order processing.
• Database: PostgreSQL - reliable and high-performance database optimized for heavy workloads and complex queries.
• Caching & Queues: Redis - used for session handling, task queues, and accelerating processes such as order generation and real-time notifications.
• External Integrations:
  • Stripe - Secure online payments, billing, and transaction management.
  • Stuart API - Automated creation of delivery jobs, route pricing, and real-time courier tracking.

Key Features

• Registration and login of different types of users
  • Customers can create accounts or log in normally.
  • Chefs go through a registration and verification process before gaining access to their dashboard.
  • Users can also place orders without creating an account, which shortens the customer journey and helps increase conversions.
• Chef Dashboard
  • Create and edit menu items.
  • Set availability, working hours, and schedule.
  • Manage incoming orders and update their status.
• Customer Dashboard
  • Place orders either as a guest or a logged-in user.
  • Access full order history.
  • Rate dishes or individual chefs.
  • Manage personal data and preferences.
• Admin Panel
  • Customer management: view customer details and their order history.
  • Chef management: approve or reject chef applications; review their documents, menus, ratings, availability, and orders.
  • Dish management: access a full list of all dishes available on the platform.
  • Order management: review every order, its status, payment details, and delivery process.
  • User reports: handle issues or complaints related to dishes, orders, or chefs.
  • Platform settings: administrator can configure global parameters such as dish categories, meal times, cuisine types, and additional dish options.
• Intuitive Ordering System
  • Simple, context-aware order forms tailored to the dish type and chef availability.
  • Real-time updates about kitchen workload and estimated preparation time.
  • Delivery options, including pickup and courier delivery.
• Geolocation & Filters - customers can search for chefs based on location, cuisine type, meal time, and other filters to quickly find the best match.

Results

• A fully developed culinary marketplace that supports both customers and chefs, enabling them to interact and operate within one unified platform.
• A streamlined meal-ordering process, allowing customers to place orders within minutes without needing direct communication with the chef.
• An efficient chef-verification workflow, supported by an admin panel for reviewing applications, checking documents, and managing menus and availability.
• Automated delivery handling through Stuart API integration, making it possible to create delivery requests and track couriers directly from the system.
• Improved transparency and operational oversight thanks to an expanded admin dashboard that covers users, applications, orders, and platform settings.
• Better user experience through an intuitive ordering path and clear, user-friendly dashboards for both customers and chefs.
• Increased user trust driven by a transparent ordering process, reviews, detailed chef profiles, and clear information about each dish (ingredients, allergens, add-ons).

Summary

Home Chefs is a modern, fully automated platform that enables home cooks to sell meals legally and effortlessly, while giving customers a fast and intuitive way to order homemade dishes. By leveraging technologies like Next.js and Nest, along with an integration with the Stuart API, the platform delivers a high level of automation, security, and convenience.