A digital loyalty card for your bar, pub or café

A good neighbourhood bar runs on regulars: the afterwork crowd on Thursdays, the quiz team with the same table for years, the people who come in for the match. In Belgium the competition is a short walk away, so every Friday someone is choosing between your place and the next one. A loyalty card that rewards coming in, rather than drinking more, keeps that choice going your way without making alcohol the prize.

What should a bar reward?

Rules on promoting alcohol in Belgium are strict, and a card where people collect stamps per drink, or where the reward is a free beer, is the kind of thing to avoid. Rewarding the visit with food, a non-alcoholic drink, entry or merch sidesteps the question. If you are unsure, ask your municipality or a lawyer before launch. This page is not legal advice.

What to reward, and after how many stamps?

• 8A bar snack plate for the tableCheese, sausage or bitterballen, shared with friends.
• 5Free quiz entry for your teamRewards the regulars who fill your quiet weeknight.
• 10A free croque or burger from the kitchenFor bars with a small food menu.
• 12Bar merch: tote bag or glassRegulars like wearing and showing their local.

Example calculation: a regular spends around €30 per evening. Eight visits bring in €240. A snack plate with a food cost of €4 is under 2 % of that. Quiz entry at €5 per person for a team of four is €20 given away after five visits, about 13 % of what the team spent in those evenings, which is reasonable for a night you want full. These are example figures.

Cards can have between 3 and 30 stamps. Changing the number affects only new cards.

Which card type fits a bar?

The stamp card (Essential), one stamp per visit, is the right base. Set the cooldown long enough that a card can only be stamped once per evening.

VIP levels (Pro) suit a bar best. Set levels by number of visits, for example a “Regular” level after 20 visits, and attach a perk such as a reserved quiz table or a first look at events. The new level shows on the customer’s pass and on the scanner, so the bartender knows who is who.

Points or cashback by amount (Pro) reward spending more, which in a bar means drinking more. Avoid them on the bar side.

How does stamping work on a busy night?

Friday and Saturday nights are not the time for anything slow. Scan once, either at the first order or when the round is paid. The person who pays shows their card, the bartender scans it with the bar phone, and the screen shows “+1” and a first name with progress.

• Bar phone: one phone on a stand next to the payment terminal, logged in with a PIN, so any bartender can scan. Staff accounts only open the scanner.
• One stamp per evening: set a long cooldown, so a second scan the same night is blocked.
• Wrong customer: the owner or a manager corrects the card in the dashboard with Adjust stamps; the reason and who made the change are logged.
• Reward ready: the pass shows it on the customer’s phone. Tap the claim button when the snack plate goes out.

The scanner needs internet, so keep it on the bar’s own Wi-Fi and not a guest network that drops when the place is full.

Seasonal and occasion ideas

• Every week: quiz night, live music, afterwork on Thursday or Friday.
• Football: Red Devils matches, the Belgian league, Champions League nights.
• Carnival season: a busy few days worth announcing early.
• Terrace season (spring to early autumn): the first sunny day the terrace opens is news.
• Christmas markets and December: company and friends’ dinners. Fill the weekdays early.

What to send by push or e-mail

Push messages (Pro) show on the lock screen and only reach customers who opted in to news. Keep them about events, food and atmosphere. Examples:

• Example · title: “Quiz tonight 20:00” · message: “Bring your team. Card holders on 5 stamps get free entry.”
• Example · title: “Big match on the big screen” · message: “Kick-off 20:45. Snacks from the kitchen until 22:00.”
• Example · title: “Terrace is open” · message: “The terrace is open from today. Come by after work this week.”

E-mail works for the month’s events, sent from your bar’s own address. A couple of pushes a month is plenty, and only for something happening.

Common objections

“A loyalty card without free drinks won’t work.” Regulars come for the people and the events. A quiz table, a snack plate and a regular’s level are rewards they talk about.

“It’s too loud and busy for scanning.” It is one scan per customer per evening, a couple of seconds at payment, with the phone fixed by the terminal.

“People will share cards.” The cooldown blocks repeat stamps on one card, and each stamp records the bartender, location and device.

“My customers won’t give their details in a bar.” They give a first name and an e-mail, nothing else, and news is opt-in.

What does it cost?

Essential costs €29 a month for one bar with a stamp card, unlimited customers and scans. Pro costs €59 a month and adds VIP levels, push messages for quiz and match nights, and e-mails, which is where a bar gets most value. Pro has a 14-day free trial. Prices are excl. VAT.

For a bar that also serves lunch, see the café page and the restaurant page.