Restaurant loyalty ideas that actually work

Most restaurant loyalty programs fail for one reason: they ask the guest to remember the restaurant. The ones that work give the guest a reason to come back that the guest thinks of as theirs. Here are seven, ranked by what they cost and what they return.

1. The next-visit reward, not the tenth-visit reward

A punch card pays out on visit ten, which most guests never reach. A reward that pays on visit two converts the people you actually have: first-timers. Give something small on the way out that is only good next time (10% off, a free appetizer) and the second visit is the one you are buying, which is the one that creates a regular.

2. The birthday club, done properly

Birthday clubs work because a birthday is a reason to go out. They fail when the sign-up is a clipboard. Capture the birthday as the reward for something else (clear a level, join the wifi, scan the receipt) and the list builds itself. A free entrée on the birthday brings a table of four.

3. The high-score board by the register

Competition is the cheapest loyalty mechanic there is. A leaderboard, any leaderboard, turns regulars into people with a reason to come back and defend a position. The monthly winner eats free; everybody else comes back to try. This is the part of a custom restaurant game that owners end up liking most.

4. Staff picks with a name on them

"Maria's Tuesday special" outsells "Tuesday special" because it is a person. Rotate it weekly, put the server's name on the table tent, and let guests ask for Maria. Loyalty to a server is loyalty to the room.

5. The slow-night reward

Any reward can carry a day restriction. Make the game or the card pay out on Monday to Wednesday and you have moved demand to the nights you need it without discounting Friday.

6. Something to do at the table

The eight minutes between ordering and eating are idle. Fill them with your brand: a one-minute browser game on the table tent starring your chef, where a cleared level is the next-visit reward from idea number one. Guests play it, kids especially, and nobody has downloaded anything. Our example games show what that looks like.

7. Measure redemptions, not sign-ups

A loyalty program with 2,000 members and 40 redemptions a month is a mailing list. Count what gets redeemed. If a reward is never redeemed it was never a reward; change it. A good program redeems a double-digit percentage of what it issues.

What this costs

Ideas one through five cost nothing but attention. A custom game is $249 a month with the build spread over the year, which two extra tables a night covers. Whatever you choose, pick the mechanic that makes the second visit the easy one.