From Missed Orders to Smarter Deliveries – How Kawaii Cakes Built Its Own Online Cake Ordering System

 

#From Missed Orders to Our Own Online Cake Ordering System – The Story of Kawaii Cakes

When VIT Chennai finally opened fully, we started seeing something we had been waiting for.

**Our orders started increasing again.**

For Kawaii Cakes, VIT has always been an important part of our journey. When the college is open, we receive a good number of orders from students. During holidays, the order volume naturally becomes much lower compared to regular working days.

But this time, things were not exactly the same as before.

## The Students Could No Longer Come Outside

The hostel rules had changed. Students staying in the hostels were not allowed to come outside as freely as they used to. They had to spend most of their time inside the hostel. So, if they wanted to celebrate a friend's birthday or surprise someone with a cake, they had only a few options. They could call us. Or they could place the order online. This sounds simple. But for us, this created a completely new challenge.

We suddenly had to manage a large number of cake orders, all with different requirements and different delivery times. And we were still doing many things manually.

## Our Order Book Was Just Paper

In those days, whenever a customer called us, we would take a piece of paper and write down everything.

The customer's name.

Phone number.

Cake flavour.

Cake size.

Egg or eggless.

Cake message.

Cake design.

Delivery location.

Delivery date.

Delivery time.

Special instructions.

Everything went onto paper.

We had riders too. We had staff. We were working hard. But even then, sometimes we missed orders. Sometimes a cake was delivered late. And sometimes, an order was completely missed. Those were very difficult moments for us. Because when a customer orders a cake, they are not simply buying food. There is usually a birthday, an anniversary, a surprise or some special moment behind that order.

If we get the timing wrong, the whole surprise can be affected.

## Then We Tried WhatsApp

We knew that paper was no longer enough. So we started taking orders through WhatsApp. Customers could send their requirements to us, and we would put the order details into our staff WhatsApp group. Initially, this felt like a big improvement. But as our orders increased, we discovered another problem.

**WhatsApp was becoming our new order book.**

And just like our old paper book, it had limitations.

## The Order From Two Days Ago Could Disappear, Cake orders are not like restaurant orders. A restaurant customer usually wants the food now. But a cake customer may order today for delivery tomorrow. Or they may order two or three days in advance. Someone may place an order in the morning. Another customer may call two hours before delivery. Someone else may ask for a cake within 30 minutes. And yes, sometimes students even expected a cake within 10 minutes! Now imagine all these orders coming into one WhatsApp group.

Today's urgent orders keep coming. 

Staff are discussing current orders.

Riders are asking about deliveries.

New customer messages are arriving.

Slowly, the orders placed two days earlier move up in the chat. And when the shop is busy, it becomes very easy to miss something.

## The Biggest Problem Was With Customers Who Trusted Us Early, This was one of the things that hurt us the most. A customer who placed an order on the same day was usually easier to track. But a customer who trusted us and placed the order two or three days earlier could sometimes face a problem because their message was buried under newer messages.

We started receiving complaints, especially from customers who had ordered well in advance. It was frustrating for them. And it was frustrating for us too. We kept asking ourselves one question:

**"How can we make sure that we never miss an order again?"**

That question changed the way we looked at our business.

## We Didn't Want More Orders. We Wanted Better Order Management.

Of course, we wanted more customers.

Every business does. But at that stage, our first priority was different.

We wanted to eliminate complaints as much as possible.

We wanted every order to be visible.

We wanted our staff to know exactly what needed to be prepared.

We wanted our riders to know exactly where they had to go.

And most importantly, we wanted the customer to receive the cake at the time they had requested.

We realised that we needed a proper system.

Not another notebook.

Not another WhatsApp group.

**A real online ordering system.**

## Our First Website Was Born

Around 2023, we approached some third-party companies that were already providing digital ordering systems for restaurants. Our budget was limited. We couldn't afford to build a completely customised system from scratch. So we tried to work with what was available.

Eventually, we launched our first website, **kawaiicakes.in**.

For us, it was a big step. Customers could finally place their orders online, and we could see those orders on a dashboard. We thought our biggest problem had been solved.

But we were wrong. We soon discovered that **ordering a cake is very different from ordering a restaurant meal.**

## A Cake Is Not a Burger

This was something we learned the hard way.When you order a burger from a restaurant, you normally want it as soon as possible. 

You order.

