The first question many operators ask when thinking about a customer club is: “What do we give people?”

The obvious answer is a discount. A strong hospitality club creates a value exchange that makes sense for the customer and the business. Sometimes that includes better prices. Sometimes the most valuable benefit costs almost nothing.

Here are the main types of value worth considering.

Better value or added value

Discounts are easy to understand.

A Monday Club might offer a better-value set menu. A coffee membership might include weekday drinks. A local residents' club might have a standing price on one house product.

The key is to use price deliberately. A blanket 20% discount might work for your situation, but a benefit attached to a quiet period, particular product or paid membership can do a much clearer commercial job.

Ask: What behaviour or occasion are we trying to make more attractive? Place the value there.

Access

Access is one of hospitality's most underused membership benefits.

For a busy restaurant, getting the table can be worth more than getting money off the bill.

Think about:

• early booking windows;

• cancellation alerts;

• members-only sittings;

• new menu previews;

• limited product releases.

Access works particularly well when demand already exists.

You are not manufacturing value through discounting. You are organising something customers genuinely want.

Little extras

Hospitality is full of small things that feel disproportionately good.

A snack arriving with the first drink, a babyccino for the small person, a coffee included after lunch, or an extra side with the Sunday roast.

These benefits can make membership tangible without rewriting your entire pricing model.

Recognition

Recognition is harder to put on a spreadsheet, but customers notice it.

A club creates an opportunity to say: these are our people.

That could mean a particular welcome, a members' table, priority treatment for certain requests or invitations that acknowledge the relationship.

Recognition should never become awkward or create a worse experience for non-members. The goal is simply to make membership feel like a relationship rather than a voucher book.

Experiences

Some of the strongest club benefits are things customers cannot simply buy from the normal menu.

A tasting, a menu preview or a meet-the-maker evening. A workshop, or a members' supper.

Useful communication

A message can itself be a benefit if the information is valuable.

“Two tables have just become available tonight.”

“Saturday's limited bake is now open for pre-order.”

“December bookings open to members tomorrow.”

“We've added an extra Sunday sitting.”

That is very different from sending another generic newsletter.

Good club communication makes members glad they are on the list.

Belonging

This is the least mechanical benefit and often the most important.

A Hospitality Club can become a familiar Monday crowd.

A running club can finish at the same café every Saturday.

A neighbourhood pub can give locals a little more ownership of the place.

A club gives that group a name.

Once people start saying “we're in the Monday Club” rather than “there's 15% off on Mondays”, the proposition has become more than a promotion.

How many benefits does a club need?

Usually fewer than you think.

A club with three memorable benefits is better than one with twelve forgettable ones. Try to include a dependable core benefit - something members can easily explain - then add occasional reasons to pay attention.

For example, a Parents Club might have a standing babyccino benefit, a useful after-school offer and occasional half-term activities.

A First Dibs Club might need no discount at all: cancellation alerts, early booking access and special-event priority could be enough.

Start with value, not generosity

The best benefit is not necessarily the one that costs you the most.

Ask what your customer actually values, then ask what your business can deliver consistently.

Where those two things meet, you have the beginnings of a good customer club.