HarvestHub

Source fresher ingredients from nearby farms, without the middlemen.

HarvestHub is a B2B marketplace that connects local farmers with nearby restaurants for direct ordering, predictable supply, and faster fulfillment. It helps chefs discover seasonal inventory, negotiate terms, and place repeat orders while giving farmers a simple channel to sell surplus and plan harvests more confidently.

Business Goals

  • Reach 200 active restaurant buyers and 120 active farms within 6 months of launch.
  • Drive $1.5M in gross merchandise value within 12 months.
  • Achieve 35 percent month-over-month repeat ordering from restaurants by month 6.
  • Keep customer acquisition cost under $180 per active restaurant buyer by month 9.
  • Maintain at least 90 percent fulfillment rate on confirmed orders in the first year.

User Goals

  • Help restaurants find local produce and specialty items within 10 minutes.
  • Let farmers post available inventory in under 5 minutes from mobile.
  • Reduce back-and-forth ordering calls and texts by at least 70 percent.
  • Make reordering of recurring items one tap or one click.
  • Provide accurate availability, delivery windows, and pricing before order confirmation.

Non-Goals

  • Not a consumer grocery marketplace or home delivery app.
  • Not a logistics fleet management system for owning trucks or drivers.
  • Not a full farm accounting or ERP replacement.
  • Not focused on national shipping or cross-country cold chain distribution.

Chef Elena, 38 - Executive chef at a 60-seat farm-to-table restaurant. She needs reliable weekly sourcing for produce, herbs, and eggs, with minimal admin during service hours.

Chef Elena, 38

  • As a chef, I want to search nearby farms by product, harvest date, and delivery window, so that I can source ingredients that fit my menu.
  • As a chef, I want to save preferred farms and reorder last week’s basket, so that I can keep purchasing consistent ingredients quickly.
  • As a chef, I want to see real-time availability and substitution options, so that I can avoid menu disruption when a crop is short.

Farmer Luis, 52 - Owner of a 40-acre mixed vegetable farm selling to several restaurants and one distributor. He needs a simple way to list available inventory and fill gaps in production with local demand.

Farmer Luis, 52

  • As a farmer, I want to post available quantities, price per unit, and harvest dates from my phone, so that I can sell remaining stock efficiently.
  • As a farmer, I want to receive order requests with pickup or delivery notes, so that I can plan packing and labor.
  • As a farmer, I want to mark items as sold out or limited, so that restaurants do not order inventory I cannot fulfill.

Ops Manager Priya, 44 - Operations manager for a small restaurant group with multiple locations. She coordinates procurement across stores and wants standardized ordering and spend visibility.

Ops Manager Priya, 44

  • As an ops manager, I want to manage multiple restaurant locations under one account, so that each kitchen can order locally but finance can review spend centrally.
  • As an ops manager, I want invoice summaries and order history exports, so that I can reconcile purchasing quickly.
  • As an ops manager, I want to approve large orders before they are sent, so that I can control budget and supplier risk.

Marketplace Discovery and Search · High priority

  • Buyers must be able to find suitable farms and products quickly using location, availability, and product filters.
  • Search by product name, category, organic/practice tags, distance radius, and delivery method.
  • Show only farms within a configurable radius, default 50 miles, with sorting by availability and distance.
  • Display seasonal availability, unit size, minimum order, and next harvest date.
  • Support saved searches for recurring ingredient needs.
  • Hide out-of-stock items by default but allow viewing sold-out listings for planning.

Inventory and Listing Management · High priority

  • Farmers need a lightweight inventory tool to publish live stock and update it without desktop complexity.
  • Create and edit listings with product, unit, quantity, price, minimum order, and availability window.
  • Allow bulk updates for common items and quick decrement after a sale.
  • Support mobile-first entry with draft saving when connection is weak.
  • Auto-expire listings after the stated availability window ends.
  • Flag low inventory and prompt farmers to reduce quantity or mark sold out.

