Cilantro
51% conversion rate, 35% returning users, and 30%+ MoM growth — a pandemic-born digital transformation that kept Cilantro growing when every physical store was forced to close.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced Cilantro — one of Egypt's leading coffee shop brands — to shut down its physical operations overnight. The challenge was not simply to survive the lockdown, but to find a way to keep the business working and growing with no in-store presence. As conditions evolved, so did the complexity: first, how to serve customers who were stuck at home; then, as stores began reopening, how to get people back through the doors while they were still afraid of human contact. Every phase required a fast, agile response with technology that had never been deployed in Egypt's F&B sector before.
Robusta partnered with Cilantro from the very first days of lockdown, running a design sprint to identify the fastest path forward. The response was built in two phases. In the first phase, we launched an e-commerce store selling DIY coffee kits — bringing the Cilantro experience into customers' homes. In the second phase, as stores reopened, we designed and implemented Egypt's first fully contactless in-store and curbside ordering system: a customer-facing web app for ordering, a store management dashboard for operations, and a barista tablet app to receive and manage orders on the floor. The result was a seamless, end-to-end digital ecosystem that kept Cilantro growing throughout — and the rich data it generated laid the foundation for smarter decisions long after the pandemic ended.
At the start of lockdown, Robusta sat down with the Cilantro team for an intensive design sprint to map the challenge and identify the highest-impact solutions. This rapid ideation process shaped the entire digital strategy that followed.
The first deliverable was an e-commerce store enabling Cilantro to sell DIY coffee kits directly to customers at home. This kept revenue flowing during full lockdown and allowed Cilantro to maintain a touchpoint with its loyal base during the most restrictive period.
As restrictions eased and stores reopened, we built and deployed a fully contactless ordering experience — a customer-facing web app, a store management dashboard, and a barista tablet app working in concert. Customers could order and pay without any physical interaction, while baristas received orders instantly and could focus entirely on coffee quality.
What began as an emergency response to a global crisis became a blueprint for how Egypt's F&B sector could embrace digital transformation. By moving fast, staying agile, and building technology that served both customers and baristas, Robusta helped Cilantro not just survive the pandemic — but come out of it with a digital infrastructure that continues to drive acquisition, retention, and revenue.
