A digital loyalty card for your pizzeria

For a pizzeria in Belgium, the real competitor is often not the pizzeria across the street but the delivery app on the customer’s phone. Every order through Deliveroo, Uber Eats or Takeaway.com costs you a commission, and the customer belongs to the platform, not to you. A loyalty card that only fills up when they collect at your counter or eat in gives them a concrete reason to call you, walk in, and skip the app.

What to reward, and after how many stamps?

Pizza is a good reward because the ingredient cost is low compared to the menu price, and everybody knows what a free pizza is worth.

• 10A free pizza margheritaOr any pizza up to a set price, if you prefer.
• 5A free drink or dessertA tiramisu or a can, a fast first reward.
• 4Garlic bread with the next orderCheap to make, nice surprise for families.
• 12Free pizza of your choiceA higher threshold with a bigger reward.

An example calculation: a margherita sells for €12 and costs you roughly €2.50 in dough, tomato, mozzarella, basil and box. A customer collecting 10 orders at an average €25 has spent €250 with you. The free pizza costs €2.50, about 1 % of that. Compare that with a platform commission on every one of those 10 orders, and the reward is the cheaper way to keep a customer.

Pick a number between 3 and 30 stamps. 10 is common for a free pizza. If you change it later, existing cards keep their rule and only new cards follow the new number.

Which card type fits a pizzeria?

The stamp card, included in Essential, fits most pizzerias. Then you decide what one stamp means.

Points on Pro fit pizzerias where orders range from one €12 pizza to a €70 party order. Staff type the amount on the scanner’s till-style pad and you can set up to 6 rewards at different point levels, for example a dessert at a low level and a family pizza at a higher one.

If you run a lunch formula on weekdays, Pro also lets you run a second card for it, for example a stamp card for pizzas and a pack card for 10 weekday lunches paid up front. Packs mean you hold customers’ money, so check with your accountant.

How does stamping work during the rush?

The rush is Friday and Saturday from 18:00 to 21:00, with phones ringing, the oven full and pick-up customers waiting at the counter. Eat-in tables want their bill at the same time.

• Pick-up: the customer pays at the counter by Bancontact, Payconiq or cash and holds up their pass. Whoever takes payment scans it with the scanner phone that sits next to the terminal.
• Eat-in: scan when the table pays. The person who pays shows their card.
• Phone orders: stamp when they collect, not when they call. The scan needs the pass in front of the scanner.
• Delivery: a driver with the staff role can scan at the door with their own phone and mobile data. Most pizzerias don’t bother and keep the card for pick-up and eat-in.

The scanner shows “+1” with the customer’s first name and progress, like “Kevin · 8/10”, and the pass updates within seconds. The owner or a manager corrects the card in the dashboard with Adjust stamps; the reason and who made the change are logged. When the card is full, the customer gets a lock-screen notification, and staff tap Claim + add today’s stamp when they come in.

Seasonal and occasion ideas

• Football nights: Red Devils and Champions League. Ask people to order early for kick-off.
• Halloween: a themed pizza for families.
• Summer terrace season: eat-in on the terrace, a good moment to sign up new customers at the tables.
• 31 December: party orders and opening hours.
• Late August: back from holidays, back to the Friday pizza habit.

What to send by push or e-mail

Push messages are part of Pro. They appear on the lock screen through the wallet pass, only for customers who ticked the news box. For a pizzeria, a message on Friday at 17:00 is worth more than one on Monday morning.

Example push messages:

• Title: “Pizza night” Text: “Order at the counter or call us, collect it yourself and get your stamp. Oven’s hot from 17:30.”
• Title: “Match tonight” Text: “Order before 20:00 and your pizzas are ready for kick-off. Pick-up only, no delivery delay.”
• Title: “Your free pizza is ready” Text: “Your card is full. Pick up your free margherita with your next order.”

Keep it to two or three messages a month at most. Google Wallet will notify a pass at most 3 times in 24 hours anyway; anything beyond that shows on the card without a notification.

E-mail idea: a “we miss you” e-mail to customers not seen in 30 days, sent from your pizzeria’s own address, with the new seasonal pizza and a reminder that collecting earns stamps.

Common objections

“Most of my orders come through the apps.” That’s the reason to start. Each customer who switches even a few orders to pick-up is commission you keep. The QR stand at the counter catches them when they do come in.

“I already have a paper pizza card.” Keep it running while customers switch. A manager can add the stamps from their paper card with a correction and a reason.

“My staff are too busy on Friday night.” One scan per order, while the customer pays. Joining is done by the customer on their own phone, at the QR stand, while they wait for their pizza.

“I can’t track delivery orders.” True: the scan needs the customer’s pass in front of a staff phone. Fidelia doesn’t connect to delivery platforms.

What does it cost?

Essential is €29 a month excl. VAT for one location and one stamp card, with unlimited customers and scans and the first QR stand included. Pro is €59 a month and adds points per euro, push messages for Friday nights and several cards at once; try it free for 14 days. Yearly billing gives you 2 months free.

For burgers and durums, see the snack bar page. For a full-service Italian restaurant, the restaurant page fits better.