A digital loyalty card for your friterie or fritkot

A friterie runs on a weekly rhythm. The same families come on Friday evening, the same football parents after Saturday training, the same office workers on a Thursday lunch. Most have a favourite fritkot and stick to it, until a new one opens on the square or their usual place has a long queue once too often. A loyalty card turns that weekly habit into something they notice: every order counts towards a free portion, and the card is in their phone when they decide where to eat tonight.

What to reward, and after how many stamps?

Fries are the cheapest thing you make and the thing people come for. That makes them the ideal reward.

• 10Large fries with a sauceThe obvious one. Everybody understands it.
• 5A free snackA fricadelle, a boulet or a cheese croquette with the next order.
• 12A free mitrailletteFor Brussels fritkots where the mitraillette is the bestseller.
• 3Extra sauce for freeA quick first reward for new customers, costs almost nothing.

Here is an example calculation. A large portion of fries sells for €4.50. Potatoes, oil and a cornet cost you roughly €0.80 for that portion. If a family spends an average €22 per order, 10 orders add up to €220. The free large fries cost you €0.80, well under 1 % of what they spent with you. Even a free snack after 5 orders stays very small next to €110 of orders.

You can choose anything from 3 to 30 stamps. Most friteries settle on 8 or 10 for fries. If you change the number later, it only applies to new cards; customers already collecting keep their rule.

Which card type fits a friterie?

A simple stamp card, included in Essential, fits almost every friterie. One order, one stamp, a free portion at the end. Your customers already understand it from paper cards.

Points (Pro) only become interesting if you have big swings in order value, for example a mix of single customers and large family or party orders. Staff then type the amount on a till-style pad and points follow the euros spent. For most fritkots that is more work than it is worth.

VIP levels (Pro) can mark your real regulars, for example after 30 visits, shown on the pass and on the scanner as “New level”. You could give that level a free sauce with every order.

How does stamping work during the rush?

The rush is Friday between 18:00 and 20:00, with a second peak on Saturday and on match nights. One person takes orders and payment, the other runs the fryer. The scan has to fit in there without anyone wiping their hands.

Put the scanner phone on a fixed holder next to the Bancontact terminal. When the customer pays, they hold their pass up and the person at the till scans it. Scan at payment, not when you hand over the cornet: by then the next order is already being called.

The scanner shows a big “+1” with the customer’s first name and progress, like “Thomas · 6/10”, and their pass updates within seconds.

• Family orders: one person pays, one stamp. The others can join with their own card on their own visits.
• Cooldown: a second scan of the same card within 5 minutes by default is blocked, so a stamp can’t be doubled by accident or by a friend scanning twice.
• Student staff: a shared counter phone with a PIN per person and the staff role, which only opens the scanner.
• Mistakes: the owner or a manager corrects the card in the dashboard with Adjust stamps; the reason and who made the change are logged.
• Reward: when the card is full, the pass shows “reward ready” and a lock-screen notification. Staff tap Claim + add today’s stamp: the free fries go in the bag and tonight’s order starts card 2.

The scanner needs an internet connection. A fritkot with a weak signal inside the cabin can use a phone with mobile data.

Seasonal and occasion ideas

• Match nights: Red Devils and Champions League evenings are long queues. Ask people to order early.
• Kermis and braderie weekends: extra visitors who don’t know you yet. Put the QR stand where the queue stands.
• Late June: end of exams, students celebrate with fries.
• Autumn and winter: carbonnade or stoofvlees sauce season, a good moment to remind regulars it’s back.
• Summer holidays: opening hours and closing weeks, sent before you close.

What to send by push or e-mail

Push messages appear on the lock screen via the wallet pass. They are part of Pro and only reach customers who ticked the box to receive your news. For a friterie, one message on a big evening works better than a weekly one.

Example push messages:

• Title: “Match tonight at 21:00” Text: “Order before 20:30 and skip the queue. Fries, snacks and sauces ready for kick-off.”
• Title: “Carbonnade sauce is back” Text: “Homemade carbonnade on your fries from this Friday until spring.”
• Title: “Your fries are waiting” Text: “Your card is full. A large portion with sauce is on us next time.”

E-mail idea: one short e-mail before your summer closing with the dates you’re away and the date you reopen. Customers keep the card in their wallet all summer.

Common objections

“My customers pay cash and want to be quick.” Fidelia has nothing to do with payment. The customer pays the way they always do and shows the pass. It’s one scan, while you count the change.

“My customers are students with an empty battery.” It happens. On those nights, nobody gets a stamp, just as nobody did when they forgot the paper card. Most people’s wallet card opens fast from the lock screen.

“I already hand out paper cards.” Keep them until people switch. A manager can add the stamps from a paper card with a correction and a reason, so nobody starts from zero.

“It’s too much tech for a fritkot.” You need a phone or tablet and an internet connection. Customers join on their own via the QR stand; you design the card once.

What does it cost?

Essential is €29 a month excl. VAT for one location and one stamp card, with unlimited customers and scans and your first QR stand included. For most friteries that is all you need. Pro, at €59 a month, adds push messages for match nights, VIP levels and points; you can try it free for 14 days.

If you also sell burgers and durums late at night, read the snack bar page. Running a fries truck at markets? See food trucks.