In addition to juggling busy course loads, jobs and questions about what they will do after graduating, the last thing students need to worry about is finding food.
That is where Ankit Mukherjee has stepped in with a unique idea. The fourth-year business student at the University of Lethbridge is the creator of SnackRadar.
The online platform connects students with free food available on campus, and allows event organizers to post about leftover food they have for free for students.
“Students are able to access food in a time where food insecurity is at an all-time high and event organizers don’t lose out on the opportunity to give out free food and [it] also prevents food wastage,” says Mukherjee.
He has worked with a variety of groups on campus and is currently with the Student Success Centre, and says one of the biggest issues event organizers run into is having plenty of food leftovers.
“What happens is that we then scramble to find students to hand those out [to]. That’s not always feasible, and you could always put out a social media post but then students are not going to see them on time,” he remarks.
Mukherjee believed that creating a single space where students could see where free food was available would be highly valuable.
He pitched his idea at the U of L 2025 Launch Point Pitch Competition, where he came in third and won $1,000 to go toward the creation of the website snackradar.ca.
Mukherjee designed the website himself, using AI tools to help with computer design aspects he was not familiar with. Going forward, he says he will enlist the services of the U of L Agility program for further development of the platform.
Part of his plan is to enable push notifications, allowing students to sign up and be notified immediately about free food on their mobile device.
“Let’s say you’re studying and then your phone buzzes and you see that there’s free food – take a break and grab some free food. Everyone loves that,” Mukherjee says.
RISING COSTS
Mukherjee notes that in addition to reducing food waste, rising costs of grocery items played a big part in the creation of his platform.
“Food prices are at an all-time high,” he remarks.
“At least 10 per cent of students at the University of Lethbridge campus struggle to find meals on a day-to-day basis and if I am able to reduce that number even by a small percentage, I think that would have a massive impact because if you’re on campus and you don’t know where your next meal is coming from but then you get a notification that says there is free food, that’s when you know – that’s your lunch.”
Mukherjee adds that every single week at the U of L, free food is available, but it is a matter of finding that food that can be a challenge for students.
“I feel like the university does a lot to do these free food events, but I feel like SnackRadar would help bridge that gap between students being able to access these incredible resources we have on campus here,” he says.
EXPANSION & ADVICE
Mukherjee notes he is considering looking into a licensing model to connect with other universities across the country and world, to see if SnackRadar is a platform they would be interested in implementing.
The U of L student is also encouraging fellow learners to take advantage of the resources available to them while they are in school.
“I would encourage them, if they have any kind of business ideas, to pursue them while they’re in university because the amount of resources and connections that you have in university while building a startup is instrumental to the success of your business,” he says
“You would not have this opportunity outside of university so I would say, don’t wait until you’re done university to start something – start something while you’re in [post-secondary] because the supports are incredible.”
You can check out Mukherjee’s platform at snackradar.ca.
