Someone buys a sandwich from you five days a week for two years. Then their office relocates three streets over, or they change jobs entirely, and you never see them again. Not because they stopped liking your food. Because they stopped walking past your window, and you had absolutely no way to reach them once they did.
That's the specific problem a deli faces that most other food businesses don't. Your regulars aren't loyal to a habit they control. They're loyal to a habit their commute controls.
What You Knew and What You Never Had
You knew their order. Probably their name. But you never had their number, so the moment they stop walking through the door, whether by choice or by circumstance, they're gone for good and you don't even find out why.
A paper stamp card doesn't fix this. It records a stamp count. It doesn't record a name, a number, or any way to reach the person holding it once they stop showing up.
The Fix: A List, Not Just a Card
A digital loyalty card collects a name and mobile number the moment someone signs up, before the card lands in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet. Ten seconds at the counter during a busy lunch rush, no app, no password. From that point, every regular is a real contact, not just a face you recognise.
💡 Timing Matters More Here Than Almost Anywhere Else
A text sent at 10am, before the lunch decision is made, reaches someone exactly when they're deciding where to eat. The same message sent at 2pm has already lost the sale.
Selling the Lunch Rush Before It Starts
Send a text at 10am. "Today's special: honey roast ham and brie, meal deal £5.50." It lands while people are starting to think about lunch but haven't decided yet. You get there before the place next door does.
The same list works for pre-orders. A regular sick of queuing at half twelve can message ahead and walk straight to the front when they collect. Worth noting that PerQ texts come from your shop name rather than a normal mobile number, so include a phone or WhatsApp number in the message itself if you want customers to be able to reply.
The Bigger Opportunity: Catering
Every regular on your list is a warm lead for a much bigger order than a daily sandwich. The office worker buying lunch five days a week is exactly the person who'll think of you when their team needs a platter for a meeting. You've got their number. A Monday morning text about catering options, timed to when offices are planning their week, turns a repeat lunch customer into an occasional big-ticket client.
Setting It Up
PerQ takes a few minutes to set up. A branded digital stamp card that works in Apple Wallet and Google Wallet, a sign-up flow that captures name and mobile number, and a dashboard for sending lunch specials or catering texts whenever you need to. £12 a month flat, whether you've got fifty customers or five hundred.
For the fuller picture of how PerQ works for delis and sandwich bars specifically, see our dedicated page here.