Ordering and Checkout · High priority

  • Restaurants must be able to place orders, confirm fulfillment details, and complete payment or invoice terms in a streamlined flow.
  • Cart supports multiple farms in one checkout only if delivery windows do not conflict; otherwise split orders automatically.
  • Show order summary, taxes if applicable, and estimated pickup or delivery time before final submit.
  • Support purchase on invoice terms for approved buyers and card payment for others.
  • Allow substitutions and order notes per line item.
  • Send immediate confirmation to both buyer and farmer after submission.

Messaging and Coordination · Medium priority

  • The platform should reduce off-platform coordination by keeping order-related communication in context.
  • Provide threaded messages at the order and listing level.
  • Allow photo attachments for quality issues or harvest updates.
  • Notify users by email and SMS for order changes, confirmations, and missed deadlines.
  • Include templated messages for substitution approval, pickup instructions, and delivery updates.
  • Archive conversation history tied to each transaction for support and dispute resolution.

Trust, Compliance, and Admin · Medium priority

  • The marketplace needs controls to protect users, verify participants, and handle disputes or suspicious activity.
  • Verify farms with business details, tax ID where required, and manual review for first listings.
  • Allow admin to suspend accounts, refund orders, and resolve claims.
  • Capture order audit history including who changed price, quantity, or status.
  • Provide basic dispute workflow for late delivery, wrong item, or damaged goods.
  • Maintain role-based access for buyer, farm owner, staff, and admin.

Fast Onboarding for Buyers and Farms

  • Create account with email or phone number in under 60 seconds.
  • Choose role: restaurant buyer, farm seller, or both.
  • Set location, service area, and preferred delivery or pickup method.
  • Complete profile basics such as business name, contact, and tax or invoice details.
  • See first relevant listings or create first farm listing within 3 minutes.
  • Reach first useful action, search or publish inventory, in under 5 minutes total.

1. Discover Local Supply

  • Restaurant users land on a searchable marketplace with nearby farms and seasonal products tailored to their location.
  • Filter by distance, product, certification, availability date, and price range.
  • Handle empty results with suggestions like expanding radius or changing dates.
  • Show map and list views with consistent ranking.

2. Evaluate Fit

  • Users open a listing to assess whether the farm can fulfill the item reliably and on schedule.
  • Display current quantity, minimum order, unit size, harvest window, and fulfillment method.
  • Surface farm profile, photos, response time, and recent reliability signals.
  • Warn when requested quantity exceeds available inventory or is below minimum.

3. Add to Order

  • The buyer builds an order across one or more farms and adds notes or substitutions as needed.
  • Line-item notes support specific ripeness, trim, or packaging instructions.
  • Validate against delivery conflicts and inventory changes before checkout.
  • If inventory changed, prompt user to accept reduced quantity or remove item.

4. Confirm and Pay

  • The order is submitted, routed to the farmer, and paid via card or invoice terms depending on buyer eligibility.
  • Support payment authorization, invoice terms, and partial fulfillment rules.
  • Provide clear confirmation screen with pickup/delivery summary.
  • Send SMS and email confirmation to both parties instantly.

5. Track and Reorder

  • Users monitor order status, resolve changes in context, and reorder frequently purchased items.
  • Status states include submitted, accepted, packed, out for delivery, fulfilled, and problem reported.
  • One-tap reorder from recent orders, preserving quantities and notes.
  • Capture issue reporting within 24 hours with photo upload and reason selection.

Advanced Marketplace Tools

  • Recurring weekly standing orders with cutoff times and auto-renewal.
  • Buyer approval workflows for multi-location restaurant groups.
  • Seasonal availability forecasts based on farm-submitted planting and harvest plans.
  • Recommended substitutions when an item is out of stock.
  • Exportable invoices and accounting sync for QuickBooks Online and NetSuite.
  • Admin tools for fraud detection, manual verification, and dispute handling.

