--- title: Restaurant loyalty programme: stamps and cost | NFCeez url: https://nfceez.de/en/blog/restaurant-loyalty-programme/ language: en description: Plan a café or restaurant loyalty programme: how many stamps, which reward, and a worked calculation of what a reward really costs per visit. --- # How do you plan a loyalty programme that pays for itself at a café or restaurant? The key question rarely appears in the guides: what does a reward cost per visit, and how many extra visits does it take to cover it? Here is the calculation. [Regulars](https://nfceez.de/en/blog/topic/regulars/) 6 min read Updated 2 November 2026 NFCeez editorial team The short answer A café or restaurant loyalty programme pays for itself when the reward costs less than the extra visits bring in. In one café example, a free coffee after ten stamps costs at most about 0.29 euros per visit and is covered by roughly 1.3 extra coffees per reward. Set the number of stamps by how often guests come: often ten in a café, four or five in a restaurant. Contents - What does a reward really cost? - Worked example: what does the reward cost per visit? - What changes the cost? - What does it cost in other places? - How many stamps should a loyalty card have? - Which reward should you choose? - How do you launch the programme? - How do you put these numbers onto a card? - Where do you start today? Most guides suggest “eight to twelve stamps” and work out the cost of a coffee at its menu price. Neither goes far enough. Here we use prices before tax, say what a free item really costs, and set the stamp count by how often your guests actually come. The tax rates are German, so swap in your own if you’re elsewhere. ## What does a reward really cost? A reward costs either just the ingredients or the full price before tax, depending on the case. If a guest comes in for the free coffee and buys nothing else, you’ve given away a coffee they would otherwise have paid for, so you’ve lost the net price. If they wouldn’t have come at all without the card, the reward only costs you the ingredients. The truth lies between the two, so plan on the worse case. One thing for the calculation: in Germany since 1 January 2026, food eaten in is taxed at [7% and drinks at 19%](https://www.ihk.de/koeln/mehrwertsteuer-in-gastronomie-7020292) (Cologne Chamber of Commerce, as of November 2026). Milk drinks to take away have their own rule. So never calculate with the menu price, always with the price before VAT. ## Worked example: what does the reward cost per visit? This example is made up, with round numbers. Café Morgenrot gives a free coffee after ten stamps. Item Calculation Result Menu price €3.50 Price before VAT €3.50 ÷ 1.19 €2.94 Cost of goods (beans, milk, cup) Assumption €0.70 What a paid coffee leaves over €2.94 − €0.70 €2.24 Cost per visit, best case (goods only) €0.70 ÷ 10 €0.07 Cost per visit, worst case (reward replaces a paid coffee) €2.94 ÷ 10 €0.29 Extra coffees needed to cover one reward €2.94 ÷ €2.24 about 1.3 The last row is the one that counts. If the card brings a guest in once or twice more per round, it covers itself. Scale it up to a month: with 40 rewards redeemed, Café Morgenrot gives up at most 40 × €2.94 = €117.60. About 53 extra coffees sold cover that, or around two per day over 26 opening days. Any cake sold alongside isn’t counted. Is that realistic? At a [campus café at Columbia University](https://business.columbia.edu/sites/default/files-efs/pubfiles/1200/goalgradient.pdf), Kivetz and colleagues estimated about two extra coffees per member a month, measured on cards that were redeemed. That’s a pointer, not a forecast for your street: there was little competition on campus. ## What changes the cost? Bonus stamps cut the number of visits per reward, which raises the cost per visit. That’s usually fine, but you should know it up front. Case (Café Morgenrot) Visits to reward Cost per visit Normal card 10 €0.29 One welcome stamp 9 €0.33 Guest only comes on double-stamp days 5 €0.59 Only 60% of stamps end up on redeemed cards (assumption) 10 €0.18 The last row shows why this calculation is cautious: not every card gets filled. You’ll only know your own figure after a few months. So plan on the worst case first and correct it downwards later. ## What does it cost in other places? Here’s the same calculation for four made-up places, again in the worst case. It shows that the amount per visit says little and the share of what a guest spends says a lot. Place Reward (price, VAT) Stamps Cost per visit Net spend per visit Share Café Morgenrot Coffee, €3.50, 19% 10 €0.29 €4.44 about 6.6% Bäckerei Hafenkorn Loaf, €5.00, 7% 10 €0.47 €7.48 about 6.2% Bar Kobalt Drink, €9.00, 19% 6 €1.26 €16.81 about 7.5% Restaurant Laterne Dessert, €7.50, 7% 5 €1.40 €27.09 about 5.2% The spend per visit is assumed: €5, €8, €20 and €30 including VAT, with a mix of food and drinks at the café and restaurant. In this example the worst-case share comes to about five to eight percent. Whether that suits you depends on your margin, and you can redo it with your own numbers in ten minutes. ## How many stamps should a loyalty card have? As many as a regular can reach in a few weeks. No study gives one right number, and the well-known ones used ten coffees in a café and eight washes at a [car wash](https://doi.org/10.1086/500480). Our rule of thumb, not research: visits per week times weeks until the reward. Place Typical regular (assumption) Stamps Time to reward Café 2 to 3 visits a week 10 about 4 weeks Bakery 2 visits a week 10 about 5 weeks Bar 2 visits a month 6 about 3 months Restaurant 1 visit a month 4 to 5 4 to 5 months The restaurant row shows the flaw in the standard advice. With one visit a month, eight stamps means waiting most of a year. A card with a small first reward after the third visit and a bigger one later is often the better choice there. That’s an inference from the finding that people speed up just before a reward, not something we’ve tested. ## Which reward should you choose? The best reward is something guests would like that costs you little in goods. Three questions help you choose. - Is it clear in a second? “Your 10th coffee is on us” is. “5 points per 10 euros, a drink from 50 points” less so. - Does it bring the guest