Beyond points and perks: How GAIL’s and Honest Burgers are transforming customer loyalty
In our recent fireside chat, leaders from GAIL’s Bakery and Honest Burgers shared candid insights on creating restaurant loyalty programmes that genuinely connect with customers.
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What makes a truly effective loyalty programme in today’s hospitality sector? We recently hosted an in-depth fireside chat with Rosie Hill, Head of Ecommerce at GAIL’s Bakery, and Gemma Barter, Senior Digital Marketing Manager at Honest Burgers, who shared their journeys, challenges, and impressive early results.
You can watch the full 30-minute conversation below, or scroll down for the highlights and summary.
From physical cards to digital experiences
For GAIL’s, moving from their beloved physical stamp cards to a digital scheme wasn’t a decision taken lightly. As Rosie explained, it was “incredibly contentious” because they had a programme that was “well-loved, well-used” in a business that “really prized connection with customers.”
What finally tipped the scales? Growth and missed opportunities.
“Every day where we didn’t have this ability to grow our understanding of our customers felt like a missed opportunity,” Rosie shared. “There’s only so many times you can see those days fly by before you think, we’ve really got to do something about this.”
For Honest Burgers, their recently launched Honest Insiders programme was years in the making. Gemma revealed: “I’ve been at Honest for about three years and probably started properly looking into it about two years ago.” The key motivation? “You can’t identify that customer, you don’t know what they’re buying. A lot of our customers are walk-ins, so we don’t have that unique identifier – understanding purchase behaviour, frequency, how much they’re spending. We saw loyalty as the piece of the puzzle that was missing.“
Early results that speak volumes
Just one month after launch, Honest Burgers’ loyalty programme is already showing remarkable results. Gemma proudly shared some impressive figures:
“After one month, we’ve managed to see 25,000 downloads. 11,000 are using our sign-up reward. We’ve got a 14% transaction rate with loyalty, out of all our transactions, which is amazing. Our target was 5%, and we’re at 14%. Our target for downloads was 70,000; we’re at 25,000, so over a third already in month one.”
Even in these early days, they’re seeing loyalty members demonstrate “a slightly higher frequency rate, even after a month,” which Gemma notes is “promising” for the programme’s long-term success.
For GAIL’s, two years into their digital loyalty journey, the focus has shifted to making sense of the wealth of data they’ve gathered. “For GAIL’s, the scale right now is about a million data points a week. And our ability to take that data, turn it into insight, and turn that into action is what we’ve focused on this year,” Rosie explained.
After one month, we’ve managed to see 25,000 downloads. 11,000 are using our sign-up reward. We’ve got a 14% transaction rate with loyalty, out of all our transactions, which is amazing. Our target was 5%, and we’re at 14%. Our target for downloads was 70,000; we’re at 25,000, so over a third already in month one.
Making it work on the ground
Both Rosie and Gemma emphasised that successful loyalty programmes require thorough staff training and engagement. Rosie advised: “Do not skimp on training and engagement. You have thousands of people out there every day representing your brand.”
She highlighted the importance of explaining the ‘why’ to staff: “Talk to your teams about why it matters and how it will make life better for them and the bakeries.”
Gemma shared a similar approach at Honest Burgers, appointing “a loyalty champion in each area” to create direct communication lines. To drive engagement, they created friendly competition between sites, with one location achieving an impressive “27%, which is crazy” loyalty adoption rate.
For in-store promotion, Honest Burgers uses “table cards on every table with a QR code direct to download”. At the same time, GAIL’s relies heavily on the personal touch: “In bakeries we’ve used signage at tills and little cardboard wraps on scanners to show what’s what. But honestly, it’s the conversation that drives it.”
Learning from challenges
No loyalty programme launch is without its hurdles. Rosie candidly shared: “A key learning is the need for consistent re-engagement. We launched with big fanfare, but by the one-year anniversary, our collateral was outdated.”
She also addressed the reality of fraud: “Accept that fraud happens. If you build a 12ft wall, someone’ll bring a 13ft ladder. Understand security as an evolving part of your proposition.”
The profitability question
When asked about profitability, both speakers acknowledged the investment required. Gemma revealed they “sit around a 13% discount across seven visits” and had set appropriate expectations: “We always said it might only break even in the first year. It won’t drastically change behaviour overnight, it’s a long game.”
Rosie emphasised the value proposition: “When you think about the cost of acquisition vs. the cost of retention, investing in loyalty is a fantastic way to do both of those things. You’re introducing new people to your brand and you’re using it as a way to build meaningful connections. You can then pivot people across channels, and we all know multi-channel customers spend more money, visit more frequently. Loyalty is worth every penny to us.”
When you think about the cost of acquisition vs. the cost of retention, investing in loyalty is a fantastic way to do both of those things. Loyalty is worth every penny to us.
The future of loyalty
Both GAIL’s and Honest Burgers view their loyalty programmes as long-term investments in customer relationships and data-driven decision-making. As Gemma noted, the real power comes from being able to “start personalising our communications” rather than sending “blanket emails” to all customers.