The restaurant prepares it.

The delivery partner picks it up.

You receive it.

But cakes are different.

A customer may want a cake three days later.

Another customer may want it tomorrow evening.

Someone may want it today at 6 PM.

Someone may want it in the next two hours.

And another customer may want to surprise their friend at midnight.

The customer needs to choose the **exact delivery date and time**.

That is extremely important for a cake business.

Unfortunately, our first website was mainly designed for restaurants.

It worked for many things, but it did not give us the flexibility we needed for cake delivery scheduling.

## There Was Another Problem — Trust

There was one more challenge.

The website was new.

And nobody knew whether they could trust it.

Think about yourself.

If you see a new website for the first time, would you immediately pay money online?

Probably not.

Most of us are comfortable buying from websites we already know.

We trust familiar names like Amazon and Flipkart because we have used them before.

But when a completely new website asks you to place an order and pay online, you naturally have doubts.

Our customers were exactly the same.

They would ask us:

"Is this really your website?"

"Will I get the cake?"

"Can I trust this?"

"Please confirm my order once."

We completely understood them.

**Trust cannot be demanded. It has to be earned.**

## The Website Still Had Many Good Features

Even though the first website had limitations, it was still an important step for us.

Customers could choose their cake flavour and size.

They could select egg or eggless.

They could see all designs & Prizes.

They could choose add-ons.

They could enter the message they wanted on the cake.

That made ordering much easier than explaining everything over the phone.

But the missing delivery scheduling option continued to create problems.

We requested the feature from the developers.

Unfortunately, they could not make the changes we needed because their platform was a common digital ordering system designed mainly for restaurants.

We had already paid for a full year, so we continued using it.

But the results were not what we expected.

We were getting only a few orders through the website.

And even those customers often called us afterwards to confirm everything.

Instead of reducing our workload, sometimes it created more work.

So we knew we had to find another solution.

## This Time, We Started Looking Very Seriously

We didn't just look for someone who could make a website.

We started looking for someone who could understand the **real problems of a cake business.**

We thought about everything.

What does the customer need?

What does our staff need?

What does the rider need?

How should advance orders be shown?

How should urgent orders be handled?

How can we make sure that a two-day-old order is not forgotten?

How can the customer choose the delivery date and time?

How can we make payment easy?

What happens if the customer doesn't want to pay online?

We kept analysing everything.

And honestly, it became quite stressful.

We wanted the right system, but we also had to stay within our budget.

## Finally, We Found Someone in Hyderabad

After searching for a long time, we finally found a developer from Hyderabad.

They had not specifically built a cake ordering system before.

But when I explained our requirements, they were willing to listen.

More importantly, they were ready to develop almost **95% of what we were looking for** at a price we could afford.

That was a big relief.

So we decided to make the change.

We moved our online system to the new developer and started building the website around the actual needs of our customers.

## Slowly, Things Started Getting Better

Once the new website was ready, we started promoting it everywhere.

Google.

Instagram.

Facebook.

WhatsApp.

Our shop.

Wherever we could tell customers about it, we did.

It wasn't as fancy or advanced as Swiggy or Zomato.

But that wasn't our main goal.

We wanted something simple.

Something that a normal smartphone user could understand.

Something that would make ordering a cake easier.

And slowly, customers started using it.

## Finally, We Could See Orders Properly

This made a huge difference to our staff.

Customers could select their cake.

They could choose their delivery location.

They could select the date and time they wanted.

And once the order was placed, our staff could see it on the dashboard according to the delivery date and time.

Now, a customer who placed an order three days earlier was no longer hidden inside an old WhatsApp message.

The order was sitting there in the system.

Waiting to be processed.

That small change made a huge difference.

## Riders Also Had a Clearer Picture

The improvement was not only for customers and staff.

Our riders also benefited.

Instead of receiving information from different WhatsApp messages or phone calls, they could get the delivery details clearly.

Which cake?

Which customer?

Which location?

What time?

This made the entire process easier.

We were slowly moving from **managing orders manually to managing orders through a system.**

## Then We Added Online Payments

We also integrated online payment options.

Customers could pay using Debit Card, Credit Card or UPI.

But we remembered one thing.

Not everyone is comfortable paying money to a new website.

So we decided not to force customers to pay online.

We wanted them to feel comfortable.

That led us to another important decision.

## Cash on Delivery and Pay on Delivery

We introduced Cash on Delivery and Pay on Delivery options.

