For your business
Loyalty cards for restaurants
Restaurant guests come less often than café regulars, but each visit is worth more, and a good evening is often shared with friends or family. A loyalty card here is less about the next coffee and more about the next table.
How restaurant guests visit
Some guests come for a weekday lunch, others for dinner once or twice a month, and many for special occasions. The bill changes with the size of the table. Usually one person pays, and that person is the one who will carry your card.
The quiet times matter as much as the busy ones. A Tuesday evening with empty tables is where a well-timed message can help.
A suggested card setup
Points reflect the size of the bill, which suits a restaurant:
- Card type: points, 1 point for every 1 ₼, so a table of six earns more than a quick lunch for one.
- Rewards at two or three levels: a free dessert first, a free main course later, and perhaps dinner for two at the top.
- Depending on your plan, you can also run a separate stamp card for a set lunch at one price, next to the points card: buy 9 lunches, get the 10th free.
Keep the first reward within reach of a guest who comes a couple of times a month, so they see progress before they forget about the card.
Reminders and messages that help
A few reminders cover the moments that matter to a restaurant:
- Birthday treat: sent on the guest’s birthday when you open, a good reason to celebrate at your place.
- Welcome: a short thank-you when the card is added.
- We miss you and Gone very quiet: after 21 and 60 days without a visit.
On a slow evening, send a message of your own and switch on “Double points until” a time you choose, for example 21:00. You can include the guest’s first name. The message reaches members’ lock screens only during your opening hours, and the double points end on their own.
When the bill is paid
Staff scan the guest’s card when the bill is settled, at the table or at the till, and type the amount. The keypad shows the points before they are confirmed. If the guest has left their phone in the car, the waiter can find them by name.
The cooldown, 30 minutes by default, stops the same card being scanned twice for one bill. When a reward is claimed, staff see a confirmation (for example, a free dessert) and can undo it for 2 minutes if they picked the wrong guest.
Waiters can use their own phones with their own logins, so nobody queues at the till to add points. A single add has a ceiling too, and anything above it needs the owner, so a mistyped figure doesn’t turn into a large gift of points. If one person adds an unusual number of entries by hand, a notice appears on the Home page of your dashboard.