CakerHQ Case Study: How Codica Built a Custom SaaS Platform for Bakery Businesses

Running a bakery isn’t just about recipes. It’s about managing orders, clients, and endless coordination behind the scenes. For many small Australian bakers, that side of the business used to mean piles of notes, message threads, and late-night admin work.

That’s what inspired a founder, a former finance professional who traded spreadsheets for spatulas. After seeing how much time bakers lost on manual tasks, she imagined a platform that could bring order to the kitchen, literally.

Codica helped her turn that idea into CakerHQ, a custom SaaS platform built specifically for the baking industry. Designed with care and precision, it helps cake makers handle quotes, payments, and communication all in one place.

What started as one baker’s frustration grew into a digital workspace that’s now helping hundreds of professionals focus on what matters most: creating, not managing.

Project background: From baking passion to a digital SaaS solution

Before the custom SaaS platform for CakerHQ took shape, the idea had been simmering for years. With a background in accounting and finance, the founder spent time researching how digital tools could reduce the hidden workload of small bakery owners.

After testing early concepts and gathering feedback from local cake makers, she confirmed a clear gap: bakers needed a single, reliable system to manage operations, not a patchwork of spreadsheets and messages.

To turn this research into reality, Codica assembled a compact yet multidisciplinary team that covered every stage, from project discovery and design to SaaS development and DevOps.

Over just a few months, the team built the first version of CakerHQ, a stable, scalable, and user-friendly platform tailored to the unique needs of the baking industry.

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Features that made the CakerHQ SaaS platform stand out

Seamless quoting and messaging system for bakers and customers

Every order begins with a conversation, and Codica made sure it’s effortless.

CakerHQ includes a clear quote request form where customers can describe exactly what they want: cake design, event type, date, and other details. Bakers can respond with a quote, sketches, or suggestions, all within the same platform.

To make this interaction fluid, Codica integrated an in-app messaging system that eliminates the need for third-party tools or endless email chains. This direct communication helps both sides align quickly, reducing errors and saving hours of coordination time.

Intuitive UX/UI design that captures the bakery spirit

A well-designed digital product should feel natural: almost like walking into a real bakery.

Codica’s team created a warm, inviting interface with thoughtful details: clean layouts, rich visuals, and an easy flow that mirrors the simplicity of real-life ordering.

From exploring bakers to confirming an order, every interaction was designed to feel effortless, helping users focus on creativity, not complexity.

Smart search filters for quick dessert discovery

When users come to CakerHQ, they already know what they want, as the platform just helps them find it faster.

Codica implemented smart search filters that refine results as users type, allowing them to narrow down bakers by location, specialty, or delivery radius. This dramatically shortens the customer journey from idea to purchase.

These filters also boost baker visibility, giving customers more meaningful choices and improving overall satisfaction.

Interactive shared calendar system for effortless scheduling

In the bakery business, timing is everything.

To make planning smooth, Codica built a shared calendar system that connects bakers and customers in real time.

Customers can choose exact dates for their orders, while bakers manage availability and updates instantly.

This transparency helps avoid overbooking, keeps workflows organized, and ensures every event is perfectly timed.

Google Maps and Places API for local bakery search

Finding the perfect baker nearby shouldn’t require a dozen tabs.

With Google Maps and Places API, users can instantly discover local cake makers based on their area or delivery preferences. The integration helps customers visualize where bakers are located and explore their reach, creating a seamless connection between discovery and booking.

Secure online payments with Stripe integration

Trust for businesses is everything, especially when it comes to payments.

To make transactions effortless and protected, Codica implemented Stripe payment integration, a system trusted by global brands like Amazon, Shopify, and Zoom. Within CakerHQ, Stripe ensures every transaction is encrypted, fast, and transparent.

Customers can pay in full or partially, depending on event timing, and even receive partial or full refunds when orders are canceled. This flexibility builds confidence and keeps every user protected.

Flexible subscription plans and free trial options

To make onboarding accessible, Codica built a flexible subscription system. New users can start with a free trial to explore all platform features before committing.

For the launch phase, the team also added a promo-code-based subscription for just $1, granting a full year of access: a smart growth incentive for early adopters.

Moreover, users can switch between plans anytime, scaling their subscription as their business grows.

Mobile-optimized SaaS platform for on-the-go users

During the discovery stage, Codica’s team identified a critical insight: most bakery business owners and clients used their phones to communicate and browse.

That discovery shaped the project’s direction. The entire CakerHQ interface was optimized for mobile, ensuring fast load times, flawless design adaptation, and smooth usability on any screen size.

