Restaurant loyalty app: which kind does a single restaurant need?

Updated 7 November 2026

A restaurant loyalty app gives your guests a digital card on their phone that rewards them for coming back. There are three kinds: a group's app, an ordering platform with rewards built in, or an app with your own name. If you run one or two restaurants, the last is usually the one that fits.

A restaurant loyalty app with your name on it

A digital punch card, a welcome offer and notifications for people who said yes, in an app your guests open by scanning the QR code on the table.

• 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 special price for twelve paid months, plus one month free · 47 of 50 left · Get it ›

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The three kinds of restaurant loyalty app

Search for a restaurant loyalty app and you find three different things under one name.

First, the group app: one app for a family of restaurants under the same owner. Second, the ordering platform that has loyalty inside, for restaurants that sell online and for delivery. Third, an app with your own name, where the card, the offers and the messages belong to one restaurant.

They solve different problems, so decide which problem you have before you compare features.

What the group apps and ordering platforms do

DRG, a restaurant group in the UK, runs one app for all its restaurants. Members get 5% back on their food bill in points, and new members get a £10 voucher after their first visit. Points expire 12 months after the last visit, and can take up to 48 hours to appear. It works because guests can spend the points in any restaurant of the group.

Slerp, an ordering platform, builds loyalty into online ordering: points land on the order, and the same balance works at the counter with a QR code scanned by staff. It also lets you run double-points days, or up to 10× on items you want to push. That is useful if most of your sales go through online orders. For one dining room it is a lot of machinery.

What a single restaurant needs

Antavo, a loyalty software company, lists the minimum any programme needs: a way to identify customers (an app, a QR code, a pass or a card), a mechanic such as points or stamps, and a catalogue of rewards. Its advice is that rewards should include freebies and upgrades, not just discounts.

That is a good test for a small place. Can guests join in seconds? Does the card count by itself, without you or the waiter keeping track? Can you choose rewards that cost you little but feel generous, like a dessert or a coffee? If yes, the app does its job. If a screen of rules is needed to explain it, guests will not use it.

The guide to starting a restaurant loyalty programme goes through the rewards in detail.

How a Telaio app does it

Telaio gives your restaurant its own app, with your name, logo and colours. Guests install it by scanning the QR code on the table: ten seconds, no App Store, no account.

The loyalty card is a digital punch card: one point for every offer used, and you decide the rewards. There are also two automatic offers, “Welcome” and “Come back and see us”, so the first step of a loyalty programme is already there. You can send notifications, scheduled if you like, to people who said yes.

With Telaio: Locanda Al Capriolo in Farra d’Alpago and IlCortivo in Vittorio Veneto each have their own app, with a welcome gift for anyone who opens it the first time.

What it will not do

Be clear on this before you choose. A card that counts offers used is not a points-per-euro scheme, and it is not tied to online ordering or delivery. If your business is mostly takeaway and delivery through your own site, an ordering platform with rewards inside, like the one Slerp describes, is a better match.

If your business is guests who sit at your table and could come back, a simple card in an app with your name is enough. A programme you run every week beats a clever one that nobody opens.

What it costs

Telaio costs €59 a month, with no setup fee, no commission, and you can cancel any time. The menu with the 14 allergens, the offers, the card, the notifications and eight languages for tourists are all inside that price.

For the full picture of what building an app can cost, read how much it costs to build a restaurant app. For ways to get guests back beyond the card, see repeat customers at your restaurant.

Who already does it

Locanda Al Capriolo in Farra d’Alpago and IlCortivo in Vittorio Veneto, in north-east Italy, have their own app, with their own name, and their customers can switch on its notifications: the most direct way to fill a restaurant when it needs it.

Locanda Al CaprioloFarra d’AlpagoOpen its app ›IlCortivoVittorio VenetoOpen its app ›

More guides: How to fill a restaurant on quiet nights · How to get repeat customers at your restaurant: six things that work · How much does it cost to build a restaurant app? · How to start a restaurant loyalty program that people actually use · All guides ›