Free Loyalty Card for Your Restaurant — The Plattr Bonus Card

Most restaurant owners assume loyalty programs are expensive. Software subscriptions, hardware terminals, printed cards that need replacing. The assumption is that loyalty is a big-restaurant tool — something chains use, not a 40-cover neighbourhood bistro.

That is wrong. Plattr's Bonus Card is free. It is available on the Free plan, requires no hardware, and takes about 15 minutes to set up.

What is the Plattr Bonus Card?

The Bonus Card is a digital stamp card. Guests sign up via a QR code at your restaurant or via your Plattr Guide listing. They receive a digital card stored in their phone's wallet or accessible via a link. Each visit, you scan their card and add a stamp. When they reach the reward threshold — say, 10 stamps — they get a free coffee, a discount, a dessert, whatever you decide.

No app for the guest to install. No card to print. No hardware for you to buy. The guest shows a QR code on their phone, you scan it with any smartphone camera, and the stamp is added.

Why free?

Plattr's business model is built around the restaurant relationship, not transaction fees. The Free plan exists so that small restaurants can get started without financial risk. The Bonus Card is included because loyalty data is valuable — to you, not to Plattr. When a guest signs up for your loyalty card, you capture their contact information with their consent and start building a picture of their visit frequency.

This is the data that makes future marketing work. When you eventually send a promotion, you are not guessing. You know which guests have not been in three months, which ones visit every week, which ones always order the same thing. That data starts accumulating from day one, at no cost.

How guests sign up

There are three ways a guest joins your loyalty programme. The first is at the table via a printed QR code — you can download this from your Plattr dashboard and put it in a small table card or at the bottom of the receipt. The second is via your Guide listing on plattr.de, where a loyalty enrolment button appears automatically. The third is if you share your loyalty link directly via social media or your newsletter.

Setting up your reward structure

You choose the stamp count and the reward when you create your Bonus Card. Common structures: coffee shop 10 stamps = 1 free coffee, restaurant 5 stamps = free dessert, bakery 8 stamps = free pastry, bar 6 stamps = free drink upgrade.

The reward should feel achievable but not too easy. If someone comes twice a week, reaching 10 stamps in 5 weeks feels like a real milestone. If the threshold is too low — 3 stamps — the reward comes too quickly and the programme loses its pull. Most restaurants find the sweet spot at 5-8 visits for a mid-range reward.

How digital stamps compare to paper punch cards

The old paper punch card system had one fatal flaw: you could not track anything. You did not know who was using the card, how often they visited, or whether the programme was actually changing behaviour. Digital stamps fix this. Every stamp is logged with a timestamp and linked to a guest profile. See our detailed comparison of digital stamps vs paper punch cards for the full breakdown.

Beyond tracking, digital cards cannot be lost or accidentally left at home. They also cannot be faked — a physical punch card can be stamped by anyone with the right tool. A digital stamp requires your scanner, which only you control.

Apple Wallet integration

On the Small plan and above, loyalty cards can be added to Apple Wallet and Google Pay. The card appears on the guest's lock screen when they are near your restaurant. For the Free plan, the card is accessible via a web link — still easy for the guest, just without the native wallet UI. The Wallet integration is a meaningful upgrade because it keeps your restaurant visible without any active effort from the guest. When they walk past your restaurant on a Wednesday, the card notification reminds them you exist.

What the data tells you

After a few weeks, your Plattr dashboard shows you visit frequency per loyalty member, average stamps per week, and which guests are approaching a reward. When you see a guest who was visiting every week and has now been absent for 30 days, you can send them a message via email. "We miss you. Here is a bonus stamp to get you back." That is a win-back campaign. It takes two minutes.

This kind of targeted re-engagement is exactly what separates a loyalty programme from a discount card. You are not broadcasting to everyone. You are identifying the specific guests who have drifted and reaching out to them individually. Read more about restaurant customer segmentation to understand how to use this data effectively.

Loyalty vs discounting

There is a meaningful difference between a loyalty programme and a discount programme. Discounts train guests to wait for the cheaper price. Loyalty programmes reward the behaviour you want more of: repeat visits. A guest who earns a free dessert after 10 visits has given you 10 covers at full price before they see any benefit. That is fundamentally better economics than giving 10% off to anyone who asks.

The complete guide to loyalty programs covers all programme types — points, stamps, cashback, and subscription — with guidance on which model works best for different restaurant types. If you want to understand where the Bonus Card fits in the wider loyalty landscape, start there.

Getting started

The setup takes 15 minutes. Create a free Plattr account, go to the Loyalty section in your dashboard, and create your Bonus Card. Choose your stamp count, set your reward, and download the QR code. Put it on the table. You are done. For restaurants that already have a Plattr Guide listing, the loyalty enrolment link appears automatically on your profile page.