---
title: helloPapa — Overview
type: project
project: helloPapa
status: planning
tags: [hellopapa, cook-along, hello-corp]
created: 2026-10-03
---

# helloPapa: overview

> **helloPapa** is the cook-along redesign of the `helloFoodie` prototype. It makes immersive, guided cooking of à la carte dishes the product, with social cooking (friends, dares, cook-together) and skill-based gamification on top. **Meal-box delivery is parked** as an in-development feature for a later phase.

## Read in this order

| # | Doc | What's in it |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | [State of the project](01-state-of-the-project.md) | Audit of what exists today: strengths, gaps (G1–G15), content and infra status |
| 02 | [Product strategy](02-product-strategy.md) | Vision, positioning, personas, core loop, 5 feature pillars (cook mode, content, social, gamification, engagement) |
| 03 | [Monetization](03-monetization.md) | 10 revenue streams, Free vs Plus, pricing hypotheses, paywall placements, sequencing |
| 04 | [Architecture & data](04-architecture.md) | Platform decision, stack, monorepo, recipe schema v2, cook engine v2, scene kit, data model, compliance, analytics |
| 05 | [Roadmap](05-roadmap.md) | Phases P0–P5 with dated epics, tasks, exit criteria, metric tree, risks, and what to do Monday |
| 06 | [Changelog](06-changelog.md) | Living log, appended to as work progresses |
| 07 | [Illustration brief](07-illustration-brief.md) | The first 50 ingredients to illustrate (98 drawings), technical constraints, reuse families, wave 2. Also as [CSV](illustration-bucket.csv) |
| 08 | [Art pipeline](08-art-pipeline.md) | First deliveries measured, how a painting becomes an app asset, painted art in the app, decisions D9–D13, what is not solved |
| 09 | [Content management (Studio)](09-cms-plan.md) | Login-protected editor for recipes, ingredients, steps and images with an approval and publish flow: options, recommendation, build order, decisions D14–D19 (accepted). **Slice 0 built in code, not yet connected to a live project** |

`PLAN.md` at the repo root is the **previous** meal-kit plan (P0–P4, Jul 2026), kept for history.

## Where we are (one paragraph)

There's a polished, static, bilingual **prototype** with an excellent cook-along core: global multi-timers, scene-first steps, per-step ingredients, a distinctive hand-drawn brand. But it has **one cookable recipe**, **no backend, deployment, persistence or analytics**, and an illustration method that can't scale. Nobody outside the team has cooked with it yet. Details in [01](01-state-of-the-project.md).

## Where we're going (one paragraph)

Make cook mode trustworthy on a real phone (wake lock, resume, background alerts, hands-free). Build a content pipeline (schema v2 + composable scene kit + AI-assisted authoring + chef verification) to reach 15 → 40 → 100 recipes. Then add the social loop (friends feed, **dares**, plate postcards), skill-based gamification (brigade ranks, technique mastery, cuisine passport), and a freemium **helloPapa Plus** subscription. Launch publicly in Romania in **March 2027**, with Easter (2 May 2027) as the first big seasonal event. Details in [02](02-product-strategy.md) and [05](05-roadmap.md).

## Decisions needed

**All eight recommendations below were accepted on 2026-10-04.** They are now the plan of record; to change one, edit the row and log it in the [changelog](06-changelog.md).

| ID | Decision | Recommendation (✅ accepted) | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| **D1** | Name and repo | **helloPapa** as the product brand; rename the repo `hellofoodie` → `hellopapa` when the monorepo is scaffolded (P1) | The brand shifts from meal-kit to cook-along; rename once, at the re-platform |
| **D2** | Launch market & languages | **Romania first, RO/EN bilingual**; diaspora as the bridge to EN markets | Local chefs + Romanian classics + helloHoreca restaurant network; i18n already built |
| **D3** | Platform | **Web-first Next.js PWA → Capacitor iOS/Android shells before launch** | Fastest to real users, dare links work without an install, reuses the SVG art; native for reliable alerts and voice ([04 §1](04-architecture.md#1-platform-decision-d3)) |
| **D4** | Content model at launch | **Chef-verified + kitchen-tested only**; community recipes after moderation matures | Trust is the differentiator; UGC recipes dilute quality early |
| **D5** | Fate of the week planner | **Keep it as a Plus feature** ("Tonight?" weekly plan); port the engine to TS | Working, tested engine; natural paid upsell; bridge to shopping list → boxes |
| **D6** | Business model | **Freemium + helloPapa Plus subscription**; social and gamification always free; no ads | Growth from free social loops; revenue from depth ([03](03-monetization.md)) |
| **D7** | Illustration direction | **Composable SVG scene kit** in the existing hand-drawn style + short technique clips where needed | The only path to 100+ recipes while keeping the brand ([04 §5](04-architecture.md#5-scene-kit)) |
| **D8** | Team & budget | **Hire/contract a full-stack dev + a part-time chef/recipe developer + a part-time illustrator** | Content and engineering are both on the critical path; timelines in [05](05-roadmap.md) assume this |

## Next actions

Done on 2026-10-04 (see [changelog](06-changelog.md)): D1–D8 accepted · monorepo + CI · recipe schema v2 with the ciorbă migrated (P0-5) · cook engine · scene-kit spike (P0-6) · AA tokens (P0-9, minus wordmark/icon) · boxes shelved behind a flag (P0-10) · prototype hardened for kitchen tests (wake lock, resume after reload, screen-reader fixes).

Still open in Phase 0:

1. Run 5 in-kitchen tests of the ciorbă prototype (P0-2). It's now safe to use for a full 2-hour cook.
2. Secure written permission from Chef Florin Arvunescu, or plan a replacement recipe (P0-8). The validator blocks publishing the ciorbă until `source.license` is `granted`.
3. Confirm the tarragon quantity and the step time estimates during the first kitchen test (the validator flags both).
4. Pick the 15 alpha recipes and book kitchen-test slots (P0-7).
5. 8 user interviews + competitor teardown (P0-3, P0-4).
6. Illustrator review of the scene-kit preview (`packages/scene-kit/preview.html`); helloPapa wordmark and app icon (rest of P0-9).
7. Unit-economics sheet (P0-11) and analytics event plan (P0-12).
8. Rename the GitHub repo `hellofoodie` → `hellopapa` (D1). It's a settings change on GitHub; the code already uses `@hellopapa/*`.