Mobile-first food ordering app for a restaurant chain

About The Melt

The Melt is a fast-growing California-based QSR brand serving grilled melts, signature burgers, fries, mac & cheese, shakes, and comfort-forward “Happy Food.” Their mission is simple: use technology to make great food unbelievably easy to order, pick up, and enjoy—at scale.

With dozens of high-volume locations across California, The Melt needed a digital experience that matched the speed and delight of their product.

Problem

The Melt’s previous HTML5  mobile app and ordering system was limiting growth:

• Sluggish performance on mobile
• No native app experience
• Inconsistent menu behavior across stores
• Limited real-time kitchen visibility
• No operational dashboards for HQ
• No DevOps, no CI/CD, no observability
• Manual updates across restaurants

With increasing foot traffic and digital demand, The Melt needed an entirely new technical foundation to power ordering, kitchen operations, payments, and store-level management.

They wanted a complete rebuild of the consumer experience, operational tech, and backend infrastructure — the full digital foundation of a modern QSR brand.

CognitiveClouds partnered as The Melt’s end-to-end engineering team, responsible for:

• Rebuilding the entire backend
• Designing and developing the iOS + Android mobile apps
• Architecting the cloud infrastructure
• Implementing DevOps and CI/CD pipelines
• Integrating POS/KDS systems
• Building internal tools for HQ & store managers
• Creating a scalable framework for future expansions

We didn’t just build an app—we built The Melt’s complete digital operating system.

Solution

We delivered a modern, unified QSR platform purpose-built for The Melt’s high-volume, flavor-driven service model.

1. Consumer Mobile Apps (iOS & Android)

A fast, delightful way for customers to order their favorites:

Key Features

• Browse full Melt menu with modifiers & customizations
• Add Meltburgers, Grilled Melts, Mac ’n’ Cheese, Fries, Shakes
• One-tap reorder for favorite meals
• Order for pickup, ASAP or scheduled
• Apple Pay, Google Pay, and card payments
• Automatic store selection based on location
• Real-time order tracking from kitchen to ready-for-pickup
• Push notifications for order status & promos
• Digital wallet for offers, discounts, loyalty journeys

Designed natively for the speed and polish The Melt brand is known for.

2. Melt Backend Platform

We architected a robust backend powering ordering, operations, and chain-wide consistency.

Core Modules

• Menu Management: Items, combos, modifiers, seasonal drops
• Pricing Engine: Region/store-based pricing
• Order Service: Cart, checkout, routing, prep stages
• Kitchen Progress Engine: Real-time status updates
• Store Operations: Hours, capacity limits, throttle logic
• User Profiles: Favorites, saved stores, history
• Payments: Tokenization, refunds, reconciliation
• Promotions Engine: Offers, combos, special pricing
• Observability: Full telemetry for ops, finance, and analytics

Built to support the brand’s rapid expansion and rush-hour spikes.

3. POS & KDS Integrations

We integrated the complete digital ordering flow with The Melt’s in-store systems.

Deliverables

• Digital orders instantly flow to POS and Kitchen Display Systems
• Kitchen stages visible in real time inside the consumer app
• Store teams can pause/throttle digital orders during peak hours
• Unified reporting between digital and in-store revenue streams

This removed manual errors, eliminated paper slips, and streamlined operations.

4. The Melt HQ Admin Console

We built a powerful internal dashboard used by HQ & store managers.

Features

• Menu management for all locations
• Seasonal menu rollouts & limited-time offers
• Store-level overrides (tax, availability, pricing)
• Real-time order list + store-level kitchen queue
• Revenue, prep-time, & throughput analytics
• Inventory & item-level 86’ workflows
• User roles (HQ, regional manager, store lead)
• Promo configuration and audience targeting

This gave The Melt unprecedented operational agility.

5. Cloud Infrastructure & DevOps Automation

We built The Melt’s entire cloud environment for production-scale reliability.

Capabilities

• CI/CD for backend + mobile apps
• Infrastructure-as-Code (Terraform)
• Kubernetes-based auto-scaling
• Zero-downtime deployments
• Blue/green release workflows
• Centralized logging, metrics, tracing
• Live dashboards for ops + leadership
• Automated security & compliance checks

Designed for high lunch-rush volume and multi-store redundancy.

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6. Data & Observability Layer

To support executive decisions and store-level optimization:

• Real-time event pipelines
• Order volume and sales dashboards
• Kitchen performance analytics
• Customer retention & reorder metrics
• Menu performance & item-level insights
• Predictive demand modeling hooks

This transformed The Melt into a data-driven restaurant company.

Impact

Before vs After

AreaBeforeAfter CognitiveCloudsDigital OrderingSlow HTML5 pagesFast native iOS/Android appsKitchen VisibilityManual & fragmentedReal-time integrated KDS updatesMenu OpsInconsistent, manualCentralized menu & pricing controlRelease CycleNo automationFull CI/CD + DevOps workflowScalabilityLimitedAuto-scaling infra across storesCustomer ExperienceHigh drop-offsHigher conversion, loyalty, repeat orders

Business Results

• Seamless mobile customer experience
• Higher digital order volume
• Faster kitchen throughput
• Reduced operational errors
• Stronger brand loyalty & customer retention
• A scalable tech foundation for future expansion

Technology Stack

Backend

Node.js / Python / Go
Postgres, MySQL, Redis
Kafka/SQS event pipeline

Mobile Apps

Swift (iOS)
Kotlin (Android)

Infrastructure & DevOps

AWS/Azure
Kubernetes, Docker
Terraform, GitHub Actions
Datadog, Prometheus, Grafana

Integrations

Stripe, FreedomPay
POS/KDS systems
Maps & geolocation
Push notification services

Why The Melt Chose Us

• Strong QSR domain expertise
• Proven track record building high-volume restaurant systems
• Ability to own the entire stack end-to-end
• Deep experience with POS/KDS integrations
• Enterprise-grade DevOps & cloud architecture
• Fast build velocity with reliable delivery

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