Plastic Cards for Pubs and Restaurants

Which plastic cards does a pub or restaurant need?

Every card below is the size of a bank card, 86 x 54mm. The full colour cards are 760 microns thick and printed on both sides, with the print sealed inside the card, so it can’t scratch or wear off in a wallet full of coins and keys. Satin black and metallic VIP cards are hot foil printed instead.

Pub and restaurant loyalty cards: stamps or points?

There are two kinds of loyalty card, and the difference is where the record is kept. On a stamp card the boxes are the record. On a points card it’s your till or loyalty software, which reads a number printed on the card.

• Match the boxes to how often people come in. A regular who comes in once a week fills ten boxes in about ten weeks. If most of your customers come once a month, ten boxes would take most of a year, so print fewer: the first reward should be reachable within a few months.
• Say what earns a stamp. “One stamp for every main meal” or “Not valid with other offers”, printed on the back, settles it before anyone asks at a busy moment.
• Know what the reward costs you. A free meal after nine paid ones is a tenth off those ten meals. Work it out at your own prices before you print.
• Stamp the first box when you hand it over. The card starts with progress made.
• Use the right ink, or a punch. An ordinary water-based ink pad smudges on gloss PVC. Use a quick-drying ink made for non-porous surfaces, or a sturdy punch, because the card is 0.76mm thick. A stamp or punch shape of your own is harder to copy than a generic star. Our guide to writing and stamping on plastic cards compares the options, including Plastic-Free Board cards, which take an ordinary ink stamp anywhere.

For a points card, ask your till supplier first which barcode it reads: Code 39 is the most widely supported, and Code 128 and EAN5 are also available. Our guide to loyalty cards and EPOS systems goes through the questions to ask.

• Choose Premium Matt for anything scanned. Barcodes and QR codes scan faster and more reliably on a matt finish. It’s £20 +vat per order, whatever the quantity. See High Gloss v Premium Matt.
• Test before the full run. A postal proof (£65 +vat, around 5 working days) puts real printed cards in your hands, so you can scan one on your own till before the rest are printed.
• Think about key fobs. A key fob card, 54 x 29mm with a 4mm hole, lives on the customer’s keys. A combo card is a full-size card and a key fob joined together, which the customer snaps apart.

For rewards and layouts that work in other businesses, see our loyalty card ideas. For the layout itself, see how to design a loyalty card, and for whether to use a card at all, digital v plastic loyalty cards.

Gift cards for pubs and restaurants

What usually sells is a named treat, such as dinner or afternoon tea for two, or a money value. Name the experience rather than the dishes, because menus change, and leave prices off the card for the same reason: if your prices go up, you still honour the card.

• A number on every card and a register of what each was sold for, so a card can only be spent once.
• Write-on panels for the amount or the treat, the valid-until date and the initials of whoever sold it. They take an ordinary ballpoint pen.
• A clear expiry date. If your cards expire, the date must be clear and the terms fair. See gift card VAT and expiry rules.
• A scratch-off panel only if customers spend the card online by typing in a code, on your website or booking system. If every card is spent at your till, a number and a register do the job.
• Order in good time if most of your gift cards sell at Christmas: cards take 7 working days from proof approval and payment.
• Something to hand it over in. A card carrier or wallet turns a card into a present.

The Gourmet Bistro’s gift card matches its loyalty card at the top of this page. Many businesses order the two in the same design, so they read as a set.

Our gift card printing guide sets out four ways to run gift cards, with terms to copy, and how to design a gift card covers the layout. There are more designs in our gift card examples.

Membership cards for clubs and teams

If your pub runs a darts or pool team, a quiz league or a supper club, a membership card shows who belongs. The front carries the club name, the member’s name, a membership number and the year the card runs to. The back can take the house rules, member prices and the fixtures or event nights.

• A new colour each year. Change the card colour each membership year and staff can tell a current card from across the bar without reading the date. It costs nothing, because both sides print in full colour as standard.
• Teams and divisions. A member’s league team or division can be printed on the card, and colour-coded too.
• Member prices at the bar. A barcode links the card to your till, so member rates are applied automatically rather than depending on who is serving.
• Names from a spreadsheet. Send an Excel file with only the details to be printed, and every card is printed with its own name, number and membership type in one run. Or give us a start number and the cards are numbered from it.

See membership cards for the options, what to put on a membership card for the wording, and our social club and snooker and pool club examples.

Diner and staff discount cards

See discount cards for the options, our discount card examples, and numbered plastic cards for printing a name or number on each one.

Cloakroom cards and VIP cards

Cloakroom cards come in numbered matching pairs. The customer keeps one, and the other hangs on their coat: each card is punched with an 8mm hole, big enough for a coat hanger’s hook, so it hangs straight with its number facing out. They’re plastic, so they don’t tear, and a wipe at the end of the night is all they need.

• Start the numbers anywhere, to carry on a range you already use.
• Order a few spare pairs. Single lost numbers can’t be replaced later.
• Not just for coats. The same numbered pairs work as queue or table numbers.

See plastic cloakroom cards for the details.

VIP cards have to look better than the loyalty card in the same wallet. Satin black and metallic cards are hot foil printed in gold, silver or a small number of solid colours, which suits a logo and a name but can’t reproduce photographs or gradients. Names can be embossed, up to 22 characters on a line. Issue a short, numbered run, note who holds which number, and change the design each year so the old cards retire themselves. If your brand depends on photography, a full colour card works too. See VIP cards.

Review cards and business cards

A Google review card has a QR code that opens your review form in one step. Hand one over with the bill when a customer is pleased.

Ask, don’t rewardSince 6 April 2025 the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 has made it unlawful in the UK to hide that a review was incentivised, and Google’s policy bans rewards for reviews. So no free dessert for a review: the card should simply ask.

Plastic business cards earn their place if you take private hire, function or catering bookings. They wipe clean, and a QR code on the back can open your menu or booking page. See what to put on a business card.

What to order

A first order for a pub or restaurant might be:

• Loyalty cards for about a year of new regulars, with boxes or a barcode on the front and the rules on the back
• Gift cards with write-on panels and a number on every card, ordered in time for Christmas
• Premium Matt (£20 +vat per order) if the cards carry a barcode or staff will write on them with a marker, or High Gloss (included)
• Optional: membership cards for a club or team, in this year’s colour, or cloakroom cards in numbered pairs

The prices below are for full colour cards, which covers loyalty cards, gift cards, membership cards, discount cards and business cards. Barcodes, write-on panels, numbering, cloakroom pairs and satin black or metallic VIP cards are priced on your quote.

Full colour on both sides, High Gloss, 86 x 54mm and 760 microns thick. Prices include free delivery within Great Britain and one design printed from your print-ready artwork, with a free photorealistic proof. Prices exclude VAT and optional extras.

Not sure? Just askEmail us a line about your pub or restaurant and the cards you have in mind, and we’ll suggest a set-up with a quote, usually within about 10 minutes, 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. Our design service can lay out the cards for £29 +vat.