Setting up a restaurant loyalty program in Australia (2026)

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

For most small restaurants, a digital stamp card in Apple or Google Wallet works: one stamp per visit and a reward that suits a solo lunch and a family dinner alike, like a free dessert after 5 paid visits. If your bills swing a lot, points are fairer but add a step at the till. Rewardtree runs stamp cards.

The steps#

1. Look at a normal week of bills. Scroll back through a normal week on your till. If most bills sit within about A$20 of each other, a stamp card fits well. If a A$25 solo lunch and a A$180 family dinner are both normal, read the maths below before you pick a reward.
2. Choose the reward and work out what it gives back. A free dessert or main after 5 to 8 paid visits is easy to understand. The maths below shows what it gives back to each kind of guest, and what it costs you.
3. Write your card in one sentence. On Rewardtree you pick Other, type 5 and "Free dessert", and your card reads "Customers pay for 5 visits. Their 6th visit gets a free dessert."
4. Put the QR where guests wait. A poster at the pay point, or stickers on the tables. Guests scan it with their phone camera while they wait for the bill: first name, mobile, the code we text them, and the card is in their phone's wallet.
5. Make scanning part of paying. Each visit, the guest scans the same QR for one stamp. Nobody scans their phone, and staff type nothing.

Why restaurants are the hard case#

A café can run on one stamp per coffee because most orders cost about the same. A restaurant can't count on that. The same regular might come in for a A$25 solo lunch on Tuesday and a A$180 family dinner on Saturday, and a group booking for twelve is bigger again.

So the real question for a restaurant loyalty program is this: do you reward the visit, or the spend? Both work. They reward different guests, and the maths below shows exactly how.

Stamps or points: what's fairer for bigger bills?#

Take three regulars and the two programs you could run. The prices are examples, as guests see them on your menu:

• Stamps: 8 paid visits earn a free main worth A$34 on your menu.
• Points: 1 point per $1 spent, and 500 points earn A$25 off the bill.

How the numbers work: the lunch regular pays 8 × A$25 = A$200 and gets a A$34 main, which is 17% of what they spent. The family pays 8 × A$180 = A$1,440 for the same main: 2.4%. With points, every dollar earns the same, so it's A$25 back for every A$500 spent (5%), whoever the guest is.

So, honestly:

• Stamps give your smallest bills the best deal and your biggest tables the least. That's fine when most bills are similar, and nothing is simpler at the till: the guest scans, and that's it.
• Points treat every dollar the same, so the family reaches its reward in 3 visits instead of 8. The cost is one extra step: someone types in the bill total.
• A small, café-style restaurant where most bills sit close together should stay with stamps. The café guide shows how that works.

Rewardtree runs stamp cards only. If your bills swing so much that stamps would feel unfair, a points program may suit you better. If you go with stamps, pick a reward that suits a table of five as well as a solo lunch: a dessert is a treat either way. The longer comparison, for every kind of shop, is in stamp card or points.

What does the reward really cost you?#

The two kinds of reward cost you different amounts:

• A free dish is worth its menu price to the guest, but it costs you the ingredients and the kitchen's time. If that A$34 main costs you about A$11 to make (use your own figure), the lunch regular's reward costs you 5.5% of the A$200 they spent, and the family's costs you under 1% of their A$1,440.
• Dollars off cost exactly what they say: A$25 off is A$25 less in the till.

A free dessert or main feels like hospitality; dollars off feels like a discount. And the dish costs you less to give.

Rewards that work for a restaurant#

Pick one reward:

• Free dessert after 5 paid visits. Cheap to give, easy to say.
• Free main after 8 paid visits. A bigger prize for weekly regulars.
• $20 off after 5 paid visits. Simple, if your menu changes every season.

If you're thinking of a free drink as the reward, check your liquor licence conditions with your state's liquor regulator first. A free main or dessert avoids the question.

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

1. Your restaurant'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 5 and "Free dessert": "Customers pay for 5 visits. Their 6th visit gets a free dessert."
3. Your address. Google address search finds it. More than one restaurant? Add them right there.
4. Go live, and print your free QR poster. An A4 poster for the pay point, with a page of four stickers for the tables.

At the pay point#

1. The guest scans your QR with their phone camera and collects today's stamp: one per visit, checked against where your restaurant is (and flagged if it's late at night).
2. The card on their phone updates with the new stamp. Staff type nothing.
3. When a card is full, the visit that filled it is paid as normal. On the next visit the guest's phone asks "Use it now?", and they show you a live screen with the reward, their first name and a moving clock. Take the reward off the bill on your till, like any other discount.

What happens when a customer reaches their reward has the details. If your restaurant's internet drops, nothing changes: guests use their own phone's data, and your poster is paper.

The Australian rules, in plain words#

This is general information, not legal or tax advice.

• Menu prices include GST. Businesses must show consumers one total price, taxes included (ACCC: Price displays, checked 29 September 2026). That's why the maths above uses menu prices. How a free main is recorded for GST is a question for your accountant or BAS agent.
• Spam Act 2003. A message that markets to your guests 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 restaurant'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, keep to the basics: collect only what you need, and tell people plainly who gets their details. Rewardtree's shop page tells every guest that your restaurant will see their first name, mobile and visits, and that's all a card needs.

What it costs#

On Rewardtree it's 60 days free with no credit card, then A$9.99 a month per restaurant, 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 restaurants has the short version.

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 restaurant? See Rewardtree for restaurants.