Setting up a bakery loyalty program in Australia (2026)

Published 29 September 2026 · Updated 14 October 2026 · Reviewed quarterly

For a bakery, run a digital stamp card in Apple or Google Wallet: one stamp per visit, however they pay. Reward what regulars buy: a free loaf after 8 or 9 paid visits for the Saturday crowd, or a free coffee after 5 for the morning crowd. Customers scan one QR on your counter. On Rewardtree it's 60 days free.

The steps#

1. Pick the reward your regulars buy. A free loaf after 9 paid visits suits the weekly bread crowd; a free coffee after 5 suits the daily coffee-and-pastry crowd. Each business has one card, so pick the crowd you see most.
2. One stamp per visit, not per item. One stamp per visit, whether it's a loaf or a box of pastries for the office. Nobody counts items, and the queue keeps moving.
3. Put the QR where the queue waits. Stand your QR poster where the Saturday queue forms, not only at the till. Customers scan it while they wait and have the card in their wallet before they reach the front.
4. Cash customers collect too. The card doesn't care how people pay. Cash, card or phone, the customer scans your QR for their stamp the same way.
5. Let paper regulars finish their old card. Put your Rewardtree QR by the till. Let regulars finish their old card; from today they collect on Rewardtree.

Why bakeries suit a stamp card#

A bakery lives on two kinds of regular. There's the weekly bread crowd, the same faces every Saturday for the same sourdough, and the morning crowd, in most days for a coffee and something warm. Both come often, and both buy much the same thing each time. That's exactly what a stamp card is built for.

There's a catch bakeries know well: some regulars still pay cash, and a card payment on its own doesn't tell you who your regulars are. A stamp per visit changes that. Every customer shows up on your Customers page with their visits, whether they paid with a card or a fifty.

And the paper card? It goes into the bread bag and out with the crumbs. A digital stamp card lives in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, on the phone they're already holding in the queue.

Which crowd is your card for?#

Each business runs one card, so pick the crowd you see most. One stamp per visit works for both; only the reward and the number of stamps change.

A weekly regular should reach the reward within weeks, so for a Saturday crowd keep it to 8 or 9. For the morning crowd, 5 to 9 all work.

What does the free loaf really cost you?#

Say your sourdough is A$9 on the board and your usual morning order (a coffee and a pastry) comes to A$10. In Australia those board prices are the whole price the customer pays.

"Costs you" is the flour, the milk, the beans, the power and the time. Those are example figures, so put in your own. The free loaf is worth its full A$9 to your customer, and costs you a fraction of that to give. That gap is why a stamp card is one of the cheapest ways to thank a regular.

Rewards that work for a bakery#

Pick one reward:

• Free loaf after 9 paid visits. Easy to understand, and it's what the Saturday crowd came for.
• Free coffee after 5 paid visits. Quick to reach for the morning crowd.
• A free sausage roll or pie after 8 paid visits. Good for a lunch trade.

The Saturday queue#

• Joining in the queue. Put the QR where the queue forms, on the counter and at the door. First name, mobile, the code we text them, and the card is in their phone's wallet before they reach the front. The shop page works in eight languages, including Vietnamese, Simplified Chinese and Arabic.
• Collecting. Each visit the customer scans the same QR for one stamp. It works the same for card, cash and phone payments, and your staff type nothing.
• Big orders. A box of pastries for the office is one visit, so one stamp.
• Bad internet. Customers use their own phone's data, and your QR is paper, so your shop's internet doesn't matter.
• The free loaf. When the card is full, the visit that filled it is paid as normal. On the next visit the customer's phone asks "Use it now?", and they show you a live screen with the reward, their first name and a moving clock. Hand over the loaf.
• Paper regulars. Put your Rewardtree QR by the till. Let regulars finish their old card; from today they collect on Rewardtree.

The worked example: a bakery on Rewardtree in a few minutes#

1. Your bakery's name and mobile at rewardtree.com.au/signup. We text you a code to check it's your number.
2. Your reward, in one sentence. Pick Other, type 9 and "Free loaf": "Customers pay for 9 visits. Their 10th visit gets a free loaf."
3. Your address. Google address search finds it. More than one bakery? Add them right there.
4. Go live, and print your free QR poster. An A4 poster for the counter, with a page of four stickers for the door.

Then tell the next customer: "Scan this and your bakery card goes in your phone's wallet."

The Australian rules, in plain words#

This is general information, not legal or tax advice.

• Board prices include any GST. Businesses must show consumers one total price, taxes included (ACCC: Price displays, checked 29 September 2026). A bakery counter can mix items that attract GST with items that don't, which is one more reason to do your reward maths on the board price. Ask your accountant or BAS agent how a free item is recorded.
• Spam Act 2003. A message that markets to your customers, like "hot cross buns are back", needs their consent, has to say it's from you, and needs an unsubscribe that works. An unsubscribe must be honoured within 5 working days (ACMA: Avoid sending spam, checked 29 September 2026). On Rewardtree, your bakery's page has its own "can text me offers" box, and it starts unticked. More in do I need permission to text or email my customers offers?
• Privacy Act 1988. Most small businesses, those with an annual turnover of A$3 million or less, aren't covered by the Privacy Act, but some are (OAIC: Small business, checked 29 September 2026). Either way, collect only what you need and tell people plainly who gets their details. Rewardtree's shop page tells every customer that your bakery will see their first name, mobile and visits.

What it costs#

On Rewardtree it's 60 days free with no credit card, then A$9.99 a month per shop, or A$99 a year. That's our end-of-year special for businesses that sign up by 31 December 2026: you keep it for every shop, including shops you add later, for as long as you stay. From 1 January 2027, businesses that sign up pay A$19.99 a month or A$199 a year. The details are on the pricing page, and the page for bakeries has the short version. If coffee is half your trade, the café guide is worth a read too.

For the plan any business can follow, read how to set up a loyalty program in Australia. We make Rewardtree, so weigh our advice with that in mind.

Questions, answered#

Run a bakery? See Rewardtree for bakeries.