LoyaltyPlant

09/09/2026

🍣 Traditional Japanese flavors meet modern gamification: how Sumo Sushi & Bento turns every order into a reason to come back

What if ordering your favorite sushi also moved you closer to a new status, better rewards, and exclusive perks?

Together with Sumo Sushi & Bento in the UAE, we recently launched a new tiered loyalty experience designed to make every visit feel like progress.

🪙 Meet Kenji Coins
Guests earn the brand’s own loyalty currency with their orders and can redeem Kenji Coins for real menu favorites, from iced tea and edamame to sushi, rolls, and larger rewards.

🏆 Four tiers. More reasons to move up.
The journey starts at Bronze and continues through Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Guests can always see their current status and progress toward the next tier, while higher levels unlock new rewards and make loyalty increasingly valuable.

🎁 More than points
A welcome gift gives guests an immediate reason to join. Referrals reward them with 100 Kenji Coins for bringing friends. In-store guests can scan their loyalty QR code to earn coins when dining in. And tier-specific rewards keep giving customers something new to work toward.

The result is a loyalty experience built around one powerful idea: every interaction should give guests a reason to make the next one.

Traditional Japanese-inspired food brings people in. Smart progression, rewards, and gamification help turn those visits into habits and customers into loyal fans. 🍣

That’s what modern restaurant loyalty should feel like.

09/03/2026

🌺 How L&L Hawaiian Barbecue turned a giveaway into more sales and stronger customer loyalty

SPAM® Musubi Day is one of the biggest moments of the year for L&L Hawaiian Barbecue. This year, we helped the brand build excitement long before August 8 while giving guests another reason to order its iconic SPAM® Musubi.

Together with the L&L team, we launched a two-week in-app giveaway built around one mechanic:

🍙 Every SPAM® Musubi purchased earned an additional entry, directly connecting engagement with product sales.
🎟️ Every guest could also complete a short survey to receive one free giveaway entry.
📱 Guests could track their entries right inside the app and visit a dedicated campaign page with all the giveaway details.
🏆 At the end of the campaign, five winners were randomly selected, with every entry giving guests another chance to win.

The campaign went beyond a seasonal activation. By tying additional entries to purchases, L&L created a natural incentive to order more SPAM® Musubi while keeping guests engaged in the app.

Great loyalty campaigns don’t just reward customers. They create more reasons to buy, engage, and return. That’s what we build with our customers! 🌺

08/28/2026

Your loyalty program is working. Guests are earning points. But are they actually coming back?

That’s the problem with points-only loyalty: it rewards the transaction that already happened, without necessarily influencing what happens next.

The better question isn’t “How can guests earn more points?” It’s “What will make them want to come back?”

We break down 5 mechanics restaurant brands can use to turn loyalty into repeat behavior:

🎯 Missions that guide the next action
📈 Tiers that make progress visible
⚡ Faster rewards that build habits
🎁 Flexible rewards beyond cashback
🏆 Recognition that keeps guests engaged

👉 Read our latest article: https://loyaltyplant.com/blog/restaurant-loyalty-program-5-ways-to-keep-guests-coming-back/

Points and cashback alone are no longer enough to keep restaurant guests coming back. Discover five modern loyalty mechanics that help restaurant brands drive repeat visits, shape customer behavior, and build stronger long-term relationships.

08/24/2026

What if one loyalty campaign could drive 10x more app visits in a single day? 🍦

Together with Sundae Ice Cream, we created Sundae Forecast — a recurring in-app experience inspired by the monthly weather forecast in Colorado. Instead of simply announcing promotions, the loyalty calendar becomes something guests actually look forward to checking.

Here’s how it works:
☀️ Every month features a fresh seasonal theme and updated visuals.
📅 Selected forecast days unlock special rewards, such as bonus points, free toppings, or complimentary ice cream.
📲 Guests receive reminders before the event and again on the day it goes live.
🎁 Every loyalty member can participate, whether they joined yesterday or years ago.

The beauty of the campaign lies in its simplicity. Guests know exactly when to come back, what they’ll get, and why it’s worth opening the app.

The results speak for themselves! On National Ice Cream Day, one of the brand’s biggest annual celebrations, app visits increased 10x compared to a typical day, proving that a well-timed loyalty experience can dramatically boost engagement.

At LoyaltyPlant, we believe the best loyalty campaigns aren’t always the most complex. They’re the ones that give guests a reason to return again and again.

08/21/2026

📱 Loyalty influences orders before guests even choose a restaurant

Recent PYMNTS data (2026) shows that loyalty programs influence 61% of restaurant delivery decisions, while 93% of loyalty members check for deals before deciding where or what to eat.

Read that again. 👆 Before they choose the restaurant!

