Binh Khiem Nguyen

Before coffee, there were late-night deadlines.

Before his work in coffee, Kalim studied computer science. He later moved into photography and design, where long nights finishing projects and meeting deadlines became part of his working life. Coffee accompanied those nights. What began as a familiar cup beside his work became his first inspiration to explore the coffee business.

That creative chapter remained part of his approach. Photography and design shaped how he thought about the experience people see and feel, while his earlier IT background gave him another way to examine the work behind it. Entering coffee brought those interests together around something he used every day.

Learning the craft, then studying the operation.

Kalim began as a barista at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf in 2018. In 2019, his work at Black Bottle Coffee in Vietnam included menu setup and store operations. His journey continued through coffee businesses of different sizes, with practical work in roasting and barista training.

He travelled to coffee farms and roasteries across Vietnam, learning through cupping, conversations and exploration of green-coffee processing and roasting. Sharing his own coffee was part of that journey. He was learning about the product and the people behind it, from its origins to the moment it reached a guest.

Working in coffee brought a new set of questions. With his existing IT background, Kalim kept asking himself: “Could I make this task easier? Could I make that task faster?” The questions came from the daily operation, where a good drink depends on more than the recipe: a clear order, the right ingredients, a prepared team and records the business can understand.

After COVID-19, he explored these questions more deeply. He studied ways to improve how work was organized and how a business could operate, looking at the connections between ordering, payment, preparation, inventory, staff and reporting. He wanted fewer repeated steps and clearer handoffs between people. That search led him to develop the Kalim Ecosystem.

The ecosystem grew from the combination of those experiences: a foundation in computer science, a creative career in photography and design, and practical work in coffee. Coffee gave him the setting and the questions; his IT background helped him turn them into a connected system.

In early 2026, he supported Marius Dobré with the opening of Dobré Café at Westbrook CTrain Station in Calgary and with staff training. He has applied his experience in Vietnam and Canada to completing the Kalim hospitality apps and preparing the first Kalim Coffee location.

The observation behind Voice Order.

In the United States and Canada, Kalim noticed how much everyday life revolves around driving, including the coffee stop. He wanted ordering ahead to fit that routine more naturally. Voice Order grew from that observation: express a drink request, review the available choices and confirm checkout with Apple Pay on the guest’s device before pickup.

His experience behind the counter shaped what follows: the confirmed order needs to reach the team clearly. Read the founder’s Voice Order story →

More ways to order. More people included.

Voice Order also has an accessibility purpose: making coffee ordering easier for people who are blind or have low vision. A spoken request can reduce the need to find every drink option visually.

On iPhone, Apple’s VoiceOver reads screen content aloud and supports navigation without relying on sight. Kalim’s goal is to bring spoken ordering and accessible order review together, while keeping the guest in control of confirmation and payment.

Founder Binh Khiem Nguyen wants this purpose to extend beyond coffee, through future apps that help people facing accessibility barriers with everyday tasks. That ambition will be shaped by direct feedback from people who use assistive technology.

The question behind the ecosystem.

What does a coffee chain need beyond accepting an order? A barista needs clear drink instructions. A team needs workable schedules and training. Managers need reviewed time and tip records. Stock needs to reflect what drinks use. The business needs reporting that distinguishes a sale, a cost, a cash movement and a forecast.

Kalim committed time and effort to designing these connections around the coffee operation he wants to build. His goal is to reduce repeated entry and disconnected decisions, while giving guests, employees, managers and investors their own appropriate view.

Modern POS platforms can already offer extensive management tools and integrations. Kalim’s reason for building is the ability to shape an operating model around his coffee business, including the relationships between service, people and financial information.

One iced latte. A connected journey.

1. Kalims · The guest’s choice

   The guest chooses a store, explores its menu and customizes a drink. Kalim Assistant can help express an order through voice, while the guest reviews the actual drink options and total before paying. Progress, receipts, history and Drops rewards keep that purchase connected to the guest’s account.

2. Kalim · The store’s work

   The confirmed order becomes a preparation task in the store, with progress that the guest can follow. Configured recipes connect drink sales with ingredient usage and costs. Menu management, stock receiving, purchasing and reports support the operating work behind the cup.

3. KalimStaffs · The people making it happen

   Employees have a workspace for their assigned stores, schedules, recorded attendance, learning, tips and pay information. Managers review time records and cash-tip counts. Newly collected tip-jar cash is distinguished from tips already on receipts, helping avoid recording the same money twice.

   Payroll preparation retains approval by an authorized Admin or Accounting user. Actual automated bank payment remains a separate integration in progress.

4. Kalim Invest · Understanding the business

   Authorized investors can follow permitted operating figures, approved plans and company updates. Reports use recorded sales and available costs; missing information remains visible. Forecasts stay separate from recorded results, and cash-ledger activity is not presented as a bank balance.

These connections explain the depth of the project. The apps serve different people, but the relationships between their work are part of the same design.

Care in the details.

Recipes and barista learning connect his coffee experience with the software. Store assignments and permissions connect the system with real responsibilities. Staff purchase benefits relate to approved team records; investor access requires authorization. A connected ecosystem still needs clear boundaries.

The design also distinguishes an estimated wage from a reviewed statement and a confirmed bank payment. It distinguishes test orders from recorded trading activity. Those are practical operating decisions, as much as software decisions.

Building the next chapter in Calgary.

The four hospitality apps are complete and ready for store use, with public app launch planned for January 2027. As the sole founder, Kalim is now seeking funding to open the first Kalim Coffee location in Calgary, recruit a team and put the system into daily service. Site, financing and opening arrangements remain in preparation.

The coffee voice-order journey illustrates his intended service journey. He chose Apple Pay for guest checkout. At the counter, Apple granted the Tap to Pay on iPhone entitlement on 6 October 2026, and Kalim completed a real card payment through Stripe using a paired iPad POS and iPhone customer counter. These are distinct payment flows; NFC Wallet membership and automated bank payroll still depend on the relevant approvals and provider connections. A physical drive-thru and longer-term robotic preparation require further development and operating validation.

Kalim’s commercial plan combines Coffee and Technology. He plans to grow the Kalim Coffee chain while also charging software fees and deploying adapted versions of the ecosystem for other businesses. The two activities are intended to run in parallel, with the coffee operation keeping the technology grounded in everyday service.

His ambition is a repeatable coffee-chain model for Canada. The first location will bring drink quality, hospitality and the completed apps into daily operation before wider growth. A guest should feel the ease; the team should understand the work that makes it possible.

With coffee, the day feels a little easier.

Explore the coffee and tea menu → · Read the development plan →

A conversation shaped by coffee.

Kalim describes his travels, continuing learning and sharing coffee as the journey that led Mai Triều Nguyễn to invite him to a podcast conversation.