Cartia

Digital loyalty card for food trucks

You change spots every day. Your customers should be able to follow.

A food truck builds loyalty on the return to a recurring spot: a stamp per visit, a very readable reward, nothing more. The scan is done from Cartia Counter in your browser — on the Free plan you need a connection on site, while Pro and Business keep working offline. Cartia doesn’t track your customers’ location.

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Free plan: up to 50 customers, no credit card.

Last updated October 23, 2026.

The short answer

What kind of loyalty program works for a food truck?

A food truck has no fixed register, no drawer, no time. The paper card is dead before it’s printed: it has nowhere to live. The card in the phone is the only one that survives a market, a new spot, a week of rain.

The QR code goes on the window, line side, at phone height. The customer scans while you cook. You validate from your phone, inside the truck. Without 4G, on the Pro and Business plans, the stamp is kept on the phone and goes out when the network returns. On the Free plan, you need a connection.

One stamp per meal, the ninth free, one rule posted on the truck. Nothing to install on the customer’s side.

The problem

Zero stock of paper cards in a truck where every inch counts

No counter, no drawer for paper cards. A QR code on the window, a scan, a stamp — while the food is being made. No app to get installed in the line.

  • In the line

    The customer scans while you cook. You hand them nothing. You don’t have the hands.

  • From one spot to another

    Wednesday isn’t Friday. The card is the same. A paper card would never have followed.

  • Off season

    You put the truck away in October. On Pro, pause the subscription: no more charges, the days already paid are set aside, your customer files and your regulars’ Wallet cards wait for the restart.

  • For the truck

    You see who really comes back, even when the faces change from one market to another.

  • The paper card

    Paper cards get worn, get lost from one spot to the next, and take up room you don’t have.

  • With Cartia

    Everything is handled from your own phone. Your customers find you, wherever you’re parked today.

The recommended program

How many visits before the free dish?

Our setting: one stamp per meal, the ninth free. Same arithmetic as a coffee shop; for the network, the offline counter on the Pro and Business plans takes over.

Say a €12 meal that costs you €3.50 in ingredients; replace with your own figures. After eight meals, the customer has spent €96 and receives the ninth: one in nine, 11% from their side. You paid out €3.50, under 4% of what they paid.

Why eight and not ten: your regular only sees you once a week, the day you’re parked near their work. Eight visits is two months. Ten is almost a quarter, and the reward slips out of their mind.

In a field with no 4G: on Pro or Business, the counter keeps going and sends the stamps when the network returns; on the Free plan, you need a connection to record the scan.

Stamps or points for a food truck?

  • Stamps / visits

    Stamps. The menu is short, the ticket tight, and the line forgives nothing more complicated.

  • Points on spend

    Points, only if you sell group meals that multiply the ticket by three or four — a rare case on a truck.

Stamps, without reservation. It’s the trade on the list where friction costs the most.

Eight meals, the ninth free

8 stamps, one per meal. The 9th meal, free.

What you can send next, from the Pro plan

Notify your customers at 11 a.m. to remind them of today’s location.

  • We’re at Carnot Square at lunchScheduled send at 10:30 a.m. · today’s location
  • Spot change on ThursdayManual send · whole customer list
  • Just two meals leftSegment “Close to a reward” · 70% of the threshold reached

Segments and sends: Pro and Business plans

Setting up

Set up your loyalty card at your food truck

  • Stick the QR code on the window

    Line side, at phone height. Not inside the truck: nobody leans in.

  • One rule, one free dish

    The Xth visit, the dish you make most. Not a menu of options.

  • Scan from your phone

    Cartia Counter in the truck. Without 4G, on Pro or Business, the counter keeps the stamps and sends them when the network returns.

  • Eight meals, the ninth free

    A regular at your Wednesday spot gets there in two months.

Cartia Counter handles the lunch rush

  • At the counter

    One phone, one line, one pass shown at payment. No stamp to look for in the truck — and on Pro and Business the counter keeps working offline; on the Free plan, you need a connection.

  • In the Wallet, not in an app

    The card sits next to the bank card, in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet. The customer scans the QR code, fills in a short form, and adds it — there is no app to install.

