Loyalty apps present a modern way for retail bakeries or cafés to bring together allegiance, ordering, and payment in one place.
Users can avidly collect points from each purchase and redeem them for rewards such as a free menu item. They can also use Click & Collect functions for a quick, seamless in-store experience, find out the locations of nearest shops, or be notified about the latest promotions and seasonal launches.
“For us as a business, it creates a direct line to our most loyal customers, allowing us to personalise offers, reduce in-store queues, and build stronger, long-term relationships,” comments a spokesperson for UK-based Danish bakery chain Ole & Steen about its app.
So which bakery brands have invested in loyalty apps, what do they offer, and have they proven successful? And who are the tech firms helping build them?
The OG bakery app
Way back in February 2014, Greggs became the first UK bakery brand – and indeed the first food-to-go retailer – to launch an app. Various updates and evolution of offers have supported continued growth in usage ever since.
The company’s latest annual report noted that its app had been downloaded by four million new users last year while app-scanned transactions at company-managed stores hit a record 20.1% (up from 12.5% in 2023). Both the Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store show a 4.8 out of 5 rating for the Greggs App, and place it top of their lists for free Food & Drink apps.
Greggs CEO Roisin Currie previously told British Baker that the business had invested in a significantly upweighted CRM platform in the middle of 2024, adding how it was “learning lots in terms of how we nudge our customers” with plans for “lots more of that in 2025”.
App users are currently offered a free item after every nine purchases across any single category – from hot drinks to sandwiches to bakes to sweet treats – as well as a free iced or hot drink upon registrations, and a complimentary sweet treat to celebrate their birthday each year. Promotions are regularly run granting double stamps, such as the recently ended one on breakfast rolls and baguettes.
Keeping customers ’appy
Gail’s is another bakery chain reporting that its loyalty app has been “very successful”. Having launched in April 2023, the app currently has over a million active users representing nearly a third of its customers, which Gail’s head of ecommerce Rosie Hill claims is one of the highest engagements in the industry. “We love that people are so passionate about the loyalty scheme,” Hill is quoted as saying in a testimonial for Vita Mojo, the hospitality tech firm it worked with alongside customer relationship management (CRM) software provider Acteol.
Gail’s tells British Baker that by moving to the app, it is able to reward customers across all purchases with the opportunity to create customised deals based on their favourite products. Loyalty members collect one stamp per transaction, or two stamps when they spend £20 or more – getting a free barista-made drink or selected loaf when they reach nine stamps. Exclusive invites to Gail’s events is one of the added perks too.
Ole & Steen, meanwhile, notes that its app has become a key part in how many of its customers interact with it every day. “We’re seeing more customers choosing digital journeys like Click & Collect and loyalty redemptions, and those guests typically visit us more often,” said a spokesperson.
Without revealing its app developers, Ole & Steen says it maintains close collaboration between its internal digital team and long-term technology partners to ensure stability, scalability, and a great user experience across all markets. “An app allows us to create a richer, more personal relationship with our guests,” it added.
Just a few weeks ago, Bayne’s The Family Bakers in Scotland unveiled its first mobile app which grants customers a free hot drink or sweet treat after only six purchases. Users also receive the likes of a free gift upon signup, a birthday treat, and a shop locator.
However, not all brands are smitten with their mobile loyalty systems. Warrens Bakery rolled out a digital rewards app in November 2023 but has since said quietly goodbye to it. A message on its website currently states that “a new Warrens Rewards scheme is on its way. Details to follow”.
Smart supermarket
All major UK retailers have apps, but Lidl appears to be the one that is championing offers on in-store bakery (ISB) the most via its platform.
It’s a strategy that has paid off for the discounter. Coupled with a focus on delivering quality and value for money products via a bake-off operation, Lidl usurped Tesco at the top of the ISB market charts at the start of last year.
Shortly afterwards, Lidl’s head of buying Holly Bleach spoke at the British Society of Baking’s spring conference, when she described the Lidl Plus app as “one of the biggest tools that we’ve used in our armoury”.
Among the ISB line-up at Lidl are permanent lines such as the best-selling All Butter Croissants (now just 59p) as well as regularly rotating ‘Special Guests’ sweet treats. Often, but not always, these form options for customers to claim one for free when hitting the first rewards tier of £10 spending. App users also get a free doughnut on their birthday and are given access to the Happy Hour offer of a 20% discount on all ISB items from 7pm til close.
Judges of the Baking Industry Awards 2025 named Lidl as a finalist for Retailer of the Year, finding that it had upped its game since winning the category two years prior and praising use of its app to encourage engagement with the bakery fixture.
The dev teams
We’ve already mentioned one tech solution provider in Vita Mojo, which helped Gail’s develop its app, but there are a fair few more software firms that support loyalty services for UK bakeries.
The Embargo platform, for instance, has customers including Two Magpies Bakery, Blackbird Bakeries, Hoxton Bakehouse, Soderberg Bakeries, Comptoir Bakeries, Humdingers Bakeries, Knot Preztels, Signorelli Bakeries, and Cafe de Nata.
Earlier this year, Embargo won a £350k UK Smart Grant from the government to help it develop an AI model for its loyalty and CRM platform. This was followed by last month’s announcement that its had integrated with the Square POS system in a move aimed at delivering a fully integrated customer engagement solution for foodservice businesses.
Square has its own loyalty programme, with customers of the food and drink businesses enrolled in it spending 46% more and visiting stores 57% more often according to 2022 data. The charges for this Square service follow a sliding scale, starting from £25 per month per location for up to 500 loyalty visits (which include enrolments, point earnings, or redemptions) and going up to £65 for 1,500 loyalty visits and above.
Then there is Slerp, the online ordering solutions provider set up in 2021 by Crosstown doughnuts co-founder JP Then. As such, it has a focus on bakeries and cafes among its customers in the hospitality sector. One of these is B Bagel – Slerp’s built-in loyalty features has helped the chain retain customers through “data that was actually helpful” whilst growing repeat orders five-fold. Sourdough Sophia, another growing London-based brand, plans to launch an app via Slerp soon.
Como Sense is a tech firm also offering loyalty services to retail and foodservice businesses, with its bakery case studies including Paul UK and Auntie Anne’s UK. Then there’s Nory, which is more aligned with restaurants and coffee shops. A blog on the Nory website reminds that “not all diners want the same thing” and says its up to each individual business to understand what its customers want from a rewards programme and then deliver the goods. It pointed to a study from YouGov and Mando-Connect which found that the most popular reward for Brits is offering discounts. “60% of respondents say they’ll join a loyalty programme for this reason – something to bear in mind,” added Nory.
Whether its building up stronger customer relationships, supporting a smoother service, or encouraging more repeat visits, it looks like loyalty apps will continue collecting stamps of approval from bakery brands.
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