Clean, Fast B2B Workflow UI

  • Mobile-first farm forms with big tap targets and offline-friendly drafts.
  • Dense but readable buyer dashboard optimized for chef workflow during service hours.
  • High-contrast accessibility, keyboard navigation, and screen-reader labels across all critical flows.
  • Performance target of sub-2 second page loads on 4G for the core marketplace views.
  • Clear inventory state colors and icons to distinguish available, limited, and sold-out items.

Elena spends Tuesday morning calling three farms to source heirloom tomatoes, basil, and eggs for the weekend menu. Each conversation takes time, and by the time she gets answers, one farm is already sold out and another cannot deliver in her window.

With HarvestHub, Elena searches nearby farms, filters by next harvest and delivery day, and sees live quantity before ordering. She builds the basket in minutes, checks out with invoice terms, and gets instant confirmation without leaving the kitchen line.

On the farm side, Luis posts available inventory from his phone after packing. He fills more of his harvest directly to nearby restaurants, reduces wasted surplus, and gets paid through a predictable, repeatable channel.

User-Centric Metrics

  • Average time for a buyer to find and place an order under 8 minutes.
  • At least 60 percent of buyers reorder within 30 days.
  • Order acceptance rate above 85 percent within 2 hours.
  • Fulfillment accuracy of 97 percent or higher.
  • Buyer-reported satisfaction score of 4.5 out of 5 or higher.

Business Metrics

  • Monthly GMV growth of 15 percent or more after launch.
  • Restaurant buyer conversion from signup to first order above 35 percent.
  • Farm seller activation rate above 70 percent within 14 days of signup.
  • Gross margin positive by month 9 through transaction fees and premium tools.
  • Net revenue retention above 110 percent for multi-location accounts.

Technical Metrics

  • Platform uptime of 99.9 percent monthly.
  • Marketplace search p95 latency under 500 milliseconds.
  • Order submission API p95 latency under 800 milliseconds.
  • Zero critical security incidents and annual penetration testing completion.

Tracking Plan

  • track_signup_completed with role and source channel
  • track_farm_listing_created with product category and quantity
  • track_search_performed with filters used and results count
  • track_listing_viewed with farm id, product id, and distance band
  • track_order_started with cart size and buyer type
  • track_order_submitted with payment type and order value
  • track_order_fulfilled_or_failed with failure reason or fulfillment status

Technical Needs

  • Next.js frontend with TypeScript for buyer and farm web app.
  • Node.js or NestJS backend with REST or GraphQL APIs.
  • PostgreSQL for transactional data and order history.
  • Redis for caching search results, sessions, and rate limiting.
  • Object storage such as S3 for product photos and attachments.
  • Background jobs via BullMQ or Sidekiq-style queue for notifications and order expiry.
  • Search layer using Algolia or Elasticsearch for low-latency filtered discovery.

Integration Points

  • Stripe for payments, payouts, and saved payment methods.
  • Twilio for SMS notifications and verification.
  • SendGrid or Postmark for transactional email.
  • Google Maps Platform or Mapbox for distance and geocoding.
  • QuickBooks Online for invoice export and accounting sync.

Data Storage & Privacy

  • Store only necessary business contact data and follow GDPR and CCPA principles of data minimization.
  • Encrypt sensitive data at rest and enforce TLS 1.2+ in transit.
  • Separate role-based access for farm staff, restaurant staff, and admins.
  • Maintain audit logs for order edits, refunds, and account verification actions.
  • Provide account deletion and data export workflows for compliant data subject requests.

Scalability & Performance

  • Design search and browse endpoints to handle burst traffic during morning ordering windows.
  • Use CDN caching for static assets and image thumbnails.
  • Implement queue-based notification delivery to prevent user-facing latency during order placement.
  • Partition order and message tables by date or tenant once volume grows beyond initial MVP thresholds.

