DashStash
Heated pickup staging · Modular 5052 sheet-metal cube array
Engineered from 200+ deliveries to cut 4.2-minute merchant handoff delays with 110° zero-clipping doors.
Status: CAD-validated, in progress · CAD direction: door, frame, and service-column proportions
At a glance
Role
Product design and interface
Focus
Heated pickup wall
Skills
Hardware layout · screen states · modular sizing
Problem
Orders sit unsecured and can be taken, leaving drivers to wait for a remake. The food cools. In rain, drivers often have no bag.
Research
Three weekends on the road
I dashed as field research to watch restaurant handoffs directly. I completed 200+ deliveries and reached Platinum.
Fieldwork
3 weekends
Deliveries
200+
Status
Platinum
LIVE DEMO · TRY IT
Tap a driver QR on the left. The matching cube unlocks only once it reads 140°F. Then stack a row or add a column to watch the system scale.
Product
The base unit is 2 by 2: four square heated cubes and one screen column. The column is one cube wide and exactly as tall as the stack. Staff load each order from the back: pick an empty cube, enter the order number, and it heats toward 155°F.
CAD direction · door, frame, and service-column proportions
Handoff
A driver scans once. Under 140°F, the matching cube stays shut. Once hot, only that cube opens. Rain on dispenses one pre-warmed foil bag; rain off dispenses no bag.
DASHSTASH
Scan to pick up
Idle, waiting for a driver
DASHSTASH
Reading the code
One camera in the column
NOT READY
Still heating
Under 140°F, the door stays shut
UNLOCKED
Take B1, door open
Only the matching door opens
RAIN KIT
Bag dispensed
One pre-warmed foil bag
NO MATCH
No match, or the magazine is empty
Nothing opens
Screen states, in order.
Maya Chen
Order 4821
Cube B1
158°F
Ready
Luis Ortega
Order 4828
Cube A2
151°F
Ready
Priya Shah
Order 4833
Cube B2
128°F
Heating
Jonah Ellis
Order 4902
No cube
Not loaded
Order board. Driver name and order number only, no meal names.
System
Every heated door is the same square cube. When the rush grows, a restaurant stacks a row or adds a column. The cubes never stretch, and the screen column always matches the stack height.
A1
B1
A2
B2
A3
B3
Stack a row: 2 columns, 3 rows.
Specs
Enclosure
5052 sheet metal, modular cubes
Door swing
110° hinge clearance, zero-clipping
Thermal
Hot / cold segregated bays
Hold range
140–165°F
Setpoint
155°F
Bag magazine
16 bags
Bag cost
Target under $5 per bag
Power
About 40 W per cube
Circuit
A 2 by 2 runs on one 15 A circuit
Controller
Arduino Mega 2560, relays in the screen column
Locks
Magnetic lock on each door
Camera
One, in the screen column, reads every QR
Beachhead
Midwest fast food first
Market penetration
Same-region new customers
Campus dining
Midwest
876 campuses
Grocery pickup
Midwest
11,997 stores
Ghost kitchens
Midwest
No public data
POINT OF ATTACK
53,908
Fast food locations
Midwest
Market expansion
Same segment, colder and wetter
Fast food
Northeast
46,923 locations
Fast food
Pacific NW (WA+OR)
8,564 locations
Campus dining
Northeast
768 campuses
Ghost kitchens
Northeast
No public data
Ghost kitchens
Pacific NW (WA+OR)
No public data
Sources: US Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023 (NAICS 722513, 445110). NCES Digest 2023, Table 317.20, degree-granting institutions, 2022–23. Midwest and Northeast are US Census regions.
Competition
Hold at 140–165°F, plus a rain bag
Pickup lockers already exist. Apex is one example. DashStash’s product difference is a 140–165°F hold plus a rain bag.
Hold
140–165°F
Weather handoff
Rain bag
Still open
The internals, physical screen, hinge and lock mechanics, and bag hatch are not finished. The heat plate is in progress.
Weather target
Target, not built yet: a gasketed front, a sealed screen bezel, and coated boards.
Cycles target
Target, not tested yet: hinges and a bag hatch that can survive a busy restaurant.
Next project
Suara
Mini PC · mono speaker