This gave new customers the freedom to place an order without worrying about making an advance payment.

For us, it was not just about payment.

It was about **building trust.**

We wanted customers to try us.

We wanted them to receive their cake on time.

We wanted them to see that the website was genuine.

And slowly, we hoped they would become comfortable enough to order directly through our website.

## Then We Added Something Customers Loved

We wanted more customers to use our website.

So we introduced special **online offers and coupon discounts**.

Customers who placed their orders through our website could use a coupon and get a discount.

That gave them another reason to try the website.

And slowly, something started changing.

Students who were initially afraid to place an order started believing in the system.

One customer would order.

The cake would arrive as promised.

Then they would tell their friend.

Their friend would place an order.

And the cycle continued.

## Trust Was Built One Order at a Time

There was no magic day when everyone suddenly started trusting our website.

It happened slowly.

One successful order at a time.

One happy customer at a time.

One recommendation at a time.

We learned that launching a website is easy compared to building trust in that website.

A website can be created.

But **trust has to be earned.**

And every cake we delivered on time helped us earn a little more.

## What Did We Learn From All This?

Looking back, this entire experience taught us something very important.

The biggest problem was never making the cake.

The biggest problem was managing everything around the cake.

Taking the order.

Remembering the order.

Preparing it at the right time.

Sending the right cake.

Sending it to the right location.

And making sure it reached the customer when they actually needed it.

We also learned that complaints are not always a bad thing.

Every complaint showed us something that was not working.

Instead of simply thinking about the complaint, we started asking:

**"Why did this happen?"**

And then:

**"What can we change so this doesn't happen again?"**

That thinking helped us improve Kawaii Cakes.

## From Paper to WhatsApp to Our Own Digital System

If someone had told us when we started Kawaii Cakes that we would one day be building our own online ordering system, we probably wouldn't have believed them.

We started with paper.

Then we moved to WhatsApp.

Then we tried a restaurant-based ordering platform.

Then we searched again.

Then we found the right developer.

And slowly, we built a system that worked much better for our customers and our team.

It wasn't a perfect journey.

There were mistakes.

There were complaints.

There were stressful days.

There were times when we wondered whether all this effort was worth it.

But every problem taught us something.

And every lesson helped us move forward.

## But We Still Haven't Stopped Taking Phone Orders

There is one thing we don't want to change.

Even today, we have customers who prefer to call us.

Some customers don't want to use a website.

Some are not comfortable placing online orders.

Some simply prefer speaking to a person and explaining exactly what they want.

And we completely understand that.

**We don't want to lose those customers.**

Why should we?

For us, every customer matters.

If someone wants to order through our website, they are welcome.

If someone wants to order through WhatsApp, we are happy to help.

And if someone wants to pick up the phone and speak to us directly, **we are still here to take that call.**

Technology should make our business better.

It should make ordering easier.

But technology should never make a customer feel unwanted.

At the end of the day, we don't want to force everyone into one way of ordering.

**We want to make it easy for every customer to order from Kawaii Cakes in the way they are most comfortable with.**

## Because Every Order Has a Story

After all these years, we have realised that every cake order is connected to a story.

A student surprising a roommate.

A friend celebrating a birthday.

A parent sending a cake to their child studying away from home.

A husband surprising his wife.

A group of friends planning something secretly.

We may only see an order number on our screen.

But behind that order is someone's special moment.

That is why getting the cake there on time matters so much to us.

We don't want to simply sell cakes.

**We want to be trusted with your special moments.**

And that is what our journey from paper orders to online cake delivery has really been about.

Not technology.

Not websites.

Not dashboards.

**Trust.**

We are still learning.

We are still improving.

And we are still trying to find better ways to serve our customers.

But one thing will always remain the same.

Whether you order through our website, WhatsApp or simply pick up the phone and call us...

**We are happy to serve you.**

Because every customer matters.

And every celebration deserves a cake that arrives when it matters most. ❤️

### Thank You for Being Part of Our Journey

To every customer who has ordered from Kawaii Cakes, trusted us, recommended us, given us a review, suggested an improvement, or even complained when we made a mistake — **thank you.**

You have all played a part in our journey.

We are still growing.

We are still learning.

And most importantly...

**We are still baking. ❤️**

**Kawaii Cakes – More Than a Cake, A Memory in Every Box.**