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The Restaurant Loyalty Playbook: Winning Strategies from Industry Experts
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Shoptalk 2026 Takeaways
I just wrapped my second annual Shoptalk conference in Vegas, where I got the chance to talk face-to-face with loyalty experts from around the world.
What stood out wasn’t one big trend. It was a set of smaller shifts in how teams are thinking about loyalty and where their programs are falling short.
Here are a few things that came up over and over.
Loyalty is being measured differently
A lot of teams are starting to question whether their current metrics actually reflect loyalty.
There’s still a focus on repeat purchases and points activity, but more conversations are shifting toward things like:
- Are customers engaging between transactions?
- Do they feel recognized?
- Is the program influencing behavior over time?
There’s a growing sense that points and discounts alone don’t tell the full story anymore.
Mobile is where loyalty either works or breaks
This came up in almost every conversation.
Most brands have some version of a loyalty program in place. The issue is access. If it takes too many steps to find, log in, or use, customers just don’t engage with it consistently.
What teams are trying to solve for is making loyalty:
- Easy to access in the moment
- Visible without needing to go looking for it
- Updated in real time
That’s a big part of how we think about it at Annex Cloud. The platform handles the structure and logic, and through partners like Badge, that experience can live directly in the mobile wallet.
At Shoptalk, we used a wallet pass so people could engage, earn points, and see updates throughout the event
The reaction was pretty consistent: When loyalty is easy to access, people use it more.
Most customer journeys are still disconnected
Another thing that people brought up a lot is how fragmented the experience still is.
You have one team focused on acquisition, another on retention, something happening in-store or on-site, and then follow-up that may or may not connect back to any of it.
Everyone is trying to move toward something more connected, but a lot of teams are still figuring out how to actually do that.
Even something simple like tying pre-event engagement, on-site interaction, and post-event follow-up together is still harder than it should be.
Experiential loyalty doesn’t have to be complicated
There’s a lot of interest in experiential loyalty, but most teams aren’t looking to build something huge. They’re looking for ways to make loyalty feel more tangible.
What seems to work is:
- Giving customers a clear way to participate
- Showing progress in a visible way
- Making the interaction feel immediate
The Loyalty Royalty Putt Club we ran is a simple version of that. People understood it quickly. They could engage, earn, and see their progress right away. It drove home how small, well-designed interactions go a long way.
Expectations are speeding everything up
Across the board, expectations are higher and faster.
Customers expect:
- Immediate feedback
- Relevant interactions
- Consistency across channels
If something feels slow or disconnected, it gets ignored.
That has a direct impact on loyalty because it puts pressure on how quickly programs can respond and how present they are in the experience.
What I’d focus on
If I were prioritizing based on what I heard and experienced this week, I would focus on:
- Making loyalty easy to access without friction
- Making it visible so customers don’t have to think about it
- Connecting the different parts of the journey where possible
- Focusing on participation and recognition, not just rewards
Most teams aren’t starting from zero. They’re trying to evolve what they already have into something that actually fits how customers behave now.
That’s where we’re spending most of our time at Annex Cloud, especially around making loyalty more accessible through mobile.
What were your biggest takeaways from Shoptalk? Ready to take the next step with your loyalty program – let’s chat.
About Annex Cloud
Annex Cloud is a customer loyalty and engagement platform that helps enterprise brands build, manage, and optimize loyalty programs across the full customer lifecycle. From strategy and program design to ongoing engagement, the platform enables brands to drive retention, increase customer lifetime value, and create more meaningful customer relationships.
About Badge
Badge helps extend loyalty programs into the mobile wallet through Apple and Google Wallet passes. In partnership with Annex Cloud, Badge acts as a real-time engagement layer, making loyalty programs instantly accessible on the customer’s phone. Together, this allows brands to surface offers, send updates, and keep loyalty visible and usable without requiring an app download.
