Mobile app for restaurants and cafés: own delivery and a loyalty programme without aggregators.
An app makes sense for a restaurant chain or a venue with 500–800+ delivery orders per month: a loyalty programme, promotional push notifications and two-tap reservations bring guests back more cheaply than ads — and without Wolt's commission. For a single venue with lower volumes, we'll honestly recommend a PWA or mobile website instead.
The economics of a restaurant app rest on two things: reducing aggregator commissions and repeat orders through a loyalty programme. If a restaurant pays Wolt or Glovo 30% per order, then at 1,000 orders a month at ₸4,000 each, that's ₸1,200,000 per month — more than the cost of building the app in a single month.
A loyalty programme in an app works differently from a paper card: a push notification saying «your bonus points expire in 3 days» brings the guest back at zero ad spend. Order history lets guests reorder their favourite meal in two taps. A family profile and saved delivery addresses reduce friction on every subsequent order.
We build native apps and PWAs with a proprietary backend, POS integration and Kaspi Pay. Our experience comes from our own products 1Study and 1Work: apps with payments, notifications and complex business logic used by thousands of people every day.
What a restaurant app must have.
Full menu with photos, prices, ingredients and labels; cart, delivery zones, timing, minimum order. Stop lists sync with the POS in real time.
Hall, date and time selection, number of guests; push confirmation; booking history and the ability to cancel or reschedule.
Bonus points for orders and visits, tiers, referral invitations, birthday gift. Push notifications about accumulated bonuses bring guests back.
In-app payment for orders and reservation deposits via Kaspi Pay; saved payment methods for quick reordering.
Promotions, new dishes, delivery status, reservation reminders, expiring bonuses — segmented pushes based on guest history.
All orders and reservations in one place; reorder a favourite in two taps; receipts and documents.
In-app chat with the restaurant for order queries, courier tracking on the map, delivery and dish ratings.
Manage menu, stop lists, promotions, delivery zones, bonus rules and order and guest statistics.
App screens.
- Sign in with phone number and OTP
- Home: promotions, recommendations, current order status
- Menu: categories, dishes, cart
- Delivery: address, zone, timing, payment
- Reservations: hall, date, time, guests
- Bonuses and loyalty programme
- Order and booking history
- Profile, addresses, payment methods
- Chat and support
Honestly: who won't see a return on an app.
For a single venue with fewer than 300–400 delivery orders per month, an app won't pay off: guests won't install it for an occasional order, and the savings on aggregator commissions won't cover development and maintenance costs.
In that case, the right choice is a website with a delivery module and PWA: the same functionality in the browser without installation, at 2–3× lower cost than a native app. An app pays off for a restaurant chain or at volumes of 800–1,000+ orders per month, when a loyalty programme and push notifications deliver measurable guest retention.
How we build it and how long it takes.
Brief and screen prototype — 1–2 weeks: we map out delivery, reservation and loyalty scenarios. Design — 2 weeks. Backend, iOS and Android development, POS and Kaspi integration — 6–10 weeks. Publication on the App Store and Google Play with our moderation support — 1–2 weeks. Total: from 10–14 weeks for the first version; we then iterate based on usage data and guest feedback.
What affects the app price.
A restaurant app for iOS and Android with delivery, reservations, bonuses and Kaspi Pay — from ₸2,500,000, from 8 weeks. PWA without app stores — from ₸1,200,000, faster to launch and cheaper, same functionality.
Price increases with: POS integration without a ready API, a tiered loyalty programme with custom rules, multiple locations with different menus and delivery zones, courier tracking on the map. Base prices — on the mobile apps page.
The short version.
How much does a restaurant app cost?
A native iOS and Android app — from ₸2,500,000; PWA without app stores — from ₸1,200,000. Timeline — from 8 weeks. We provide a quote after the screen prototype.
Will the app sync with our POS system?
Yes, if the POS has an API — iiko, r_keeper and Poster all support integration. Menu and stop lists sync automatically; orders from the app go straight to the kitchen.
Can guests pay via Kaspi in the app?
Yes, Kaspi Pay is embedded in the app for order payments and reservation deposits. Kaspi's commission is per your tariff.
How do we motivate guests to install the app?
A bonus for the first in-app order, a delivery discount, exclusive in-app promotions — standard mechanics that drive installs when promoted in the dining room and in ads.
Who publishes the app in the stores?
We do, in your name: we register developer accounts (Apple — $99/year, Google — $25 one-time), handle moderation and release updates.
Same service for other industries
Running a restaurant chain or high delivery volumes? Tell us about your locations and orders — we'll assess whether an app will pay off.
Tell us the number of locations, monthly delivery volume and which POS system you use. We'll reply with an assessment and screen prototype within 2–3 business days.