Cashback Wallet for Restaurants
Customers earn a percentage of every order back as real money in their wallet, ready to spend on the next visit. Set it up in 60 seconds, switch it off any time.
What is a Cashback Wallet?
Cashback gives every customer a percentage of their bill back as real currency — not points, not vouchers — held in a venue-scoped wallet. At the next checkout they see their balance and apply it as a payment, partially or in full. The math is simple for the operator (one knob: the percent) and the mental model is intuitive for the customer (you have €4.20 to spend at this venue).
Unlike points programs, cashback maps 1:1 to your operator math: a 5% cashback program adds 5% to your repeat-customer cost per order — predictable, easy to budget for, easy to A/B test against your point program. Wallet balances also create a strong return-visit signal that's invisible with points.
Why Cashback Outperforms Points for Many Venues
Higher Activation Rate
"You have €4.20 to spend" beats "you have 420 points (worth €4.20)" for first-time engagement. Customers immediately understand the value of cashback without learning a points-to-currency conversion.
Predictable Operator Margin
One knob: the percent. No need to balance points-per-currency, redemption rates, point values, and tier multipliers. Pick 5% and your repeat-customer cost is exactly 5%.
Drives Return Visits
A balance on file is a debt the customer wants to claim. Wallet balances measurably lift repeat-order rates compared with abstract point counts that may or may not feel "worth it" to redeem.
Switch On Without Disruption
Cashback is a parallel system to points loyalty. Master kill-switch on the venue means it runs invisibly when off. Test it on a single venue first, no platform-wide commitment.
How It Works
Pick a Percentage
Default 5%, configurable per venue or chain-wide. Set a minimum order amount, a maximum cashback per order, and an expiry window (default 90 days). Done — that's the configuration.
Customers Earn Automatically
Every paid order credits the customer's wallet. The earning is gated on Bill Paid, idempotent, and visible to the customer in real time on their account page and on their phone wallet card.
Apply at Next Checkout
On the next visit the customer sees their balance and chooses how much to apply — full payment, partial, or none. The remainder tenders normally via card or cash.
Wallet Card on Phone
The same Apple/Google Wallet card already used for VIP discount tiers now also displays the cashback balance, updated live on every earn and redeem. One card per venue, no extra app.
Cashback Features Built for Restaurants
Chain-Aware Wallet
For venue chains, configure cashback once at the chain level — customers earn and spend across every location with a single shared balance.
- Chain-level program supersedes per-venue programs
- One wallet per customer across all chain locations
- Switch between standalone and chain-wide as you grow
- Outstanding liability tracked at the chain level for accounting
Total Kill-Switch
Master toggle per venue and per chain. When off, every code path short-circuits — no UI changes, no DB writes, zero performance impact for the rest of the venue's flows.
- Master flag on Venue and on VenueChain
- No customer-facing UI when the program is off
- Instant rollback without deleting program config
- Test on one venue before rolling out to others
Outstanding Liability Dashboard
Cashback balances are real money you owe — and we surface them as such. The admin analytics page leads with outstanding liability, lifetime earned, redeemed, expired.
- Outstanding liability totals at venue and chain level
- 30-day earnings and redemptions trends
- Expiry forecast (next 7 days, next 30 days)
- Top earners list for VIP recognition
Manual Adjustments with Audit Trail
Credit a wallet for goodwill or correct a balance after a refund cap — every adjustment writes a transaction with reason and actor, preserving the wallet ledger invariant.
- Positive and negative adjustments with reason required
- Full transaction history per wallet
- Operator and timestamp on every entry
- Nightly reconciler validates wallet balance against ledger
Cashback Use Cases
Quick-Service Restaurants
5% cashback on every order — customers come back when they have a tangible balance waiting, instead of an abstract point count they may forget about.
Coffee Shops
10% cashback with a 1-month expiry to drive 4-visits-per-month behavior. Smaller balances mean faster turnover and stronger habit formation.
Restaurant Chains
One chain-wide wallet across every location. A regular at one branch can spend their cashback at any other — boosting cross-location visits.
Delivery-First Venues
Earn on subtotal only (default), so delivery fees aren't part of the give-back. Operators keep the gateway/delivery margin while still rewarding the food spend.
Premium Dining
Pair cashback with the existing VIP discount card so a single phone wallet pass shows both the table-side discount AND a savings balance — the strongest visible loyalty signal.
Test Markets
Roll cashback out to a single venue first. Master kill-switch makes it invisible everywhere else. Compare repeat-order behavior against your other venues over 90 days.
Real-Money Cashback Beats Points for Most Venues
Points programs require customers to learn a conversion (1 point = €0.01? €0.005? a free coffee?) before they engage. Cashback bypasses this entirely — "you have €4.20" is universally legible. For most venues that's a measurable lift in first-redemption rate, which is the leading indicator of repeat business.
Predictable Cost, Predictable Margin
A 5% cashback program is exactly 5% off your repeat-customer revenue — no points-to-currency tuning, no tier multiplier math, no mismatched redemption rates. Operators can budget cashback as a line item alongside delivery fees and gateway costs.
Chain-Aware From Day One
Cashback in Ordering.Tools is chain-aware in v1, not a v2 retrofit. A chain operator configures one program; every venue in the chain inherits it; customers earn and spend across all locations with a single shared balance. Standalone venues stay isolated, no cross-venue leakage.
Switchable On — Zero Impact When Off
The cashback engine has a master kill-switch on the Venue and VenueChain models. When off, the entire system is dormant — no extra DB queries on checkout, no UI toggles, no admin clutter. Operators can ship the feature ahead of full enablement and flip it on for select venues without any platform-wide commitment.
Try Cashback on One Venue First
Set a percentage in 60 seconds, switch it off whenever you want, with zero impact on the rest of your operations.