Project Overview
DineSpark is a restaurant management system for daily operations: table management, reservations, digital menus and customer contact handling. It was migrated from a split React + Vite + Express stack into a unified Next.js application with API routes.
A full-stack restaurant application with menus, reservations, contact handling, database operations and validation, migrated to a unified Next.js architecture.
Client
Independent / Client project
Role
Full Stack Developer
Duration
5 weeks
Status
Live & Running
How This Project
Was Built
A detailed walkthrough of each phase from concept to launch.
Migration planning
Audited the existing React + Vite frontend and Express backend to plan a unified Next.js structure.
- •Catalogued frontend components, Express routes and database models.
- •Planned API route migration from Express to Next.js route handlers.
- •Designed a shared validation layer to avoid duplicating logic.
Unified Next.js architecture
Consolidated frontend and backend into one Next.js codebase with App Router.
- •Moved Express route logic into Next.js API routes under /api.
- •Replaced separate dev/production servers with a single next dev / next start workflow.
- •Kept Prisma ORM and PostgreSQL as the data layer.
Menu, reservations & contact
Built restaurant-facing features: menu items, table reservations and contact form.
- •Menu management with categories, prices and availability toggles.
- •Reservation system with date/time picking and table assignment.
- •Contact form with Zod validation and database persistence.
Dashboard & operations
Added a staff dashboard showing today's covers, reservations and active tables.
- •Stats: covers, reservations, pending and active tables.
- •Table map view with occupied/free status.
- •Daily summary for shift handovers.
Deployment
Validated API routes, database migrations and deployed to Vercel.
- •Ran Prisma migrations against the production database.
- •Tested reservation and contact form submission end-to-end.
- •Deployed and configured environment variables on Vercel.
Overcoming
The Hard Parts
Key challenges faced and how they were resolved.
Challenge 1
Preserving existing Express API contracts while moving to Next.js route handlers.
Challenge 2
Synchronizing frontend form state with migrated backend validation messages.
Tech Stack
& Architecture
Technologies and tools used to build this project.
What Was
Achieved
Major outcomes and deliverables from this project.
Digital menu with categories & availability
Successfully implemented and deployed.
Table reservation system
Successfully implemented and deployed.
Contact form with validation
Successfully implemented and deployed.
Staff dashboard with covers & stats
Successfully implemented and deployed.
Unified Next.js + Prisma stack
Successfully implemented and deployed.
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