café loyalty rewards and NZ alcohol law: what's allowed

If you hold an on-licence, your loyalty programme sits under the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012. Most café schemes never come close to the line. The ones that get into trouble are usually bars and cafés that drift into "buy five, get a free pint" without thinking about how it's promoted.

what the law says is an offence

Health New Zealand's national guidance on alcohol promotions (April 2024) lists five things you must not do:

1. Encourage excessive drinking. This applies everywhere, not only on licensed premises.
2. Promote discounts on alcohol of 25% or more anywhere that can be seen or heard from outside your premises.
3. Promote or advertise free alcohol (unless it's inside and can't be seen or heard from outside).
4. Offer goods, services or prizes on condition that alcohol is bought.
5. Promote alcohol in a way aimed at minors, or that's likely to have special appeal to them.

Breaking these can lead to fines and to your licence being suspended.

where loyalty schemes fit

The guidance says it plainly: "Loyalty programmes where rewards or discounts are not primarily applied to the purchase of alcohol are allowed."

"Not primarily" is the key phrase. A scheme where people earn stamps on coffee and food, and one of the possible rewards happens to be a glass of wine, is on the safe side. A scheme where every stamp is earned on beer and every reward is a free beer is the kind of thing the law is aimed at.

free drink rewards

Free alcohol can be offered inside licensed premises, as long as the promotion can't be seen or heard from outside and doesn't encourage excessive drinking. So no "FREE PINT" sandwich board on the footpath, and no poster facing the street.

discounts

A discount on alcohol of less than 25% can be promoted where it's visible from outside. A discount of 25% or more can only be promoted inside, out of sight and hearing of the street.

age

Any reward that includes alcohol can only be served to someone 18 or over. Your staff still need to check ID the same way they would for a paid drink.

a five-point checklist for your scheme

• Most of your rewards are food, coffee or non-alcoholic drinks.
• Any alcohol reward is promoted only inside the venue.
• Nothing about the scheme is visible from the street if it mentions free alcohol or 25%+ off alcohol.
• Nothing in the scheme rewards drinking more, faster.
• Staff confirm the guest is 18+ before serving an alcohol reward.

how looopoi Loyal handles this

looopoi Loyal is built in Auckland for NZ venues, so it starts on the safe side. New rewards default to food and non-alcoholic items. If you add an alcohol reward, it's flagged so you make that choice deliberately. Guests give a date of birth when they join, and staff see only an over-18 badge, never the date itself.