AHSTAE places and operates robotic barista kiosks in shopping centres. We lease the pad, we run everything, and every cup leaves with your centre's story printed on top.
A kiosk is a tenant with no fit-out, no staff and no shopfront, so it can sit where a shop cannot: an atrium edge, a lobby, a car park foyer, the walk between precincts. It earns rent there and gives people a reason to slow down.
Under two square metres, moved on castors, connected to a single 15 A outlet. Entry lobbies, cinema forecourts, transitions between levels and outdoor covered walks all qualify. Rent from square metres that never appeared on a leasing plan.
People stop, watch the pour, film it and send it. Melbourne's first robot barista opened in a Westfield in 2022 and still trades around the clock. Ours adds the thing nobody else in Australia does: it prints on the coffee.
Early trades at six, cleaners at five, the late cinema session, gym members, hotel guests, night shift from the hospital across the road. Fresh milk coffee at any hour gives people a reason to come into the centre when it is otherwise closed to them.
A 32 inch screen at eye level and a cup that carries whatever you like. Centre campaigns, a new tenant opening, school holiday characters, a retailer's offer code. Printed on every drink, seen on every table.
Footfall is four behaviours: stopping, sharing, returning and having a reason to come at all. The kiosk is built around each one, and we measure all four.
A six-axis arm grinding, brewing, steaming and pouring in full view is a live performance that runs 45 to 60 seconds per drink. It turns a corridor into a place people pause. Dwell time in a dead zone is the first thing a kiosk moves.
Every drink leaves with an image on the foam: the customer's own photo from their phone, a name, or your design of the week. A printed cup is a photograph waiting to be taken, and your centre's mark is in the frame every time it is.
Names on cups, birthday designs, a loyalty stamp printed rather than handed over. Personalisation is what makes a second visit feel different from a first. The order app remembers the drink and the design.
A good flat white at a fair price, available at 5 am and 11 pm, brings people through the doors at hours when nothing else does, and fills the gap in precincts where the nearest cafe is a level away.
Every kiosk reports transactions by hour, repeat customers, designs printed and screen impressions. Centre management receives the numbers weekly from the first week of a 90 day pilot. If the corner does not perform, the kiosk rolls out in an afternoon and we try the next one.
The kiosk prints any image onto the milk foam of hot and iced drinks in a few seconds, in edible ink. Customers upload a photo or choose from the gallery. You set the gallery.
Christmas, Mother's Day, back to school, a centre anniversary. Swap the artwork from a dashboard; it is live on the next cup.
A new store opening on level two, a code for ten percent off at a retailer, the cinema's Friday release. Cross-promotion your tenants will ask to be part of.
A selfie, the kids, the dog, a name. The cups people post are the ones with their own faces on them, and the location tag is yours.
Artwork approval sits with centre management. AHSTAE moderates customer uploads before printing.
This is not a vending machine with a robot on top. It is a compact cafe: dual grinders, a 16 gram precision brewer, a refrigerated fresh milk system with dual-temperature frothing, and an ice maker on board.
On the 10.1 inch touchscreen or by scanning the QR code on a phone. Choose the drink, the milk, the strength, the size and the image. Pay by card or phone.
The arm takes a cup, positions it under the brewer, adds milk or ice, and carries it to the printer. Forty five to sixty seconds, in full view, behind glass.
The cup is lidded and placed in the outlet, printed and ready. A receipt or barcode scan collects a pre-ordered drink for people in a hurry.
Two bean hoppers allow a house blend and a single origin or a decaf. Four syrups, two powders and an ice maker cover the rest of the day.
AHSTAE pays rent for the pad under a casual mall licence or a specialty kiosk licence, and carries everything else: the kiosk, the food business registration, the insurance, the staff who service it and the customers it brings.
No. The kiosk runs on four 19 litre bottles that our service visit swaps, with a sealed 12 litre waste tank. Where a water point and drain are nearby we connect directly and the visits get shorter.
The food preparation area is fully enclosed behind glass; the public never touches anything but the screen and the finished cup. Milk is refrigerated on board with temperature logging, the system self-cleans between drinks, and our team cleans and restocks daily. AHSTAE holds the food business registration for each site.
The kiosk reports faults, low stock and temperature drift to our service team automatically. Most issues are cleared remotely or at the next visit. Where a part is needed, the screen shows an apology and a return time rather than an out-of-order sign.
Comparable to a cafe espresso machine, contained inside the enclosure. It is quieter than the food court it will usually sit near.
Centre management approves the standing gallery and any centre or tenant campaign. Customer uploads pass through automated and human moderation before they print. Anything the centre would not put on a poster does not go on a cup.
Yes, and they will ask. Tenant offers on the cup and the screen are booked through centre marketing so they fit the centre's calendar.
It is designed to sit where cafes are not: dead corners, transitions, entries, and the hours cafes are closed. In a pilot we agree the location with leasing so it adds trade to a precinct rather than taking it from a tenant.
No. Card, phone wallet and QR pre-order only, which also means nothing worth breaking into.
Trading data for your centre is shared with you weekly and at the end of the pilot. Customer personal information stays with AHSTAE under our privacy policy and is never sold.
AHSTAE is a Sunshine Coast business founded by Shane Aisbett. We do not sell machines. We place them, service them daily and stand behind the coffee they make.
Our first kiosks are placed in South East Queensland, within a short drive of our service base, because uptime is what makes a kiosk a tenant rather than a novelty. Portfolio rollouts follow the same rule: service loops first, sites second.
A site brief takes us a week: candidate locations, power and water notes, a launch artwork concept in your centre's identity, and the licence terms for a 90 day pilot.
Request a site brief