The owners of the Dining Room, Rustico and Flying Fish restaurants have just launched a new smartphone app to reward their loyal customers.The app, called “Stamp Me” works just like the traditional “buy five get one free” type punch cards — minus the cards, which as we all know, somehow manage to disappear in your wallet or handbag.The app allows users to store virtual punch cards on their smartphone. It also allows users to see what retailers in their area are running offers they can join.“We thought of this about five years ago — we decided to do a loyalty card for the restaurants,” said Odilio Angeli, owner of the Bermuda Dining restaurant group. “All of the companies would print a business card and you get a special puncher, but then you don’t know if people go home and punch it themselves — you know? Or they lose the card.”“With this — it’s stored in the cloud and even if you lose your phone, once you download the app, your information is stored,” he said.Loyalty programmes are nothing new. Traditionally, they come with a little plastic or cardboard card that gets hole-punched or swiped and accrues point or counts down the amount of purchases left before the customer is rewarded with a gift or incentive.These cards can cost anything from several cents to several dollars to be created which, over time, can add up to hundreds or thousands of dollars. The move to mobile loyalty programmes is allowing many businesses to say goodbye to those production costs and it’s a trend that seems to be catching on here in Bermuda.Just two weeks ago, The Royal Gazette ran a story on another customer loyalty programme run by an entrepreneur on the Island who is working to set up local businesses with their own punch card apps.Mr Angeli said his company chose to go with an app by a different developer.“We were looking for something locally, but it involved a hug amount of capital to start off with,” he said. “So my wife just Googled ‘loyalty card’ and found this company in Australia which will set it up for you for a very modest fee and it works wonderfully. We were up and running in less than a week.”Mr Angeli’s wife, Natalie, who runs the company’s website and social media, said she looked into going with a local company for the app, but cost was a big factor.“I saw your story and looked into it. I thought, ‘Well, you know, if we can get it locally and it’s competitive, then, we’ll consider it’. But we found the pricing plans very limiting. I think it was $79.99 but that’s just for one venue. Whereas this one was $20 and no limitations and no monthly fee,” Mrs Angeli said. “So to be honest, the local plan was just cost-prohibitive. It’s similar in the way it works, but the cost and the restrictions were just too high.”The couple said they spent $60 total setting up the app for the three different restaurants — $20 per restaurant.“What we also like about the company that we’ve gone with is there’s no long-term contract. It’s month-to-month so if it’s not working for you, or if you find you can’t afford it, you can stop right then and there. And in this financial environment, it’s nice to have that kind of flexibility. Especially now — we’re just looking for value for money,” she said.Customers may find the app offers them value for money as well. When you download it, the app automatically recognises you’re in Bermuda and shows you there are five different offers from Bermuda Dining — two from Flying Fish (dine in and takeout), one from Rustico and two from the Dining Room at the lighthouse (dine in and takeout).“After you download it, you call and order your pizza, you come in to the restaurant, we scan it and after five pizzas, the sixth time, you get your pizza for free,” Mr Angeli said.“For dining in at the Dining Room or Rustico, we do a bottle of wine — after five stamps, you get a free bottle of wine. And at Flying Fish, which is a bit more expensive, after five stamps, you get a $50 gift certificate, which is quite a good reward, I think,” he said.The app launched last Friday and already, the Angelis say, it’s getting great reviews.“The feedback’s been really positive,” Mrs Angeli said. “People have had a few questions and things but the feedback has been very positive and people have signed up for it so it seems like it’s going to be a really good thing for us.”The Stamp Me app, which is currently available only for iPhone and Android, is free to download through iTunes, Google Play or getstampme.com.“We’ll be able to tell how many people have signed up and how many are using an iPhone or an Android — that sort of thing,” Mrs Angeli said. “And although it’s currently not offered for the BlackBerry, I believe that when the new BlackBerry 10 operating system comes out, it will be able to run Android apps. So hopefully that will expand the usage of it as well.”For more information, visit getstampme.com or any of the company’s Facebook pages.