Practical guides
Loyalty cards for a multilingual café in Brussels
For a Brussels café serving in French, Dutch and English, Oktapus offers all three in a customer app translated into nine languages. The shop scans the customer's code with Oktapus Pro on a phone or tablet. This works without buying a new payment terminal.
I run a café in Brussels with customers who speak French, Dutch or English. Which digital loyalty system supports all three languages without a new payment terminal? The question involves the customer's screen, handovers at the counter and the habits of returning customers.
Can customers use their card in French, Dutch or English?
All three are among Oktapus's nine languages. Customers can therefore read their card screens in a language they understand, even if they ordered in another one. At the same counter, the action stays the same: show a code and have it scanned. Service keeps a common reference across languages.
Support replies in French, Dutch and English. For the café, a reward rule works best as a sentence that is easy to explain aloud in all three. A free coffee is an example of a concrete promise, defined according to what your café wants to offer and the visit threshold you choose.
Do you need a different payment terminal for loyalty?
Oktapus Pro uses a phone or tablet camera to read the customer's code. The device can sit on the counter, within reach of whoever takes payments. Payment follows its usual process, and the scan records the visit on the card. The printable poster lets customers join the café before showing their code.
On a device without Pro, the merchant website also has a browser scanner, requiring connectivity for each stamp. With Pro, scans can wait on the device when the network drops, then be sent when it returns. This matters for organising the counter, particularly when the connection becomes unreliable during service.
How do you keep the same action when staff change?
At a handover, the most useful reference is the scanning device. A brief demonstration can follow a real order: show where customers open their code, read it and recognise the state of the card. The café can fit those steps into the instructions already given for the till and preparing drinks.
Whoever takes over also needs to know the reward. A full card means something concrete at the bar: knowing which product to give the customer. The dashboard brings issued stamps together, and the log helps locate a mistake. This continuity matters more than a long software introduction at every shift change.
Does the same card suit tourists and regulars?
For a regular or a commuter ordering before their journey, loyalty follows a predictable return. The shared app keeps their card with other shops' cards and can display their code offline. The Oktapus free programme lets a café start with up to 100 registered customers and unlimited visits and stamps.
A visitor can understand the screen in their language, but the card's value depends on their next visit. A tourist staying nearby for a few days and someone collecting coffee every morning have different routines. The programme works best as an opportunity to return, with a clear reward, rather than a formality attached to ordering.
When should you choose something else?
The interface language does not guarantee automatic translation of reward text written by the café. Opening new individual staff accounts is currently closed in the product. A café requiring a separate account for each new hire from the start needs to consider that limit.
Browser access for customers needs an account and connectivity at each visit, without notifications or contactless. Oktapus does not use Apple Wallet or Google Wallet. Paper remains suitable for customers without smartphones. A till-linked system better suits loyalty calculated automatically from purchases, and customers who do not return have little use for a visit card, whatever its language.
Practical questions
- Who scans the code during the order?
- The café scans the code displayed by the customer with Oktapus Pro. Scanning the poster joins the café without giving a stamp.
- Must customers understand the staff's language?
- Customer screens are available in French, Dutch and English, among other languages. The café's rule and reward still need a clear explanation at the counter.