Cross-Platform System
Built a mobile app for customers and a web dashboard for restaurants, connected through a shared real-time backend.
Global Hospitality Loyalty Platform Earns 62% Campaign Participation From 350,000+ Registered Customers
Restaurant loyalty usually means a punch card that rewards volume and nothing else. We built a platform where restaurants design goal-based campaigns targeting specific customer behaviour like visiting on quiet weeknights, trying a new menu category, or bringing a group. It includes live leaderboards, Stripe payments, digital gift cards, and push notifications. Restaurants can configure campaigns themselves from a performance dashboard rather than requesting changes from a vendor.
Client Overview
A hospitality loyalty platform serving restaurants across North America and the United Kingdom. The platform supports 45 regional restaurants, 180+ active branch locations, and 350,000+ registered customers through a mobile and web experience with multi-branch, multi-device real-time synchronization. Ciphernutz built the solution using React Native, Node.js, MongoDB, Firebase, and Stripe API, with digital gift cards and ongoing infrastructure support.
Customer Quote
"What was your loyalty programme before this, and what did you actually know about your regulars?"
Before this, our “loyalty program” was a drawer full of cardboard punch cards. We handed them out, but we had absolutely zero data on who was coming in, what they ordered, or why they stopped visiting. We didn’t even know if the cards drove visits or just gave free food to people who were going to buy it anyway. Now, if I see a dip in Tuesday dinner service, I open the dashboard, push a targeted campaign to our regulars, and watch the leaderboard light up that same evening.
The Challenge
Most restaurant loyalty programmes reward one behaviour: spending more. Buy ten coffees, get one free. It is simple, but it gives operators little ability to influence when customers come, what they order, or whether they return after a first visit. Restaurants need to influence behaviours such as bringing customers in on quieter days and encouraging first-time diners to return. The alternative required real-time tracking, secure payments and gift cards, configurable campaigns that restaurant staff could manage themselves, and a dashboard simple enough for busy managers to use between services.
Spend-Based Loyalty Couldn’t Influence Customer Behaviour
Traditional punch cards rewarded volume but could not target specific behaviours such as visiting on quiet weeknights, trying a new menu category, or returning after a first visit. The restaurant needed a loyalty model designed around the actions it actually wanted to change.
Real-Time Leaderboards Required Reliable Synchronization
A leaderboard only motivates when it updates immediately. Across multiple branches and many devices, maintaining real-time synchronization created genuine throughput and consistency requirements.
Payments and Gift Cards Raised the Security Bar
Card transactions and redeemable stored value introduced additional security requirements. Gift card systems also needed protection against risks such as balance manipulation, duplicate redemption, and code enumeration.
Campaigns Needed to Be Self-Service
Every restaurant has different goals, margins, and quiet periods. Campaigns could not depend on developers for every change, so restaurant staff needed to create, configure, and adjust campaigns independently.
Managers Needed Simple Performance Visibility
The dashboard had to work for a busy restaurant manager rather than a data analyst. Performance information needed to be understandable and actionable within a short check between services.
Our Deliverables
We engineered a synchronized, cross-platform loyalty ecosystem using React Native and Firebase, replacing passive punch cards with active, goal-based gamification. The platform connects a customer-facing mobile app with a data-driven restaurant dashboard and real-time engagement tools.
Goal-Based Campaign Engine
Enabled restaurants to create and customize reward programmes around specific customer actions such as visit frequency, particular days, menu categories, and group size.
Real-Time Leaderboard
Added live updates showing top customers, campaign milestones, and spending achievements to turn loyalty progress into an active customer experience.
Payments and Digital Gift Cards
Integrated Stripe-powered transactions and digital gift card redemption, keeping card data handling within Stripe’s compliance boundary.
Performance Dashboard
Visualized sales, engagement, and campaign performance so restaurant managers could measure results and adjust campaigns based on performance.
Push Notification System
Delivered targeted updates, reminders, and promotions, including timely nudges based on customer progress toward rewards.
Results
Repeat visits rose 76%. Campaign participation reached 62%, engagement increased 69%, and retention metrics improved by 88%. The platform also gave restaurants a measurable feedback loop: staff could configure campaigns, monitor performance, and adjust campaigns instead of relying on a fixed loyalty programme.
| Before | After | |
|---|---|---|
| Loyalty Mechanic | Spend-based punch card | Goal-based, behaviour-targeted campaigns |
| Campaign Creation | Fixed, vendor-dependent | Self-service by restaurant staff |
| Customer Visibility | Anonymous transactions | Identified, tracked, segmented |
| Progress Feedback | Card in a wallet | Live leaderboard |
| Performance Measurement | Revenue only | Campaign-level dashboard |
| Rewards | Manual | Stripe payments and digital gift cards |
Bring Back Your First Time Diners
We can scope a loyalty platform that measures and moves repeat visits.
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