in? A dessert requires a visit with a meal. A discount also works on a quick takeaway. - Can everyone have it? In Germany, alcoholic rewards fall under [section 9 of the Youth Protection Act](https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/juschg/__9.html). Beer and wine are off limits under 16, spirits for all minors. So if your programme is open from age 16, you need an alcohol-free option. If in doubt, ask your local Chamber of Commerce (IHK). Your calculation in five lines - Reward price ÷ (1 + VAT rate), so ÷ 1.19 or ÷ 1.07 in Germany = price before VAT. - Price before VAT ÷ number of stamps = worst-case cost per visit. - Price before VAT of a normal item minus cost of goods = what one extra sale leaves over. - Reward price before VAT ÷ line 3 = extra sales needed per reward. - Stamps ÷ visits per week = weeks to reward. Over eight weeks in a café: use fewer stamps. ## How do you launch the programme? Start small, with a head start. In the [café study](https://business.columbia.edu/sites/default/files-efs/pubfiles/1200/goalgradient.pdf), customers given two free stamps reached their ten purchases in 12.7 days rather than 15.6. The [press release on the car wash study](https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/904084) adds that when progress is counted in purchases, the gift needs a reason. “Welcome stamp” works as a reason. Plan the moment after the reward as well. According to Kivetz, activity drops at that point and customers are most likely to leave. Announcing the next round, or showing the next reward right away, is something you can do about it. [What is a regular worth?](https://nfceez.de/en/blog/what-is-a-regular-worth/) shows how to measure what it brought in. Leave two things out: no stamps for [Google reviews](https://support.google.com/contributionpolicy/answer/7400114), which Google prohibits. And no collecting email addresses without clear rules, which [loyalty programmes and GDPR](https://nfceez.de/en/blog/loyalty-programme-gdpr/) explains. ## How do you put these numbers onto a card? With the [NFCeez stamp card](https://nfceez.de/en/features/digital-stamp-card/) it looks like this. In the app you set up to three rewards, each at its own stamp count, for a restaurant perhaps a pastry on the third visit and a dessert on the fifth. The app suggests dishes and drinks for them from your NFCeez menu. You add welcome stamps and double stamps as Boosts, with the costs from the table above in mind. Guests sign up on your Smart Page with a code sent by email and add the card to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet. At each visit your team scans the card and confirms the stamp. After the last reward the card starts again, so the next round is visible straight away. The statistics show how many members come back and how many are close to a reward. The limits: the app doesn't work out costs or revenue, and NFCeez doesn't see your till. The five lines above stay your own calculation. Because guests can join from age 16, a reward with spirits needs an alcohol-free alternative. ## Where do you start today? Your next step: run the five lines above with a real reward from your own menu. [ How NFCeez does this Up to three rewards, each at its own stamp. First you do the numbers, then you set the rewards in the app. Guests collect in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, and you see how many are close to a reward. See how it works ](https://nfceez.de/en/features/digital-stamp-card/) Sources - [Kivetz, R., Urminsky, O. & Zheng, Y. (2006): The Goal-Gradient Hypothesis Resurrected. Journal of Marketing Research 43(1)](https://business.columbia.edu/sites/default/files-efs/pubfiles/1200/goalgradient.pdf) - [Nunes, J. C. & Drèze, X. (2006): The Endowed Progress Effect. Journal of Consumer Research 32(4)](https://doi.org/10.1086/500480) - [University of Chicago Press Journals (2006): news release on the endowed progress paper](https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/904084) - [IHK Köln: Mehrwertsteuer in der Gastronomie](https://www.ihk.de/koeln/mehrwertsteuer-in-gastronomie-7020292) - [§ 9 Jugendschutzgesetz (JuSchG)](https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/juschg/__9.html) - [Google Maps: User-contributed content policy (Fake engagement)](https://support.google.com/contributionpolicy/answer/7400114) ## Questions about loyalty programmes. Often ten for coffee, but there’s no proven rule. Go by how often your regulars visit: a restaurant with monthly visits does better with four or five stamps than with ten. In the worst case, the reward’s price before VAT divided by the number of stamps. For a €3.50 coffee and ten stamps that’s about €0.29 per visit, or about €0.07 counting goods only. Something clear with a low cost of goods: a coffee, a slice of cake, a pastry. With several steps, start with a small reward early and put a larger one later. For planning, always use prices before VAT. How the reward is booked at the till depends on your setup, so check with whoever does your accounts or your local Chamber of Commerce. That depends on how often people visit. The well-known studies come from a café and a car wash, so work from your own numbers and test it for a few months. Yes, but Germany’s Youth Protection Act (section 9) applies to rewards too. Keep an alcohol-free option ready if younger guests can take part. ## Keep reading. [All articles](https://nfceez.de/en/blog/) [ ### Digital stamp card or paper: which suits your café? Paper is cheap and ready today. A digital card doesn’t get lost and shows you who comes back. Here is when each one fits, and how to switch. - ](https://nfceez.de/en/blog/digital-stamp-card/) [ ### What is a regular worth, and how do you work it out without a till system? You can estimate it with tally marks, daily takings and supplier invoices. The important part is counting only what a regular really adds. - ](https://nfceez.de/en/blog/what-is-a-regular-worth/) [ ### How does a loyalty card in Apple Wallet and Google Wallet work? The card sits next to tickets and boarding passes, and guests install no separate app. Here is what really works and what Apple and Google limit, without the jargon. - ](https://nfceez.de/en/blog/loyalty-card-apple-wallet-google-wallet/)