Hey Pongo Alternative for Restaurant: Loyalty Wallet without Paid SMS or Tablet

Updated 2026-08-25

At DimaCard, we have built an alternative designed for busy restaurateurs: your loyalty card directly in Apple Wallet and Google Wallet, registration in 5 seconds via QR code, and free and unlimited push notifications. No hardware, no app, no commitment. Here's why hundreds of restaurants have already made the switch.

Why restaurants are abandoning Hey Pongo

Bulky equipment that slows down checkout

Hey Pongo is based on a dated principle: installing a tablet or physical box on your counter. This equipment costs between €300 and €800 to purchase, takes up space in your sales area, and requires technical intervention for installation and maintenance.

Concretely, each time a customer goes to the checkout, your team must handle this additional device, which slows down the service. In a fast-food restaurant where the customer flow is intense during peak hours, every second counts. Add to that the breakdowns, updates and tangled cables, and you have a solution that complicates your daily life instead of simplifying it.

Hidden costs: paid SMS, material costs, commitment

The classic pitfall of solutions like Hey Pongo is the costs that accumulate after purchasing the equipment. Each SMS reminder campaign is billed between €0.05 and €0.15 per message. For a restaurant that sends 4 campaigns per month to 500 customers, this represents between €100 and €300 per month, or between €1,200 and €3,600 per year.

Add in setup fees, premium options and term commitments, and your loyalty budget silently explodes. Many restaurateurs discover these hidden costs after signing, far too late to react.

A customer experience that requires downloading an app

The real problem with Hey Pongo is the experience imposed on your customers. To benefit from the loyalty program, they must download a dedicated application, create an account, enter their personal information. This registration process takes between 30 and 60 seconds at the checkout.

Result: an average abandonment rate of 30% upon registration. One in three customers who could become loyal are lost simply because the experience is too cumbersome. In a restaurant where checkout must be quick, this friction is prohibitive.

An abandonment rate upon registration which weighs down profitability

Each customer who abandons the registration represents a dead loss for your turnover. With an abandonment rate of 30%, a restaurant that welcomes 1,000 customers per week potentially loses 300 weekly registrations. Over one year, this represents thousands of never-loyal customers.

The equation is simple: the simpler the registration, the faster your base of loyal customers grows. This is exactly where DimaCard changes the game.

DimaCard, the Hey Pongo alternative designed for catering

The loyalty card directly in Apple Wallet and Google Wallet

DimaCard places your loyalty card directly in Apple Wallet and Google Wallet, the digital wallets that your customers already use every day for their bank cards, train tickets or boarding passes.

Your customers have nothing to download, nothing to install. Their loyalty card appears naturally in the application that they already open daily. This modern approach eliminates the app download barrier and significantly increases adoption rate.

Registration in 5 seconds via QR code, without changing your checkout

Concretely, everything happens at the checkout. The customer scans your QR code with their phone, enters their phone number, and immediately receives their loyalty card in their Wallet. Five seconds is enough, compared to 30 to 60 seconds with traditional solutions.

No modification to your cash register, no additional equipment, no complex training for your team. You print your QR code, place it near the cash register, and that’s it. Your staff continues to work exactly as before, with a simple added reflex: invite the customer to scan the code.

Free and unlimited push notifications on the lock screen

Where Hey Pongo charges each SMS between €0.05 and €0.15, DimaCard offers you free and unlimited push notifications directly to your customers' lock screen.

Relaunch inactive customers, wish a happy birthday, offer a special offer: every notification appears on the lock screen without the customer needing to open an app. You communicate as often as you want, without counting each message sent.

For a restaurant that sends 4 campaigns per month to 500 customers, the annual savings reach between €1,200 and €3,600 compared to SMS solutions.

A simple dashboard to manage your loyalty

Your DimaCard merchant space gives you a clear vision of your program: number of subscribers, frequency of visits, average basket, repurchase rate, inactive customers. All in an interface designed to be used from your smartphone or computer, without technical training.

You launch a campaign in a few clicks, you monitor the results in real time, and you adjust your strategy accordingly. Building loyalty becomes child's play, not an additional constraint in your daily life as a restaurateur.

Quantified comparison: Hey Pongo vs DimaCard over 12 months

*Estimates based on public prices of competing solutions and average volumes observed in catering.*

The calculation is clear: over 12 months, a restaurant that sends 4 campaigns per month to 500 customers spends between €2,400 and €7,200 on SMS with Hey Pongo, plus equipment. With DimaCard, the Premium subscription at €59 per month represents €708 per year, unlimited notifications included. You save the equivalent of 2 to 6 months of your subscription from the first year.

3 concrete ways to retain your customers with DimaCard

Automatically relaunch inactive clients and recover them

A customer who hasn't come for 30, 60 or 90 days is a lost customer who is waiting to be won back. DimaCard automatically detects inactive customers and allows you to send them a personalized push notification: “We are waiting for you this week with a free pizza from 20€ of purchase”.

A Lyon pizzeria recovered 15% of its inactive customers in 60 days thanks to this feature. Concretely, this represents several thousand euros in turnover recovered without spending a cent on SMS.

