Manayunk Friends' App Helps Small Cafes Reach More Customers

MANAYUNK, PHILADELPHIA — The restaurant industry has been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic and restrictions put in place to mitigate the virus' spread.

But in times of adversity, innovation can abound.

That's where Manayunk residents Nikolai Derek and Sean McLean come in.

The two are behind a new app that aims to help provide support for independent coffee shops.

Passport Coffee Club launched about four weeks ago and participating coffee shops can be featured on the app at no cost.

The app allows shops to offer loyalty reward programs to customers, and ideally new customers. The app also features a discount program that users can choose to get 10 percent discounts. Users can sign up for the discount on a yearly or monthly basis for just 75 cents and 99 cents, respectively, per month.

Derek and McLean — both Newtown, Bucks County natives and Council Rock North graduates — came up with the idea early in the pandemic while walking in Manayunk and thinking about how businesses, and coffee shops in specific, were impacted by the coronavirus.

"We figured we could create a loyalty program to help [coffee shops]," Derek told Patch.

After about four months of research on the coffee shop market and coding, the pair had the app added to the Google Play Store and Apple's App Store.

The 25-year-olds did all this with no experience in app development before the pandemic hit.

As for now, about 200 people have downloaded the app, which features numerous shops in the Philly region and beyond.

Current shops on board with the app are GET Café in Narberth, Trail's End Café in Bala Cynwyd, Coffee Room in Newtown (Bucks County), Mammoth Coffee in Philadelphia, Keswick Coffee House in Glenside, Java & Friends in East Greenville, and AFAF Coffee in Sharon Hill.

A coffee and tea shop in Williamsburg, Brooklyn is also part of the app's offerings.

And the pair said getting shops to participate has not proved difficult.

"We visited local cafés and got to understand and know the owners and managers," McLean said. "After the first few conversations we told them our plans for the app."

Businesses who participate can do so at no cost. In addition to the app's club aspect that provides the 10 percent discount, businesses can offer their own loyalty rewards to their profiles on the app.

"We want to benefit shops and customers," Derek said.

Passport Coffee Club is a way to connect independent shops to the same kind of power mega-chains like Dunkin' and Starbucks have to reach more customers.

The app is available for download now on Apple devices and Android devices.

Businesses interested in joining the app can email sean@passportcoffeeclub.com or nikolai@passportcoffeeclub.com for more information.