Astana hosted Astana Coffee Expo 2026, uniting specialty roasters, coffee shop operators, equipment manufacturers, and foodtech startups under one roof. Spanning three dynamic days, the expo combined official national barista qualifying championships, technical industry masterclasses, and a dedicated Startup Alley highlighting innovative software solutions for the hospitality sector.
Coffee Rave: A Distinctive Cultural Pre-Party
Departing from traditional corporate pre-parties, organizers kicked off the expo with a high-energy “Coffee Rave” in central Astana. Featuring live electronic DJ sets by local sound artists ALT_TRUEIST and Arynofsky, the event celebrated contemporary youth culture, cold brew mixology, and urban creative networking.
What Unfolded on the Main Expo Floor
The expo floor hosted over 60 exhibitors displaying commercial espresso machinery, specialty green beans sourced from Latin America and East Africa, custom roasting profiles, eco-friendly packaging, and artisan confectionery syrups. Beyond tastings, industry panels addressed critical operating realities: rising global green bean logistics tariffs, climate impacts on Arabica harvests, and modern POS and ERP automation.
From Barista Championships to HoReCa Tech Startups
Running a competitive modern coffee shop requires far more than skilled latte art and quality beans. It demands accurate inventory telemetry, automated employee scheduling, customer loyalty programs, and strict food-waste minimization. To address these operational pain points, organizers established Startup Alley—a designated pavilion for emerging tech startups targeting HoReCa workflows.
Featured exhibitors in Startup Alley included FoodTech solutions FoodSave and workforce management tool BoonLFF.
FoodSave: Slashing Food Waste Through Discounted Last-Minute Sales
FoodSave tackles an agonizing operational reality in the hospitality industry: unsold fresh bakery items and prepared meals at closing time that are traditionally written off as pure operational loss. Through the FoodSave mobile platform, cafes list surplus fresh food at steep discounts (up to 50–70% off), allowing budget-conscious consumers to buy quality meals while eateries salvage cost-of-goods and reduce landfill waste.
More than 30 food service venues in Astana have already integrated with FoodSave, including confectionery chains, artisan bakeries, and specialty coffee spots. The startup secured a 10 million KZT equity-free grant from the NU Impact Foundation under the Social Startup program, alongside a 1 million KZT prize at Alem AI’s Pizza Pitch.
BoonLFF: Streamlining HoReCa Staff Management
BoonLFF is a mobile-first HR and employee management application engineered specifically for the high-turnover hospitality sector. The platform digitalizes employee work histories, automates tracking for mandatory health sanitation certificates (sanitary books), schedules shift rotations, and administers internal staff discount perks.
In high-intensity coffee chains where shifts rotate rapidly and sanitary compliance is subject to steep state fines, moving away from fragmented WhatsApp chats and chaotic spreadsheets drastically reduces management overhead.