Potential Challenges

  • Inventory freshness can drift quickly, causing oversells; mitigate with real-time stock locks and short reservation windows.
  • Farm onboarding may be slow due to verification friction; mitigate with guided signup, document capture, and fast manual review SLAs.
  • Restaurant buyers may need invoice terms instead of card payment; mitigate with credit approval workflows and configurable payment methods.
  • Off-platform coordination could undermine retention; mitigate with in-app messaging, notifications, and order-based communication defaults.
  • Complex delivery coordination across farms and restaurants may create failed orders; mitigate with clear time windows, conflict detection, and order splitting rules.

Team & resourcing - Small team - 2 full-stack engineers, 1 designer, 1 part-time PM, plus contract QA support

Phase 1: MVP Marketplace · Weeks 1-4

  • Buyer and farm sign-up
  • Farm listings with inventory and availability
  • Basic search and filters by distance and product
  • Order creation with confirmation emails
  • Admin verification dashboard for farms

Phase 2: Ordering and Payments · Weeks 5-8

  • Cart and checkout flow
  • Stripe card payments and invoice terms for approved buyers
  • Order status tracking and notifications via email and SMS
  • Order notes and substitutions
  • Basic reporting for orders, revenue, and fulfillment

Phase 3: Trust and Repeat Usage · Weeks 9-12

  • Messaging tied to listings and orders
  • Saved farms, favorites, and reorder flow
  • Role-based access for multi-location restaurant groups
  • Dispute reporting and admin refund tools
  • Accounting export to QuickBooks Online

Phase 4: Growth and Optimization · Weeks 13-16

  • Standing orders and recurring baskets
  • Search ranking improvements and seasonal recommendations
  • Performance tuning for mobile and 4G use
  • Analytics dashboard for conversion and retention
  • Expanded verification and anti-fraud controls

Paste this into Cursor, Bolt, Lovable, or v0 to start building.

Build a B2B marketplace web app called HarvestHub that connects local farmers directly with nearby restaurants. Use Next.js 14, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, shadcn/ui, PostgreSQL, Prisma, and a Node.js API layer. Include authentication for two roles: farm seller and restaurant buyer, plus admin.

Core features:
1. Buyer marketplace search by product, distance, availability date, delivery method, price range, and farm tags.
2. Farm inventory management to create/edit listings with quantity, unit, minimum order, price, harvest window, photos, and sold-out status.
3. Order flow with cart, order notes, substitutions, checkout, payment via Stripe, and invoice terms for approved buyers.
4. Order status tracking with submitted, accepted, packed, out for delivery, fulfilled, and problem reported states.
5. Messaging tied to listings and orders, plus notifications by email and SMS using SendGrid/Postmark and Twilio.
6. Admin dashboard for farm verification, account suspension, refunds, disputes, and audit logs.
7. Saved farms, favorites, reorder from past orders, and multi-location restaurant account support.

Primary screens and flows:
Home, signup, role selection, buyer search results, listing detail, cart/checkout, order detail/status, farm inventory dashboard, create listing flow, message thread, admin review dashboard, analytics page.

Data model entities:
User, Organization, Location, FarmProfile, RestaurantProfile, ProductListing, InventoryBatch, Order, OrderItem, Payment, MessageThread, Message, VerificationRecord, Dispute, AuditLog, SavedFarm, SavedSearch.

Requirements:
Implement responsive mobile-first UI, high-contrast accessible components, keyboard navigation, empty states, error states, and loading skeletons. Add server-side validation for inventory and order conflicts. Build search with seeded mock data and a clean database schema. Include analytics event hooks for signup, listing creation, search, order started, order submitted, order fulfilled, and dispute opened.

Default architecture:
Next.js frontend with server actions or API routes, Prisma ORM, PostgreSQL, Redis for cache/rate limiting, S3-compatible storage for photos, and background jobs for notifications. Provide a polished MVP with realistic sample data and an admin seed user.

Business Idea

A marketplace connecting local farmers directly with nearby restaurants.

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