How to get repeat customers at your restaurant: six things that work
Updated 22 October 2026
Repeat customers come back for one simple reason: they remember you at the right moment, and they have one more reason to pick you over somewhere else. So the whole job is having a way to reach them again after they've walked out the door. Here’s how to get repeat customers: restaurant owners can start with the first two of these six things tonight, without paying a percentage to anyone.
Telaio: the app that brings repeat customers back
Your own app, with your restaurant’s name, logo and colours, on your customers’ phones. They install it by scanning the QR code on the table: ten seconds, no App Store, no account.
- A digital menu with the 14 allergens required by law and diets, changed from your phone whenever you like
- Offers, plus two automatic ones: «Welcome» and «Come back and see us»
- A digital punch card: one point for every offer used, rewards you decide
- Notifications, scheduled if you like, to people who said yes: theme night lands on their phone
- A button to call you with one tap, and eight languages for tourists
€59 a month · no setup fee · no commission · cancel any time
Founder code: a reserved price for twelve paid months, plus one month free · 47 of 50 left · Get it ›
1. Make the first move before they leave
The moment to be remembered is the bill: they're happy, and their phone is in their hand. A QR code with your logo on the table or the bill tray, and a few words: «Find us here, with something for next time». A small card to take home does the same job later.
With Telaio: the app makes the QR code with your logo for the tables, and the card to take home, ready to print.
2. Give them a reason to come back, straight away
An offer for next time, not tonight: a coffee, a glass of the house wine, dessert. It costs you little and turns «we'll come back» into a date. With Telaio two offers appear by themselves: «Welcome», the first time someone opens your app, and «Come back and see us», after the first visit.
3. A loyalty card nobody loses
Paper punch cards end up in a drawer. A digital one lives on the phone: with Telaio every offer used earns a point by itself, and you decide the rewards and how many points they take. Your staff stamp nothing, and if a customer changes phone, they get the card back with their own code.
4. Only write when there's something to say
The theme night, the seasonal dish, Friday fish: a short notification, with your restaurant's name, to people who installed your app and said yes. Schedule it for the right day and hour, a couple of times a month. People who feel bombarded switch notifications off and never turn them back on.
With Telaio: you write the notification when you have time and schedule it for the right day and hour.
5. Keep your customers your own
A customer who found you on a booking platform comes back through the platform, and you pay again. A customer who has your app calls you directly with one tap, or messages you on WhatsApp: the relationship stays yours.
With Telaio: your app has a «Call» button and, if you add a mobile number in the Manager, a WhatsApp one too: one tap and they’re talking to you.
6. Watch the numbers, not your gut
How many people have your app, how many get your notifications, which offers are really used, on which days and at what time: with those numbers you see what works, and stop guessing.
With Telaio: your statistics are on your phone, updated in real time.
Who already does it
Locanda Al Capriolo in Farra d’Alpago and IlCortivo in Vittorio Veneto, in north-east Italy, each have their own app to turn first-time guests into repeat customers, with their own name, on their customers' phones.
Want to create your own app?
Your own app, with your restaurant's name: offers, a loyalty card and notifications. €59 a month, no commission.
Even better: ask for your Founder code. With the Founder code you get a reserved price for your first twelve paid months, plus one month free.
50 Founder codes for each model: they last while there are free ones.
On WhatsApp, or write to [email protected] · See how it works ›
More guides: How to fill a restaurant on quiet nights · How much does it cost to build a restaurant app? · How to start a restaurant loyalty program that people actually use · All guides ›