FoodEX

A full-stack food delivery application — customer storefront, admin dashboard, and REST API.

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Overview

FoodEX is a MERN food delivery platform built as three services that run side by side.

Service	Folder	Port	What it is
API	backend/	4000	Express + MongoDB — auth, menu, orders, payments
Storefront	frontend/	5173	What customers browse and order from
Admin	admin/	5174	Dashboard for menu, orders, restaurants, complaints

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Features

For customers

• Browse dishes by category, search, and sort by rating or price
• Add to cart with live quantity controls, saved server-side per account
• Checkout via Stripe, Razorpay (UPI), or Cash on Delivery
• Order history with live status — Food Processing → Out for delivery → Delivered
• Contact form for complaints, with a reference code
• Light / dark theme that follows your operating system
• Responsive down to small phones

For the restaurant owner

• Dashboard with revenue, order volume, and a 7-day chart
• Add, edit and remove dishes — including replacing photos
• Set discounts with a live preview of what the customer sees
• Manage restaurants and their Popular / Nearby placement
• Track and resolve customer complaints
• Update order status as food moves through the kitchen

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Tech stack

Frontend React 18 · React Router · Vite · Axios · Context API · plain CSS with custom properties Backend Node.js · Express · MongoDB · Mongoose · JWT · bcrypt · Multer Payments Stripe Checkout · Razorpay (HMAC signature verification)

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Quick start

Prerequisites: Node.js 18+, a MongoDB database (Atlas or local), a Stripe test key.

git clone https://github.com/<your-username>/<your-repo>.git
cd <your-repo>

Create the environment files:

cp backend/.env.example backend/.env
cp frontend/.env.example frontend/.env
cp admin/.env.example admin/.env

Fill in backend/.env — at minimum MONGO_URI, JWT_SECRET, ADMIN_EMAIL, ADMIN_PASSWORD and STRIPE_SECRET_KEY. See backend/README.md for a walkthrough of getting a MongoDB Atlas connection string.

Then run each service in its own terminal:

cd backend  && npm install && npm run server   # http://localhost:4000
cd frontend && npm install && npm run dev      # http://localhost:5173
cd admin    && npm install && npm run dev      # http://localhost:5174

Load the sample menu

A fresh database is empty, so the storefront will look bare. Seed it:

cd backend && npm run seed

That inserts 32 dishes across 8 categories and copies their images into backend/uploads. Re-running is safe — it skips anything already there.

Or with Docker

docker compose up --build

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Documentation

Doc	Covers
backend/README.md	MongoDB Atlas setup, env vars, full API reference, auth model
frontend/README.md	Component map and storefront notes
admin/README.md	Admin pages, discounts, image replacement
CHANGES.md	Full development history and known limitations

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API reference

Auth is a JWT sent in a token header. Admin routes return 401 without a token and 403 for a customer token.

Method	Endpoint	Auth	Purpose
POST	/api/user/register · /api/user/login	—	Customer accounts
POST	/api/admin/login	—	Admin login
GET	/api/food/list	—	List menu items
POST	/api/food/add · /update · /remove	admin	Manage menu (multipart for images)
GET	/api/restaurant/list	—	Restaurants with item counts
POST	/api/restaurant/add · /remove	admin	Manage restaurants
POST	/api/cart/add · /remove · /get	customer	Cart operations
POST	/api/order/place · /razorpay · /cod	customer	Checkout
GET	/api/order/list	admin	All orders
POST	/api/order/status	admin	Update order status
POST	/api/complaint/submit	—	Contact form

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Project structure

.
├── backend/          Express API, MongoDB models, payment controllers
│   ├── controllers/  admin · user · food · cart · order · restaurant · complaint
│   ├── middleware/   auth.js (customer) · adminAuth.js (admin, role-checked)
│   ├── models/       user · food · order · restaurant · complaint · newsletter
│   ├── routes/       one router per resource
│   ├── uploads/      uploaded images, served at /images
│   └── seed.js       loads the 32-item sample menu
├── frontend/         customer storefront (React + Vite)
├── admin/            admin dashboard (React + Vite)
└── docker-compose.yaml

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Known limitations

Being upfront about what looks finished but isn't:

• Ratings are entered by the admin, not earned from customers — there's no review flow yet
• Wishlist hearts are stored in localStorage and don't sync across devices
• Saved addresses aren't implemented — customers enter delivery details at each checkout
• Order tracking shows a status, not live courier location
• Blog cards on the homepage are placeholder content

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License

Released under the MIT License. See LICENSE for details.