Revolutionizing F&B Profitability with a POS System and Rewards Program: Strategies for Success (Singapore Edition 2025)
- Kelvin Low
- Aug 18
- 4 min read
Updated: Aug 23
In the fast-paced F&B world, standing out is more complex than ever. With abundant dining options and shifting consumer habits, restaurants and cafés need strategies that attract new guests and keep loyal ones coming back. Pairing a modern POS system with a well-designed rewards program is one of the highest-leverage ways to do both—and to lift profitability.
Competition for Diners Has Intensified
The topline: sales are flat overall, restaurants are under pressure, and online ordering remains significant.
In June 2025, Singapore’s Food & Beverage (F&B) Services Index rose just 0.1% year-on-year. Within that, restaurants fell 5.6% y/y, while food caterers and fast-food outlets grew 18.5% and 2.3% respectively. Online F&B sales made up 26.7% of total F&B sales in June (≈ S$962m total sales).
Business churn is real: restaurant & café closures averaged ~307 per month in the first five months of 2025, up from ~241 per month in 2023. (Sing Stats)
Singapore diners still eat out frequently: 46% say they dine out several times a week, and 70% typically dine out at lunch—practical context for weekday, POS-driven offers. (Rakuten Insight)
Costs & Consumer Value Sensitivity
Price growth has cooled, but value scrutiny remains high:
Food inflation in Singapore eased to 1.1% y/y in May 2025 (CPI-All Items 0.8%), reflecting softer cost pressure yet continued consumer caution. (Ministry of Trade and Industry)
Why Loyalty—With POS—Matters Now
When rewards are integrated into the POS, every transaction feeds first-party data, enabling personalised, high-ROI offers at checkout and in post-visit messaging.
Singaporeans actively engage with rewards: 29% used at least one loyalty/reward program in the past three months; cashback and %-off discounts are the most attractive benefits. (YouGov Business)
Digital ordering keeps growing as a channel to reach these members: online F&B sales were 26.7% of sector sales in June 2025 (vs 26.6% in May).
Delivery platforms concentrate demand, so owning the guest relationship is crucial: Grab and foodpanda together accounted for ~91% of Singapore’s ~US$2.5b food-delivery market in early 2024, per the competition watchdog’s review. (Reuters)
Common Pitfalls (and How to Avoid Them)
Many operators hesitate because bolt-on loyalty tools can be slow and costly to integrate with legacy POS systems. Meanwhile, customer expectations for seamless digital payments keep rising:
Singapore is among the region’s most mature card-payment markets; card usage remains very high in advanced markets such as Singapore and Malaysia (≈91%), reinforcing consumer comfort with cashless, POS-linked experiences. (visa.com.sg)
The Smart Nation push continues to bring even hawker trade onboard: more than 11,000 food stallholders have adopted e-payments—evidence that integrated payments and digital journeys are now mainstream across formats.
What to do: favour all-in-one platforms (e.g., Rewardly) that natively connect POS, ordering, payments, and loyalty. You’ll shorten time-to-launch, reduce integration risk, and ensure every order (in-store or online) updates member balances and triggers personalised offers automatically.
Enhancing the Diner Experience with Reward Program
Well-designed programs do three things:
Increase visit frequency via clear, attainable rewards (e.g., lunch-time stamps given Singapore’s 70% lunch dining tendency). (Rakuten Insight)
Lift check size through targeted upsell perks—cashback and %-off are the top-rated benefits in Singapore. (YouGov Business)
Grow first-party data at the POS and online, which powers segmented offers (e.g., weekday lunch boosters for nearby offices, off-peak desserts, or member-only bundles).
Case Snapshot: Addictude Coffee’s Transition to Rewardly
Addictude Coffee previously juggled multiple third-party services for rewards—creating operational friction and limited reward flexibility. After migrating to Rewardly’s integrated POS + loyalty, the café reported:
Streamlined operations (single back office for POS, rewards, and online orders)
~20% increase in new customers within three months and stronger retention among existing visitors (merchant-reported figures)
While individual results vary, this is precisely the kind of lift integrated stacks are designed to unlock.
How to Migrate (Without Disruption)
Data prep: export customers, visit history, and points—Rewardly’s import tools ingest standard CSVs from most POS/CRM vendors.
Parallel run (1–2 weeks): keep legacy rewards live while Rewardly tracks redemptions and accruals in shadow mode.
Cutover with comms: auto-email members their new wallet balance and a “welcome back” voucher; promote via QR tent cards at counters.
Iterate: use POS-captured segments (e.g., lunch-regulars vs. weekend families) to A/B test offers.
What Good Looks Like (Singapore-Tuned Playbook)
Lunch-first rewards (given 70% lunch dining): e.g., double points Mon–Thu 11:30–2:00. (Rakuten Insight)
App-agnostic enrolment: QR at counter + receipt link + wifi captive portal; keep it frictionless for a market accustomed to high card/cashless usage. (visa.com.sg)
Delivery-aware incentives: since platforms dominate (~91% share), steer repeat buyers to first-party ordering with members-only bundles and pickup perks. (Reuters)
Channel-mix goals: track in-store vs. online; aim to capture your fair share of online demand (sector online share ~26–27% in June 2025) while protecting dine-in margins.
Bottom Line
Singapore’s F&B picture is mixed: overall growth is tepid, restaurants face -5.6% y/y turnover pressure, and closures have risen—yet diners still eat out frequently, and digital ordering plus cashless habits are entrenched. (Rakuten Insight)
A POS-integrated rewards program helps you compete on experience and value, not just price: it builds loyalty with the benefits Singapore diners want, captures first-party data across in-store and online, and turns occasional guests into repeat regulars.
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