Check diners in

Checking a diner in is the only loyalty action your staff perform. The diner shows a 4-digit code, you type it, you tap once. That single tap punches your punch-card, stamps their Foodie passport if you're a network partner, and opens a 3-hour window in which they can use a reward here.

How to check someone in

1. Open Operations → Check in (it's also on the Dashboard, so a one-screen restaurant never has to tab away).
2. Ask the diner for their code. They get it in their chat's deals page, or from their account at /me. It's live for an hour.
3. Type the four digits. Their name comes up — nothing has been written yet.
4. Tap Check in. Every punch they're owed fires at once, and you'll see what they earned.

If you're a Foodie Network partner, the confirm screen also shows the perk you give, so whoever is at the counter recognises what a diner is owed. It's a reminder, never a button.

Why the name is shown first

Nothing is written until you confirm who it is. A mistyped code that happens to hit another live code at your restaurant would otherwise stamp the wrong person — and a wrong Foodie Network stamp blocks that diner from stamping you again for their whole passport page, with no undo. Reading the name back takes a second and removes the whole class of mistake.

Punches you don't have to do anything for

If a signed-in diner places an order in the chat and your staff confirm it, their visit is credited automatically — no code needed. The code is for the counter, the takeaway queue, and diners who never opened the chat.

Some restaurants also have an AskFoodie tap tag at the counter. A diner taps their phone on it and the punch lands with no staff involvement at all; it goes through exactly the same rules as a typed code.

When a diner uses a reward

Spending is the diner's action, not yours — they tap Use this now on their own phone. It shows up on your Dashboard as a banner naming the diner and what they're owed, then drops into a "Rewards used today" list.

• Done clears the banner. It's a dismissal, nothing more.
• Decline returns the reward to the diner — use it if they left before you could serve it, or the code was someone else's. You can decline until the end of your restaurant's day (at least 3 hours after it was used).

Good to know

• Any staff member can check diners in. It's shift work, not configuration — no manager needed.
• One punch per diner per 6 hours, per restaurant. A regular who comes back after lunch and again at dinner earns twice; the same sitting earns once.
• There's no list of live codes. Staff type blind, because the diner choosing to hand over their number is the whole check.
• Codes expire in an hour and are per restaurant — a code for one place never works at another.
• The window is fixed at 3 hours and doesn't extend by being used. If a diner's window has lapsed, check them in again.