Know Your Regulars: What New Loyalty Research Means for Your Venue
Every venue has its regulars. The person who orders the same flat white at 7.30. The family who comes in every Friday night. Most owners know these faces. Far fewer could tell you their names, how often they visit, or when they last came in.
New research says that gap matters more than you might think.
How much of your business comes from regulars?
More than you might expect. A 2026 US report from POS provider Toast and booking platform Resy found that multi-visit guests made up 7% of a typical guest base, but could generate up to 50% of order volume. A small group of regulars carries a big share of the trade.
The same report found that 57% of orders on Toast’s platform were anonymous. Put those together and the problem is clear. The customers who matter most are often the ones you know least about. If a regular drifts away, you may not notice until weeks later.
Recognition beats points on their own
The same report includes a Toast survey of 1,500 US diners. Staff remembering a name or usual order mattered most to 48% of them. Only 22% put a points-based reward first. Over half of diners said they had left a loyalty programme because rewards were too hard to earn or not worth it.
That does not mean rewards are pointless. Research published in 2025 by customer feedback firm SMG, covering quick service and fast casual restaurants, found 84% of consumers say loyalty programmes encourage them to visit more often. Earning points appealed to 81%, and birthday rewards to 69%.
Closer to home, CGA by NIQ research from 2024 found 22% of New Zealanders were enrolled in a venue loyalty programme. Of those, 78% used their benefits frequently. So there is plenty of room to grow, and the people who join do use it.
What makes a good loyalty programme?
A loyalty programme is how your venue recognises and rewards the people who keep coming back. A good one helps you learn who your regulars are, so you can look after them on purpose. It feels personal, and it pays out often enough that customers stick with it.
We think many venues treat loyalty as a discount scheme. The research points to something more useful: loyalty is how you get to know people.
Here is what we would focus on:
- Remember people. A name and a usual order mean more to a regular than a discount. Make sure your team can see who they are serving.
- Make rewards easy to reach. If a customer needs months to earn anything, they will give up. A stamp card that pays out on the sixth coffee beats a points target nobody hits.
- Use what you know. Spot regulars who have gone quiet and give them a reason to come back, before they settle somewhere else.
None of this needs to be complicated. It just needs your customers to be known, not anonymous.
How Appropo helps
Appropo Loyalty replaces paper stamp cards with a digital programme that syncs with your POS. You can run points, digital stamp cards and a birthday reward side by side.
Loyalty Analytics groups your customers by how recently they visited, how often they come and how much they spend. That makes it simple to see your loyal regulars and the ones at risk of drifting. From there you can target them with rewards and promotions instead of blanket discounts.
Customers who order through your own online ordering page come with a name attached, which helps you build that picture faster. As our look at how Kiwis want to order found, most diners here would rather order direct from the venue anyway.
Get in touch if you would like to talk through a loyalty setup that suits your venue.