Guide
Getting regulars to bring people.
Word of mouth already happens. A referral scheme is just making it slightly easier and worth mentioning.
In short
Referral schemes work when both sides get something, the reward is food rather than cash, and sharing takes one tap. They fail when the reward is too small to mention, when the mechanics need explaining, or when the restaurant is not good enough for anybody to recommend in the first place.
Updated 28 August 2026
Reward both sides
One-sided schemes ask your customer to do you a favour. Two-sided schemes give them something to offer a friend, which is a much easier thing to send. Give the referrer a reward on the friend's first order and give the friend a reason to try you. Both rewards should be food, which costs you gross margin rather than cash.
One tap to share
Every extra step loses most of the people. A share link generated in the ordering flow, sendable by message in one tap, is the whole mechanism. Codes typed by hand, printed cards to hand over and anything requiring an account first are where schemes die.
Make the reward worth mentioning
A trivial reward is worse than none, because it signals that you are not serious and it becomes the thing people remember. The reward has to be big enough that somebody would actually say it out loud to a friend. A free main is memorable. A euro off is not.
Time it to the moment of satisfaction
Ask right after a good experience. The order-complete screen and the follow-up message are the two moments where somebody feels well disposed towards you. Asking at the point of ordering, before they have eaten, is asking somebody to vouch for something they have not had yet.
The honest limitation
A referral scheme amplifies an existing willingness to recommend. If your rating is drifting and the food is inconsistent, nobody will refer regardless of the incentive, and you will have built a mechanism nobody uses. Fix the reason people would recommend you first.
Questions, answered straight.
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What should the reward be?
Food, on both sides, at a value worth mentioning. Cash and account credit feel transactional and cost you revenue rather than margin.
How do I stop abuse?
Reward on the friend's first completed order rather than on signup, cap referrals per customer, and watch for repeated addresses. Most abuse disappears once the reward requires a real order.
Is this better than paid ads?
Usually, on cost per customer, because a referred customer arrives with a recommendation attached and tends to retain better. It scales more slowly, which is the trade-off.
Should I run it permanently?
It can run permanently at a modest reward, or in bursts at a higher one. Bursts create urgency and are easier to measure.
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