Gluten-Libre

The Challenge

Chloé, a celiac disease advocate in France, needed a digital platform to help people with celiac disease and gluten intolerance find safe dining options across France. The problem was real and personal: there was no reliable, community-driven resource for gluten-free restaurant discovery, verified recipes, and peer support. Existing solutions were either outdated directories with no community features, or generic food apps that did not understand the medical severity of gluten exposure for celiac patients. Chloé needed an interactive map-based platform with restaurant verification, recipe sharing, and a community hub — all localized for the French market with proper SEO for regional search visibility.

Discovery Phase

We ran a 2-day discovery sprint with Chloé to map the user journey from diagnosis to daily life management. We identified three core user personas: newly diagnosed patients seeking safe restaurants, experienced celiacs sharing knowledge, and restaurant owners wanting to attract this underserved market. The critical insight was that trust is everything in this space — a wrong restaurant recommendation could cause a serious health reaction. We designed a verification system where community members rate and validate gluten-free options, creating a trust layer that static directories cannot provide.

Our Solution

We built the platform on React with Supabase for the backend, leveraging its real-time capabilities for community features and row-level security for user data protection. Mapbox powers the interactive restaurant discovery map with geolocation-based search, custom markers for verified establishments, and filtering by cuisine type, verification status, and user ratings. Stripe handles premium features and restaurant listing subscriptions. The recipe section includes ingredient-level gluten analysis and substitution suggestions. The entire platform is optimized for French-language SEO with structured data for local business discovery.

Architecture

The application follows a component-based architecture with React for the frontend and Supabase handling authentication, database, and real-time subscriptions. The map layer uses Mapbox GL JS with custom styling matching the brand identity, clustering for dense urban areas, and smooth transitions between zoom levels. Restaurant data is enriched with user-generated reviews, photos, and gluten-free menu verification. The search system combines Supabase full-text search with geographic filtering for location-aware results. Static pages are pre-rendered for SEO, while dynamic community features use client-side rendering with real-time updates.