Malabar Cafe
‘Malabar Cafe’ a small business sells authentic Kerala foods to the local community. Currently, the business owner manages orders through text messages and phone calls, which is time-consuming and difficult to track. By developing a website, customers have a more convenient way to browse the menu, place orders, and receive confirmations, making the process smoother for both the business and its customers.
The website is built using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for a responsive and user-friendly interface. PHP Laravel structures the project, ensuring efficient functionality and scalability. Instead of a traditional database, local storage handles order management, keeping the system lightweight and easy to maintain. This simple, reliable solution helps the business streamline operations and grow.
Check out the project on GitHub.
Moodboard
For this project, I aimed to capture the essence of Kerala’s rich culinary heritage through the mood board. Warm, earthy tones were chosen to reflect the freshness of ingredients and the vibrancy of traditional Kerala cuisine, setting a welcoming and authentic tone for the website.
Each element balances natural textures, like banana leaves and spices, with a clean and modern layout, ensuring a seamless fusion of tradition and functionality. This mood board served as the foundation for the design process, guiding the visual identity of the website and ensuring a user-friendly, culturally rich experience.
Set Up
Before starting the project, I had to determine the right technologies and tools to use. Since I was familiar with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, I decided to focus on those for the front-end development. For the backend, I chose Laravel as it provides a clean and scalable framework for building dynamic websites. Knowing that I didn’t need a traditional database, I opted to use local storage for storing order details, as this would keep the system lightweight and easy to manage.
To bring the project to life, I worked with VS Code as my code editor and for version control, I used GitHub to keep track of changes and collaborate. With this tech stack in place, I was able to focus on creating a seamless, functional website that met both the business’s needs and the customer’s expectations.
MVP
The MVP for the Malabar Cafe website featured a Home Page that showcased the business with vibrant images of Kerala cuisine and easy navigation to other sections. The Menu Page displayed a list of dishes with descriptions and an “Order Now” button for each item. A Cart allowed users to view, update, or remove items before proceeding to checkout. This simple structure ensured that customers could easily browse the menu, select items, and manage their orders with ease.
