How does a cup of coffee every 2.5 hours sound?
Lately, cafes have really been bustling in Singapore. Almost at every quaint corner of Singapore, be it in the hidden alleys or below your HDB flats, there will be one unit with interesting and quirky food ideas with good artsy vibes that makes your estate feel a little more exciting for that random weekday night supper or late weekend morning brunch.
Take a break, have a coffee
With that comes a desire to consolidate all these little goodness into one place so that we can keep track of all our favourite cafes around Singapore. And find hidden gems in your vicinity. And that’s what Coffee Break is set to do with their app. Plus, an extra coffee bonus.
Coffee Break is the first app in Singapore that allows you to pre-purchase your coffees at a highly discounted price. This is done by purchasing coffee subscription plans and later redeeming your coffee cashless with the app at their partner merchants. Think Starbucks Card, but for better coffee 😉 Some of their partnering cafes include The Pourover Bar, Hatter Street, LAAF, The Laneway Market, Hang Out Cafe and more. Check out their app for the lists that will be updated over time.
Subscription Model
These subscriptions come in basic, advanced and master levels with each drink priced at about $4.10 to $3.70. These coffee plans help you to save up to 40%!
If you’re heavy coffee-drinker, or just want a super good deal, they have an unlimited package for your intense finals’ week or project week where you pay $90 for unlimited cups of coffee.
Share and Promote, you’ll be rewarded.
The more you share, the cheaper deals you get–everyone gets the fair share of the pie. When a friend uses your code when he/she registers, both of you will get a free drink!
Like every new exercise regime or course you want to get into, Coffee Break has a free “trial” session as well. Simply sign up with your Facebook or email to get your first drink for free! “Drink more and spend less” and share the happiness.
Behind the Team
The team aims to build a network for all local cafes to bring the coffee-lovers together. As an avid coffee enthusiast himself, Dennis Ng, founder and CEO envisions Coffee Break to “mould and shape Singapore’s coffee scene”.
We reached out to Coffee Break and asked the founder and CEO of Coffee Break, Mr Dennis Ng on what motivated him and his vision for coffee break 10 years later.
Q: I’m really fond of this idea of wanting to bring together local cafes all together. What do you think gave Coffee Break the motivation to start something so new in this relatively developed market?
“As a teenager living in Australia, I was lucky enough to be exposed to the coffee culture down under. In Melbourne, it was really easy to find a coffee shop that sold specialty coffee, so much so that it became a norm to order inexpensive specialty coffee every day.
When I first came back to Singapore, it was much more difficult to find specialty coffee, even if it was in my neighbourhood. And when I do find it, it was also fairly expensive for a cup.
Hence, there lies the opportunity in the market and my motivation into creating the Coffee Break app. Coffee Break helps to bring value to both the consumers and cafe owners.
For users, Coffee Break is a cafe-locator app that utilises GPS to locate local cafes in the user’s proximity.
Users purchase prepaid coffee plans and get to enjoy discounted specialty coffee from any of the partner cafes in the Coffee Break network.
For small-business cafe owners, Coffee Break presents itself as a valuable marketing platform. It is a chance to generate greater awareness amongst the locals, and get more customers coming in whilst making their cafe regulars more regular.
The app is simple. Partner cafes are ranked in order of proximity. Once a user is in the cafe, you simply choose your order and press the “checkout” button. The cashier enters a code on your smartphone, and your specialty coffee is on its way. It is a convenient and cashless transaction!”
Q: And also, I saw that you wish to build a community for your partners to talk more about their businesses. What does Coffee Break hope to see in the local cafe scene 10 years down?
“Our mission is to empower local independent business, in this case, the cafes that may not have the necessary resources or tools to compete with the likes of Starbucks. With the Coffee Break app, we aim to bring value to all sides of the table.
In 10 years, Coffee Break hopes to see a vibrant cafe scene where owners collaborate and work with each other to bring better efficiency into their respective businesses. This has been quite a successful trend that is happening in the local F&B scene.
Together with cafe owners, coffee drinkers and various stakeholders in the industry, Coffee Break hopes to create a sustainable coffee eco system.
The coffee culture in Singapore is blossoming but I think it is important to remain engaged to the needs of consumers and growing the coffee eco-system in a sustainable way. This requires continued growth in the base of coffee drinkers coupled with coffee education and the type of coffee sold. All these can be done through the Coffee Break app but it will naturally take time. We live in a world dominated by relentless technological evolution and Coffee Break hopes to utilise technology to assist and grow the cafe scene in Singapore and eventually, abroad.”
Dennis reflected in an interview with Mediacorp that Coffee Break “plans to overtake the number of Starbucks outlet in Singapore by the end of the year, becoming the largest network for independent cafes.”
And lastly when asked about what Dennis’ favourite drink is: “Skinny Latte for speciality coffee and Kopi O Kosong for your traditional Kopitiam drink.”.
Sign up now on App Store or Google Play Store.
