What if your loyalty program is the reason your guests feel nothing?
Punch cards and points reward a transaction. Guests want to belong to something, and a free appetizer on the tenth visit gives them nothing to belong to.
In this takeaway, I break down how one restaurant scrapped a 3,000-member rewards program nobody used and rebuilt it as a club, why access and recognition drove a 30% lift in spend per visit and doubled visit frequency, and why being known by name matters more to your best guests than any reward you could print on a card.
If you’re running a program your guests ignore, this is where you start rebuilding it.
The Playbook Takeaways
- Points reward a transaction, not belonging. Punch cards and points pay guests for buying. What guests actually want is to belong to something, and a free appetizer on the tenth visit gives them nothing to belong to.
- Rebuild around access and recognition. One restaurant scrapped a 3,000-member rewards program nobody used and relaunched it as a club. Access and recognition, not discounts, drove a 30% lift in spend per visit and doubled visit frequency.
- Know your best guests by name. Being recognized matters more to your best guests than any reward you could print on a card. If your current program is being ignored, that is where the rebuild starts.
Want the systems behind ideas like these? Josh runs a free 5-day restaurant marketing masterclass at restaurantbusinessschool.com.
Keep going: restaurant marketing strategies that bring regulars back, how to make your restaurant more profitable, and restaurant concepts and ideas that stand out.
That’s this week’s takeaway. To build the marketing team that brings your best guests back more often, visit restaurantbusinessschool.com.
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Free 5-Day Restaurant Marketing Masterclass – This is a live training where you’ll learn the exact campaigns Josh has built and tested in real restaurants to attract new guests, increase visit frequency, and generate sales on demand. Save your spot at restaurantbusinessschool.com
About the Author: Josh Kopel is a Michelin-awarded restaurateur, host of the Full Comp podcast, and creator of the Restaurant Scaling System, which helps independent owners grow profitable restaurants through AI-powered marketing. More about Josh · Learn with Josh
