LouCal
A COVID-era platform that helped local restaurants advertise pickup and to-go options to nearby customers when dine-in shut down.
Overview
LouCal was built during the COVID-19 pandemic to give local restaurants a simple way to advertise pickup and to-go availability to customers in their area at a time when dine-in service had largely shut down. The goal was to get struggling local spots in front of nearby diners quickly, without the overhead or fees of the big delivery platforms.
The project spanned a full stack: a customer-facing frontend for browsing participating restaurants and their pickup options, a backend API and service layer handling data and business logic, and a separate admin portal for managing restaurant listings and content. Splitting the system into dedicated frontend, backend, and admin codebases kept each surface focused and independently deployable.
It has since been retired, but it was a meaningful early full-stack project built under real-world urgency to help local businesses stay afloat.
Highlights
- Built to help local restaurants advertise pickup and to-go options during COVID-19 dine-in shutdowns
- Full-stack system split across a customer frontend, backend API/service, and admin portal
- Independently deployable surfaces kept each part of the platform focused and maintainable
- Shipped under real-world urgency to support struggling local businesses