Potluck signup that balances the menu

The idea

Potlucks fail in one predictable way: signup is a free-for-all text thread, so you get five desserts, no mains, and a vegetarian eating bread rolls. SignUpGenius technically covers this with generic slot lists, ads, and a UI that makes grandparents give up.

The wedge is opinionated structure: dish categories with quotas that visibly close when full, so balance is enforced by the form rather than begged for by the host. The second half is dietary visibility before dish selection, with a severe allergy pinned where every cook sees it. Both are trivial features that generic signup tools refuse to be opinionated enough to build.

Who pays

The buyer is the recurring host: church and school event coordinators, the Friendsgiving organiser, office party planners. Price at 5 dollars per event or 20 dollars a year, paid by the host; guests never see a price or a login. Distribution: guests at every event are exposed to the product by using it, which is the growth loop; supplement with SEO on potluck signup sheet queries, which currently return miserable printable PDFs.

MVP scope

• Event creation with category quotas and smart defaults from headcount
• No-login guest claiming with live remaining-slot counts and full-category lockout
• Dish allergy flags plus a pinned dietary-needs board
• Resend emails: confirmations, host digest, day-before reminders
• Printable menu card with allergy icons
• Skip for v1: guest accounts, payments between guests, RSVP or plus-ones, recipe links, native apps

Build Dishly, a Next.js web app for potluck signups where dish categories have quotas that close when full.

Host flow: create an event (name, date, location, headcount estimate) and set category quotas: e.g. 6 mains, 5 sides, 3 salads, 4 desserts, 3 drinks. Offer smart defaults scaled from headcount so hosts do not think. Host gets a shareable link and an admin link (two different unguessable URLs, both capability-based, no host account required beyond an email for recovery).

Guest flow, zero login: open the link, see categories with remaining slots (Desserts: FULL greys out and cannot be picked), claim a slot with name, dish description, and optional allergy flags on the dish (contains nuts, dairy, gluten; vegetarian/vegan markers). Guests can also post their own dietary needs to a visible needs board (2 vegetarians, 1 severe nut allergy) that everyone sees before choosing, with the nut allergy pinned in red.

Emails via Resend: guest gets a confirmation with an edit link; host gets a daily digest of signups; all guests get a day-before reminder listing what they promised to bring.

Extras: the host can print an auto-generated menu card (nicely typeset list of dishes by category with allergy icons) for the serving table.

Pages: Create event, Event public page, Admin page, Menu card print view.

Pricing: free for events up to 12 dishes; 5 dollars per event or 20 dollars per year for unlimited, paid on the admin page.