How do promotions, deals, rewards and gift cards work together?

What stacks with what on a table order — promotions, menu deals, loyalty rewards and gift cards — in what order, and the two deal-price toggles.

How do promotions, deals, rewards and gift cards work together?

ResoFlow has four ways a customer can pay less (or pay differently) on an Order & Pay table order: promotions (automatic offers and typed promo codes), set menus & deals, loyalty rewards, and gift cards. They're designed to combine without ever surprising you or the customer. This guide explains what stacks with what, in what order — and the two toggles that control whether discounts can touch deal prices.

The four things, in plain English

• A promotion is money off — either automatic (it applies by itself when its conditions are met, like a happy-hour window) or a promo code the customer types at the checkout. See What can Promotions do?.
• A set menu or deal is a bundle price you set on the Menu page — "3 courses for £25", "any 3 for £15". A deal isn't a discount on top of the order: it is the price of those dishes. Deals can be visible on the menu or hidden, and by default every deal applies by itself the moment the customer's basket qualifies — always in the customer's favour. A visible deal has an Apply automatically switch (on by default) so you can make it tap-only; a hidden deal always applies by itself — that's its whole point. See How do I build my menu?.
• A loyalty reward is something a member has already earned with their stamps or points. Where you've switched on Let members use rewards when ordering and given a reward a checkout value, a signed-in member can put one reward towards their order. See How do I set up a loyalty scheme?.
• A gift card is payment, not a discount. It never changes the price of anything — it simply pays some or all of the final bill, exactly like a second card. That's why a gift card combines with everything else: whatever the order costs after deals, a promotion and a reward, a gift card can pay it. See How do customers use a gift card?.

The order things apply, every time

On every table order the maths runs in the same fixed order:

• Deal prices first. Any set menus & deals — ones the customer tapped, and any that apply by themselves when the basket qualifies (that's every deal whose Apply automatically switch is on, hidden or visible) — set the price of their dishes.
• The promotion(s). If the customer types a valid code, the code takes the promotion slot on its own and every automatic offer stands aside — exactly one typed code per order, and nothing stacks with it. With no code, your automatic offers apply item by item: each dish gets whichever live automatic offer saves the customer most on that dish, so "50% off hot drinks" can cover the hot drinks while "20% off everything" covers the rest of the same order. An offer that doesn't win any dish simply doesn't apply (and doesn't use up one of its uses). The checkout and receipt name each applied offer with its own saving.
• The loyalty reward. An applied reward comes off whatever is left after the promotion. A typed code and a reward do stack — the code first, then the reward on the remainder.
• The tip is never touched. No discount, deal, reward or fee ever comes out of a tip.
• Payment last. A gift card (and then the customer's card) pays the final total.

So a customer can, on one order: get an automatically applied deal's bundle price, type a promo code, put a £5 reward towards it, and pay the rest with a gift card. Each step works on what the previous step left.

Can discounts come off deal prices? (the two toggles)

A deal's bundle price is a price you set — so whether a promotion or reward can cut into it is your choice, with two toggles. Both are ON by default.

• "Rewards can be used on deal prices" — in the loyalty scheme set-up (Loyalty page → Edit scheme; the set-up walks you through one question at a time, and this toggle is on the Rewards step next to the other ordering toggles). With it on, a reward's value can come off deal money too: "3 for £15" plus a £5 reward costs £10, and an order that is only a deal can still use a reward. Switch it off and rewards only ever cover individually priced dishes — on a deal-only order the checkout tells the member honestly that there's nothing left for the reward to cover.
• "Promo codes can be used on deal prices" — in Settings → Order & Pay. With it on, a promo code the customer types also discounts deal money: 50% off a £15 deal makes it £7.50. Switch it off and typed codes only ever discount individually priced dishes.

Two rules hold whatever the toggles say:

• Automatic promotions never touch deal prices. An offer that applies by itself will never quietly cut into a bundle price you set — only a code the customer deliberately types can do that, and only while the toggle is on.
• A promotion limited to certain items never touches deal prices either. A code scoped to "cocktails only" discounts individually priced cocktails — a deal is a bundle price, not an individual dish, so it stays at its set price even when its dishes would qualify.

One more nicety: if you've switched a toggle off and a customer's typed code or reward would actually save them more than an automatically applied deal's saving, that deal steps aside on that order so the customer always gets their best price. (With the toggles on this never comes up — the customer simply gets both. A deal the customer deliberately tapped is never removed.)

What the customer and your records see

The checkout and the receipt always itemise it: the deal as one line at its bundle price, the promotion and any reward as their own lines, the tip untouched, and any gift-card cover shown as payment. VAT on receipts, the daily sales email and your exports is worked out on what was actually paid, split correctly across the dishes' rates — including when a code or reward has come off deal money. And refunds always return what the customer actually paid, never the full menu price.

Related guides

• What can Promotions do?
• Promo codes and automatic triggers
• How do I build my menu?
• How do I set up a loyalty scheme?
• Order & Pay