In your business, concretely

What to know about the network

A food truck works where it parks, and not always where the network is good. Cartia Counter runs in the browser or from the home-screen icon. On the Pro and Business plans, it keeps going without a network: you scan, the stamp is kept on the phone with its time, and it goes out on its own as soon as 4G returns. The customer’s Wallet card updates at that point.

On the Free plan, the counter needs a connection to credit a card. In both cases, open the counter once with internet before service: that’s what then lets it open without a network.

  1. In the lineThe QR code is displayed on the truck, at eye level. The customer scans it while waiting, fills in the short form and adds the card to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet.
  2. When handing over the orderThey show their card, you scan it during payment. The stamp is added without the line stopping.
  • The recurring spotThat’s your real loyal clientele: the people who work there and come back every week. The program is made for them.
  • A reward understood from afarA menu item free, announced on the truck. Nothing that needs explaining to someone with eight people in front of them.
  • Today’s spot is for you to announceCartia doesn’t track your customers’ position and doesn’t know where the truck is parked. From Pro, a message you write in the morning to your sign-ups is enough: “Carnot Square at lunch.”
  • No network on the pitchOn Pro and Business, the counter keeps visits on the phone and sends them when 4G returns. The step-by-step guide: Scan a loyalty card without a network: how it works

A food truck’s year, from restart to winter break

A truck lives on the rhythm of weather and events. The card doesn’t move, though: it stays in your regulars’ phones from one season to the next.

  • The restart, in springYour regulars kept their card and their stamps all winter. From Pro, a message tells them the date and location of the first service.
  • May to SeptemberMarkets, festivals, evenings: lots of passing customers who won’t come back. Offer the card, but keep the threshold set for those who find you every week.
  • One-off eventsA festival or a village fair produces sign-ups you’ll see again at your usual spot. Check the network beforehand: in a field, it’s often missing.
  • WinterIf you put the truck away, pause the Pro subscription from Billing: no more charges, and the cards stay in the phones until the restart.

The calculation

How many extra meals would cover the subscription?

With the assumptions below — €12 meal, 65% gross margin — 4 extra meals per month would cover the monthly cost of the Pro plan.

Adjust my assumptions

If 10% of visits repeat one more time thanks to the card · €7.80 margin per meal

With these assumptions, the break-even point is

4 meals / month

Beyond this threshold, the margin generated would cover the cost of the Pro plan. Formula: plan price ÷ (average basket × gross margin) = €29.90 ÷ €7.80.

  • +1,848meals over the year
  • €1,848more revenue each month, with this assumption
  • €0.98per day for the Pro subscription
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Illustrative estimate, not a revenue promise. Starting assumptions at your food truck: average basket €12, 65% gross margin, 22 days open per month. Cartia measures neither your revenue nor your return on investment: replace these values with your own.

Do you put the truck away for winter? On Pro, pause the subscription from Billing: no more charges, the days already paid and your customer records wait for the restart. Under 50 customers, the Free plan is enough — already free, no credit card.

Frequently asked questions

Replacing the paper card at your food truck

My food truck is closed for several months: do I still pay?

On the Free plan (up to 50 customers), you already pay nothing — there’s no pause to manage. On Pro or Business, you can pause the subscription from Billing: no more charges while you’re closed. Scans are suspended — nobody stamps while the truck sleeps — but customer files and your regulars’ Wallet cards are kept. Days already paid are set aside and credited back when you restart (from 7 days of pause). You resume in one click, or automatically on the reopening date you chose.

How do I set up a loyalty card on a food truck?

You create the program, stick the QR code on the window, line side, and validate visits from your phone inside the truck. Your customers install nothing.

Does it work without a connection?

Yes, with the Pro and Business plans: without 4G, you scan anyway, the stamp is kept on the phone with its time and goes out on its own when the network returns. The customer’s Wallet card updates at that point. On the Free plan, you need a network to record a stamp.

I change spots every day: does the card follow?

Yes. The card is in the customer’s phone, not tied to a premises. The QR code can stay the same from one market to the next.

Do my customers have to download an app?

No. They scan the QR code at the counter, join the program from their browser, then add their card to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet. No app to install.

How much does a loyalty card for a food truck cost?

Cartia is free up to 50 customers at one truck, no credit card required. Beyond that, the Pro plan is €29.90/month, tax included, with unlimited customers and a 14-day free trial (credit card required to start it), with no setup fees and no per-volume billing.

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Food truck loyalty card

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