Now, whether customers are browsing from a café or bakers are checking orders between deliveries, the platform remains equally responsive and intuitive.

Product discovery stage: Turning the idea into a clear roadmap

The product discovery stage became the foundation for transforming the founder’s idea into a clear, actionable plan.

During this phase, the Codica team focused on understanding how bakery businesses actually operate and identified which tasks could be automated without losing the personal touch that defines the industry.

This stage brought together market research, UX design exploration, and technical feasibility analysis, allowing the team to shape an informed strategy for development.

By the end of discovery, every core feature of CakerHQ had a defined purpose, a clear flow, and a user experience built around real business needs.

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Business logic and technical specification

Once the design direction was validated, Codica focused on translating business needs into precise technical logic.

The team mapped every key interaction: how a customer sends a cake request, how bakers respond with quotes, how payments are processed, and how both sides communicate securely.

Detailed specifications were drafted to eliminate guesswork during development. They defined user roles, order flows, and feature dependencies.

Each decision was grounded in efficiency; the fewer manual steps, the better. The result was a complete functional specification that aligned perfectly with the founder’s initial vision: a tool that saves bakers' time while enhancing customer satisfaction.

Prototyping and UX validation

Every great product starts with an idea, but it only becomes great through validation. During this stage, Codica’s UX/UI designer created interactive prototypes to visualize the user flow and test how bakers and customers would interact with the platform.

The prototypes reflected not only the clean aesthetic of a modern bakery but also its rhythm, simple actions, warm visuals, and intuitive navigation.

As we mentioned earlier, early testing revealed a critical insight: most users preferred mobile access. That discovery led Codica to prioritize mobile-first design, ensuring that every feature, from booking to payments, would feel seamless on any device.

By the end of UX validation, the team had a tangible, clickable model that reflected the real product. Clear, fast, and accessible, even for users unfamiliar with digital tools.

Selecting the right tech stack for scalability and security

When a platform processes financial transactions, manages user data, and connects businesses with customers, the choice of technology defines its reliability.

For CakerHQ, Codica’s goal was to create a stable, scalable, and secure SaaS ecosystem that could evolve with the growing bakery community in Australia.

The team carefully selected tools proven in production environments, technologies that balanced development speed, flexibility, and long-term performance.

Each technology was selected for a purpose. Together, they formed a robust technological backbone capable of processing transactions securely, scaling to new regions, and maintaining uptime under heavy load.

With this foundation, CakerHQ continues to evolve alongside its users, supporting everyone from small home bakers to established cake studios without losing performance or stability.

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Codica’s development process: From planning to launch

Creating a SaaS platform from scratch is like baking a multi-layer cake: every layer must be done in the right order, or the whole structure collapses.

For CakerHQ, Codica built a clear and disciplined development process that moved from careful planning to confident launch, keeping business goals and user needs aligned at every step.

Step 1: Setting up infrastructure and DevOps

Before design or coding began, Codica’s DevOps engineer laid the foundation for a secure, scalable, and automated environment.

The infrastructure was deployed on AWS and Google Cloud, ensuring stability and high availability from day one.

DevOps pipelines were configured for continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD), which allowed the team to deploy new features quickly and test updates safely.

This approach made the project predictable. Every update, from the smallest design tweak to a major feature, could be rolled out, tested, and monitored using integrated tools like Sentry, ensuring minimal downtime and maximum transparency.

Step 2: Designing an engaging and user-friendly product

With a strong infrastructure in place, Codica’s UX/UI designer transformed functionality into a seamless experience.

The goal was to create a digital environment that feels like walking into a cozy bakery: warm, visual, and effortless.

The team used high-quality cake photography, clean typography, and intuitive layouts that guide users naturally through the experience.

Every design decision was grounded in data: since most users accessed the platform via mobile, the mobile-first approach became a non-negotiable principle.

To strengthen the emotional connection, the color palette played a crucial role in shaping the visual atmosphere.

• Ocean Steel brought depth and reliability, representing professionalism and structure, the foundation of a trusted SaaS product.
• Honey Flash added warmth and optimism, reminiscent of golden pastries and sunlight in a bakery.
• Candy Drift introduced vibrancy and passion, used sparingly to highlight actions and guide attention.
• White balanced the palette, providing freshness, space, and readability across all devices.

Together, these colors created a harmonious, appetizing, and trustworthy visual identity, aligning perfectly with the brand’s goal - to make the digital experience as delightful as walking into a real bakery.

A well-structured interface led to higher engagement, smoother navigation, and a brand image that instantly communicated trust and craftsmanship.

