Açaí Delivery System
A custom delivery platform built to help my mother run her açaí business despite chronic pain and mobility challenges.
The Problem
When distance meets necessity
My mother runs a small açaí delivery business in Brazil. For years, she managed everything manually—writing down orders in a notebook, calculating totals by hand, tracking deliveries on paper.
Then her health challenges became harder to ignore. Chronic pain, fibromyalgia, and reduced mobility in her left hand turned simple tasks into exhausting ones. Every order she wrote down meant physical discomfort. Every day at work was harder than it should have been.
When I moved to Ireland in 2020, I couldn't help her physically anymore. But I could help her differently. I could build something that would remove the manual work entirely.
Key Challenges
- •Manual order taking caused physical pain and slowed down operations
- •No digital record of customer orders or delivery history
- •Difficult to manage inventory and track product sales
- •Paper-based system made it hard to scale the business
The Solution
Built for her workflow, not against it
I built a custom delivery platform designed around how she actually works. Not a generic system adapted to fit—something built specifically for her operation, her products, her customers.
The system handles everything digitally: customers place orders through a simple interface, orders are organized automatically, and my mother can manage everything without writing a single word by hand.
Order Management
Digital order intake that automatically organizes customer requests, calculates totals, and tracks delivery status in real-time.
Customer Database
Complete history of customer orders, addresses, and preferences—no more searching through notebooks.
Product Catalog
Easy product management with prices, availability, and variations—updates instantly across the system.
Delivery Tracking
Simple interface to track pending deliveries, mark orders as completed, and manage daily routes.
Technical Architecture
Built to last and easy to maintain
I chose a solid, proven stack: Django for the backend with Django REST Framework for the API, Bootstrap and JavaScript for the frontend, and PostgreSQL for data persistence.
The architecture is straightforward—no over-engineering. A REST API handles all business logic, authentication, and data validation. The Bootstrap and JavaScript frontend provides a clean interface that works on both mobile and desktop.
Tech Stack
- • Django 4.x
- • Django REST Framework
- • PostgreSQL
- • Bootstrap
- • JavaScript
- • Responsive design
- • Mobile-first approach
The system is hosted on Gregory's server (my mentor and friend). He helped me with deployment configuration and server setup. Having someone experienced to lean on made this my first real production deployment much smoother.
Technical Challenges
What I learned building this
Simplicity Over Features
My first instinct was to build every feature I could imagine. I learned quickly that the best software does less, not more. Every feature I removed made the system easier for my mother to use.
Real User Feedback
Building for someone you know means you can't hide behind assumptions. If something was confusing or didn't work the way she expected, I heard about it immediately. That feedback loop was invaluable.
Production Deployment
This was my first time deploying something that people would use every day. I learned about server configuration, environment management, database migrations in production, and the importance of having backups.
Real Impact
What changed after deployment
The system went live and my mother started using it immediately. No handwritten orders anymore. No manual calculations. No searching through notebooks for customer information.
She told me the biggest difference wasn't just the time saved—it was the physical relief. Her workday became less painful. That was the goal from the start, and knowing it worked made everything worth it.
This project taught me something important: the best software solves real problems for real people. Not abstract use cases or hypothetical scenarios. Actual pain points in someone's actual day.
Measurable Results
- ✓Eliminated manual handwriting, reducing physical strain
- ✓Faster order processing and delivery tracking
- ✓Complete digital history of all orders and customers
- ✓System still in daily use, running reliably
What's Next
The system works and it's stable. Future improvements will come from my mother's feedback as she continues using it. I'm not adding features for the sake of adding them—only when they solve an actual problem she's facing.
This project showed me that good software doesn't need to be complex. It needs to work, be reliable, and make someone's life easier. Everything else is secondary.