SRMunch: A Data-Driven Institutional Food Operational Efficiency System

Abstract: Campus canteens at large institutions routinely grapple with unpredictable demand patterns, excess food production, and a near-total absence of cohesive digital management infrastructure. To address these challenges, this paper introduces SRMunch, a web-based operational management platform developed specifically for SRM Institute of Science and Technology. The system is constructed using the Django web framework backed by a MySQL database, and extends access across multiple stakeholder categories including students, faculty, non-teaching staff, food vendors, and system administrators. SRMunch consolidates several capabilities that have historically remained fragmented: contactless digital ordering, live inventory surveillance, food waste quantification, pattern-driven analytics, and a customer loyalty mechanism - all within a single deployable application. The platform eliminates dependence on manual queue-based workflows and places actionable operational data at administrators' fingertips to curb overproduction and end-of-day surplus. An examination of twenty closely related publications establishes the novelty of SRMunch's integrated scope. Experimental validation across five completed development milestones confirms complete end-to-end functional coverage.

Keywords: food management system, canteen digitization, Django, inventory tracking, food waste reduction, demand forecasting, data-driven decision support, institutional catering, multi-role web application.