Starting my journey as a software engineer, I was entrusted with a massive responsibility: building the backend for a food delivery platform similar to Zomato and Swiggy. As a fresh software engineer, this was a dream project—challenging yet rewarding, pushing me to explore backend development deeply.

Here’s an overview of what I accomplished, the technologies I used, and the lessons I learned.

The Project Overview

The platform I built catered to both users and kitchen partners. It allowed:

Users to browse dishes, add items to their cart, and place orders.
Kitchen partners to manage their inventory and track orders.

Additionally, the project required integration of identity verification (Aadhaar and PAN) and a robust payment system for seamless payouts to kitchen partners.

Technical Stack

For the backend, I leveraged:

NestJS: A framework that offered the flexibility and scalability required for this project.
MongoDB: Chosen for its schema-less nature, making it easy to store dynamic inventory data.
Razorpay API: For secure and seamless payment handling.
Aadhaar and PAN APIs: For verifying user and kitchen partner identities.

Features Implemented

1. User and Kitchen Partner Management

I developed separate modules for users and kitchen partners:

User Module:
- User registration and login.
- Browse menu, add items to cart, and place orders.
- Order history and tracking.
Kitchen Partner Module:
- Registration with Aadhaar and PAN verification.
- Inventory management (add, update, delete dishes).
- Real-time order updates using Firebase Notifications.

2. Aadhaar and PAN Verification

Identity verification was crucial to ensure platform authenticity. I integrated government-approved APIs for:

Aadhaar-based KYC checks.
PAN verification for kitchen partners.

This enhanced trust among users and kitchen partners.

3. Razorpay Integration

Payments were a critical aspect. The platform needed to:

Accept user payments for orders.
Handle payouts to kitchen partners.

Using Razorpay, I implemented:

Payment gateways: Secure user transactions.
Payout system: Direct transfers to kitchen partners’ accounts.

4. Inventory and Order Management

The inventory system allowed kitchen partners to:

Add new dishes.
Update stock availability in real-time.

For users:

Items could be added to a cart with live availability checks.
Orders were processed with real-time status updates.

Challenges Faced

1. Scalability

Handling concurrent requests from users and kitchen partners was a significant challenge. NestJS's modular architecture helped me design a scalable solution, allowing smooth handling of API requests.

2. Payment and Verification API Integrations

Integrating third-party APIs for Aadhaar, PAN, and Razorpay involved ensuring secure and seamless data handling. Debugging webhook failures during payouts was a steep learning curve.

3. Real-Time Updates

Ensuring real-time order updates required efficient communication between the frontend and backend. I achieved this using Firebase Notifications, enhancing the user experience.

Lessons Learned

Planning is Key: Mapping out the project structure and modules before diving into code saved me a lot of time and effort.
Error Handling: Proper error handling mechanisms are crucial, especially when integrating with external APIs.
Documentation: Maintaining clear documentation for API endpoints and backend logic made it easier for the frontend team to integrate.

Why This Project Matters

As my first professional project, this platform laid the foundation for my understanding of backend development. It taught me the importance of writing clean, scalable code and collaborating with cross-functional teams to deliver a high-quality product.

Conclusion

Building this food delivery platform was an enriching experience. It challenged me to think critically, learn quickly, and deliver robust solutions. Starting my career with such a project solidified my passion for software engineering and backend development.

Feel free to connect if you want to discuss backend development or share your thoughts on this project!

This blog is part of my journey in documenting my experiences in software engineering. Check out my other posts for more insights and technical write-ups!

Building the Backend for a Food Delivery Platform: My First Professional Project