Offer a gift on your customers' birthday via push Wallet

The anniversary is the ideal time to create positive emotion around your establishment. DimaCard automatically identifies your customers' birthdays and sends a push notification with a special offer: "Happy birthday! Your free dessert from us this week".

This simple gesture creates a strong emotional connection with your customers and encourages them to return with friends or family. The word of mouth generated by this type of attention is invaluable to your business.

Transform your customers into ambassadors with integrated sponsorship

Sponsorship is the most profitable acquisition channel for a restaurant: a satisfied customer who recommends your establishment to their friends has a much higher conversion rate than any advertising.

DimaCard includes an automatic referral system: each customer can invite their friends to join your loyalty program, and you reward both parties. A Parisian fast-food restaurant achieved a 32% checkout registration rate by combining QR code and sponsorship.

How to switch from Hey Pongo to DimaCard in less than a day

Step 1: Create your online loyalty program in 10 minutes

Go to DimaCard.com, choose your plan (Standard €39, Premium €59 or Pro €99), and create your program: loyalty rule (10 meals = 1 free), welcome offer, birthday campaign. Everything is configured online, without technical intervention.

Step 2: Print your QR code and place it at checkout

DimaCard generates your personalized QR code that you print in seconds. Place it near your cash register, on the tables or in the window. Your team simply invites customers to scan the code during checkout.

Step 3: Your customers sign up and receive their Wallet card

The customer scans the QR code, enters their phone number, and immediately receives their loyalty card in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet. Five seconds flat, no application to download, no complex account creation.

Step 4: Launch your first same-day push campaign

As soon as your first customers are registered, you can launch your first campaign: welcome offer, reminder of inactive customers, promotion of the day. Push notifications are free and unlimited, so don't hesitate to communicate regularly.

Responses to restaurant owners’ objections

Why pay for a subscription when a paper program is free?

The paper card seems free, but it is actually very expensive: printing each time it is reissued, lost cards not replaced, photocopy fraud, no data collected on your customers. With DimaCard, you get precise data on your customers, automatic reminders, and a measurable repurchase rate. The subscription at €39 per month pays for itself as soon as a single inactive customer returns.

Are there any hidden fees or overage fees at DimaCard?

No. At DimaCard, the price displayed is the price paid. Push notifications are free and unlimited, regardless of volume. There are no hardware fees, no setup fees, no additional costs related to the number of clients or campaigns. You can cancel at any time, without justification.

Can I use DimaCard without changing my current cash register?

Absolutely. DimaCard works independently of your POS system. The QR code is autonomous and does not require any technical integration. You continue to use your cash register exactly as before, and loyalty is achieved at the same time, simply and efficiently.

Do my customers need to download an app?

No. This is precisely the advantage of DimaCard: your loyalty card is directly integrated into Apple Wallet and Google Wallet, which your customers already use. They don't have to download anything, and the adoption rate is 30% higher than solutions that require a dedicated application.

How much do push notifications cost?

DimaCard push notifications are free and unlimited, regardless of your plan. Unlike SMS messages billed between €0.05 and €0.15 per message with competing solutions, you can communicate with your customers as often as you want, without counting each sending.

Does DimaCard work for a fast food restaurant or pizzeria?

Yes, DimaCard is designed for all types of restaurants: fast food, pizzeria, traditional restaurant, food truck, café, bar, bakery. Registration in 5 seconds via QR code is particularly suitable for establishments with high traffic, and push notifications work perfectly for one-off offers and inactivity reminders.

Frequently asked questions from restaurateurs

What is the cost of an alternative to Hey Pongo for restaurant?

An alternative to Hey Pongo for restaurants costs between €39 and €99 per month at DimaCard, with no hardware costs, no installation costs and no commitment. Push notifications are free and unlimited, unlike SMS messages charged for each sending with competing solutions. Cancellable at any time.

How to replace Hey Pongo without changing crates?

Replace Hey Pongo without changing checkout using a simple QR code to display at checkout. Your customers scan it, register in 5 seconds and receive their loyalty card directly in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet. No hardware, no installation.

What loyalty solution without an app for restaurants?

DimaCard is the app-free loyalty solution for restaurants. The loyalty card is directly integrated into Apple Wallet and Google Wallet. The customer registers via a QR code in 5 seconds and you follow up with free push notifications on their lock screen.

How to retain restaurant customers without a marketing budget?

Loyalty without a marketing budget is based on three pillars: simple registration (QR code in 5 seconds), automatic reminders of inactive customers, and personalized offers. DimaCard allows you to implement these three pillars from €39 per month, with free and unlimited push notifications.

Switch to DimaCard and build customer loyalty today

You understood: Hey Pongo belongs to an era when loyalty required expensive hardware, applications and SMS. DimaCard represents the future: a loyalty card directly in your customers' digital wallet, registration in 5 seconds, and free and unlimited push notifications.

The saving is real: between €2,400 and €7,200 per year in SMS saved, zero hardware to purchase, zero installation costs, and a 30% higher adoption rate thanks to the absence of an application to download.

Join the hundreds of restaurants that have already made the switch. Create your loyalty program in 10 minutes, print your QR code, and start building customer loyalty today.

**Discover our prices and start from €39/month →**