Loyalty is no longer just a retention tool at checkout. It’s shaping whether guests open your app in the first place or default to a delivery aggregator.

The programs winning today aren’t simply offering more points or bigger discounts. 🎯 They’re built like a product: personalized, visible, and worth checking before every order.

Do you check loyalty rewards before choosing where to eat? Yes or no? 👇

08/19/2026

🍌 How KFC Ukraine turned a Minions launch into an app experience

For its Minions collaboration, KFC Ukraine decided to go beyond a traditional menu launch. Together with the KFC team, we used the flexibility of the LoyaltyPlant platform to transform the app into an interactive part of the campaign.

The experience included three connected elements:
🍔 A themed limited-time menu inspired by the Minions collaboration.
📱 A redesigned home screen that immersed guests in the campaign from the moment they opened the app.
🎮 A branded memory game where guests matched cards to unlock rewards connected to the new menu. The mechanic was intentionally simple, making it easy to play while perfectly fitting the campaign theme.

The campaign quickly became more than just a menu launch. Guests started sharing the game with friends, creating organic buzz around the promotion. One of the featured rewards, the limited-edition banana sauce, became so popular that it sold out within just a few days!

Great gamification doesn’t have to be complex. Connected to the right brand moment, even a simple experience can boost engagement and keep guests coming back.

That’s what we build with our customers!

08/10/2026

📱 Why do so many restaurant guests stop using an app after their first order?

Getting guests to download your app is only the beginning. The real challenge is giving them a reason to come back.

In our latest article, we explore why restaurant apps lose engagement after the first purchase and what the most successful brands do differently to turn first-time users into loyal guests.

👉 Read the full article here: https://loyaltyplant.com/blog/restaurant-app-retention/

Here’s what you’ll discover 👇

• Why app downloads don’t guarantee repeat orders
• How to reduce friction during the first order
• Why points alone are no longer enough to build loyalty
• How personalization encourages guests to return
• How to identify churn before guests are gone

The strongest restaurant apps don’t focus on acquiring more downloads. They focus on building habits that keep guests coming back.

Discover why restaurant guests stop using your app after the first order and learn five proven ways to improve restaurant app retention, repeat orders, and customer loyalty.

07/13/2026

🚀 What can restaurant brands learn from KFC Tech + Digital Summit 2026?

Last month, the LoyaltyPlant team joined KFC franchisees, technology partners, and digital leaders from across Europe in Warsaw to exchange ideas and explore what is shaping the future of restaurant technology and guest engagement.

The conversations throughout the summit reinforced one important message: sustainable growth comes from creating connected, customer-first experiences—not simply adding more digital tools. 🎯

We’ve gathered our biggest takeaways from the event into one article.

👉 Read it here: https://loyaltyplant.com/blog/kfc-tech-digital-summit-2026-restaurant-loyalty-lessons/

Discover how the KFC Tech + Digital Summit 2026 is shaping the future of restaurant experiences through technology and innovation.

06/30/2026

Recently, LoyaltyPlant had the pleasure of participating in the KFC Tech + Digital Summit in Warsaw 🇵🇱, organized by the Yum! Brands team.

The event brought together KFC leadership, franchisees from across Europe, and technology partners to exchange ideas, share best practices, and explore the future of digital innovation in the QSR industry. 🤝

One of the highlights of the conference was the eCommerce & Loyalty session, where Alina Kiptyk, General Manager at Tasty Food, KFC Ukraine Franchisee, and Ivan Tymko, Country IT Manager, presented an inspiring case study on KFC Ukraine's digital growth journey over the past year.

KFC Ukraine has leveraged the LoyaltyPlant platform to accelerate digital growth, strengthen customer loyalty, and achieve outstanding business results despite a challenging market environment. Seeing this success story shared with the wider KFC community was a proud moment for our entire team. 💛

A huge thank you to the Yum! Brands and KFC Europe teams for organizing such a valuable event, and to our partners Restera, for your support throughout the summit.

We're already looking forward to next year's edition! 🚀

03/25/2026

New article by our Co-founder & CRO, Max Denevich, on a topic that often flies under the radar in QSR digital 👇 😲

In this piece, he highlights 5 pitfalls that quietly reduce the real impact of QSR apps. Not obvious UX issues, but deeper gaps that directly affect retention, engagement, and ROI.

Among them:
• treating the app as a “feature add-on” rather than a core business channel
• focusing on short-term promotions instead of building long-term customer value

For QSR brands investing in mobile, loyalty, and customer experience, this is a must-read.

👉 ❤️‍🔥 Take three minutes to see if any of these pitfalls apply to your app:

Whenever I meet QSR leaders today — whether in the U.S., Europe, or the Middle East — their agenda rarely includes questions like "Do we need an