Step 3: MVP development: Building the core of CakerHQ

Once the vision was clear, Codica’s four software developers began building the platform’s core, the minimum viable product (MVP).

The MVP included all essential systems needed to make the platform functional from day one:

• A quoting and messaging system connecting customers with bakers.
• A secure payment system using Stripe for instant transactions and refunds.
• Search filters and Google Maps integration for easy bakery discovery.
• A calendar tool for scheduling and availability management.
• A subscription system with flexible plans and promo-code access.

Each feature was designed to solve a real business challenge, with no filler, only functionality. Ruby on Rails and ReactJS made it possible to iterate fast, while maintaining structure and performance consistency.

Step 4: Testing and quality assurance

Before release, the platform underwent rigorous QA testing to guarantee stability and usability.

Codica’s QA engineer ran multiple rounds of manual and automated testing to check workflows across devices and browsers.

Testing focused on real-life scenarios. How users search, book, and pay, to ensure that each interaction feels smooth and secure.

The QA team also validated API integrations with Stripe, Google Maps, and Twilio, ensuring all external systems functioned seamlessly within the product.

The result was a platform that performed flawlessly in production.

Step 5: Maintenance and continuous support

After launch, the work doesn’t stop. It evolves. CakerHQ continues to grow, attract new bakeries, and adapt to the needs of its users. To keep the platform stable and secure, the team monitors its performance through Sentry and user feedback channels, making sure every update strengthens reliability and speed.

Today, CakerHQ remains a living product. One that keeps improving as bakers and customers shape its next chapters together.

How Codica helps businesses build custom SaaS solutions

Every great SaaS product begins the same way: with a simple idea and a team that knows how to grow it right. Codica transforms that beginning into reality through a proven mix of strategy, design, and technology, creating solutions that scale with confidence and purpose.

Here’s how Codica makes it happen:

Product discovery that builds direction

Almost every project begins with Codica’s product discovery services, a phase focused on transforming raw ideas into a clear, validated roadmap. At this stage, our team researches the target audience, defines user journeys, and prioritizes core features. This process ensures that development starts with confidence and ends with a solution users actually need.

UI/UX design focused on real users

Codica’s UI/UX design services help businesses create products that people love to use. Clean visuals, intuitive layouts, and thoughtful interactions shape user trust and drive engagement. Design isn’t decoration here; it’s how usability becomes part of brand identity.

Scalable SaaS development

The heart of Codica’s expertise lies in SaaS development services powered by technologies like Ruby on Rails, ReactJS, and NextJS.

Rails remains the backbone for many of Codica’s projects. Fast to build, secure by default, and easy to scale.

It’s one of the core SaaS benefits: rapid delivery without sacrificing stability. Combined with cloud infrastructure on AWS and Google Cloud, this stack provides the speed and reliability that modern web platforms demand.

Adding intelligence through technology

For businesses ready to take their SaaS solutions to the next level, Codica also integrates AI development services.

From automated recommendations to data-driven insights, AI features help make platforms more personalized and efficient, enhancing user experience while saving time on manual processes.

Stable delivery through DevOps

Codica’s DevOps services ensure that the product runs smoothly, scales easily, and updates without downtime.

Automated pipelines, real-time monitoring, and consistent delivery practices allow teams to release improvements faster while keeping the system secure and stable.

Quality assurance that builds confidence

Finally, no product leaves Codica’s hands without going through extensive testing.

Through quality assurance services, each feature is validated for functionality, speed, and security. Manual and automated testing across devices ensures a seamless experience for every user, whether they’re on mobile or desktop.

At Codica, every step matters for building reliable SaaS products. From startups launching their first MVP to companies expanding existing platforms, the approach remains the same: understand the users, choose the right tools, and create technology that lasts.

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Empowering bakeries through technology

CakerHQ began as a heartfelt idea: to help bakers spend less time on admin and more time doing what they love. And today, it’s a digital assistant that helps small bakery businesses across Australia grow, connect with customers, and focus on creativity instead of spreadsheets.

The story of CakerHQ demonstrates that even the most traditional industries, such as baking, can thrive through the application of smart technology. With the right mix of design, strategy, and engineering, digital tools can bring structure to passion-driven businesses without taking away their soul.

At Codica, every great idea deserves the same chance to shine. Whether you’re running a local food business, launching a SaaS startup, or building an AI-powered platform, we help turn vision into technology that empowers people and builds trust.

If you’re ready to bring your idea to life, we’d love to be part of your journey. Contact our team to start building your product together.

Want to see how other businesses transformed with Codica’s help? Explore our portfolio for more stories like CakerHQ.