A mobile app for coffee shops: pre-orders, rewards and a coffee subscription.
A morning guest is willing to pay not to stand in line: order a latte on the way and pick it up five minutes later. We build an app where pre-orders, rewards and a coffee subscription run through your POS, not separately from it.
A coffee shop app does two jobs: it removes the line at the counter and turns guests into regulars. Pre-ordering for a specific time eases the 8–10 am peak, when some guests leave for the place next door rather than wait. Rewards, a subscription and personal push notifications turn a random guest into someone who comes every day.
It is important that the app is part of the POS. An app order should appear on the POS and the bar printer just like a counter order, rewards should be credited against the fiscal receipt, and the menu and stop list should come from the POS. Otherwise baristas work in two systems and the accounting drifts apart.
An app does not pay off for every coffee shop. For a single location a Wallet loyalty card or a Telegram bot is often enough. We build apps natively (Swift, Kotlin) or with Flutter, depending on budget, timeline and interface requirements, and we tell you honestly when it is too early for an app.
What a coffee shop app needs.
Choice of location, drink, size, milk and syrup, a time like in 10 minutes or a specific hour. The order goes to the POS and the bar printer.
Points cashback or every Nth cup free, tiers for regulars, crediting against the fiscal receipt both at the counter and in the app.
A plan of 20 or 30 drinks a month paid with Kaspi Pay: steady revenue for the coffee shop and savings for the guest.
Paying for the order in the app with no terminal or cash, saved payment methods, refunds through the POS.
Messages based on guest habits: a morning reminder, the seasonal menu, a bonus for those who have not come for 2–3 weeks.
Nearest location on a map, opening hours, a preparing — ready status, a QR code to collect the order and earn rewards.
Limited drinks, breakfast combos, new item labels and a stop list from the POS so guests do not order what is unavailable.
Managing menu, promotions and pushes, reports by location: pre-orders, average ticket, visit frequency and the share of app guests.
Typical coffee shop app structure.
- Sign-in by phone number and OTP
- Home: rewards, seasonal offer, repeat last order
- Menu: drinks, food, modifiers
- Cart and pick-up time
- Kaspi Pay payment and order status
- Rewards, tiers and subscription
- Locations on a map with hours
- Order history and receipts
- Profile, notifications, consents
Honestly: who will not get a return on an app.
A single coffee shop without morning lines usually does not get a return on an app: guests will not install it for one location. Loyalty is covered by a digital card in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, pre-orders by a page on the coffee shop website or a Telegram bot. That costs many times less and launches in 2–4 weeks.
An app is justified for a chain of 3–5+ locations with a morning flow of office workers and students, a guest base of several thousand and a clear loyalty program. The middle option is a PWA: pre-orders and rewards in the browser with no store publishing, from ₸1,200,000.
So that pre-orders do not break the bar.
Pre-orders without rules create a second line: at peak time a barista gets ten app orders for the same minute. So we build in a cap on orders per 5-minute slot for each location, a minimum preparation time, automatic pausing of pre-orders under overload, and a stop list from the POS.
The order prints on the bar printer with the guest's name and time, and the guest sees the status in the app. A dedicated pick-up shelf and a QR code for collection remove the confusion with cups. We agree on these rules with location managers at the prototype stage.
What affects the price of a coffee shop app.
An iOS and Android app for a coffee chain with pre-orders, rewards, Kaspi Pay and POS integration — from ₸2,500,000, from 8 weeks. A PWA without the stores — from ₸1,200,000. Support and development — from ₸60,000 a month.
The price goes up with: a POS without a ready API, a subscription with recurring charges, multi-tier loyalty, different menus and prices by location, a franchise chain with different legal entities. Base prices are on the mobile apps page.
The short version.
How much does an app for a coffee shop cost?
An iOS and Android app with pre-orders, rewards and POS integration costs from ₸2,500,000, from 8 weeks; a PWA without the stores from ₸1,200,000. The exact estimate depends on the POS, number of locations and loyalty mechanics.
Native app or Flutter?
We build natively (Swift, Kotlin) or with Flutter. For a coffee shop app with a menu, cart and rewards, Flutter often gives guests the same speed on a smaller budget; we choose native development when complex animations, widgets and deep system integration matter.
Will app orders reach the POS?
Yes, through the iiko, Poster, r_keeper or Quick Resto API: the order appears on the POS and prints at the bar, the receipt is fiscalized and rewards are credited automatically.
Isn't it cheaper to use an aggregator?
Wolt, Glovo and Yandex Eats are good for delivery, but they take a commission on every order and do not give you guest data. Your own app is for regulars and pick-up, aggregators for delivery; usually both channels run.
How long does store publishing take?
Preparation and review in the App Store and Google Play take 1–2 weeks, and we handle it. The first version including development takes from 8–10 weeks.
Same service for other industries
Run a coffee chain? Tell us about your locations and lines — we will say whether an app pays off.
Tell us how many locations you have, which POS you use, how many guests come at the morning peak and how loyalty works now. We will reply with options — app, PWA or Wallet card — and an estimate within 1–2 business days.