Food and drink vouchers for events: paper or digital?

Food and drink vouchers suit situations where buying, or agreeing on catering, happens before redemption. A paper coupon can be enough for small-scale catering handled at one point. A digital voucher helps especially when vouchers are sold online, handed out to groups or used at several points of sale.

To choose, go through the whole journey: who buys the voucher, how it reaches the person using it and what happens at the till when it is redeemed.

Paper coupon: simple to hand out on site

Paper coupons can be handed out, for example, with participant material. Using them doesn't require the customer to have a phone. The organiser does, however, need to agree how coupons are identified, collected or cancelled when used.

At an event with several redemption points, counting coupons and delivering them for settlement can take manual work. Also think in advance about how lost coupons and possible copies are handled.

Digital voucher: bought online or shared by the merchant

In the Solmio voucher shop, the customer can buy a voucher online and receive it by email. The voucher can be saved to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet.

The merchant can also send or print the vouchers' QR codes in bulk, for example for a corporate group or the event's participants. That way each user doesn't have to buy a voucher from the online shop. At the event, the code is read with the Solmio till from a phone or from paper.

A paid online purchase is recorded as a sale of the chosen point of sale. On redemption, the voucher's use is checked and recorded, so the same individual single-use voucher cannot be used again.

Find out the tills' connection needs and the procedure for a network outage before the event, also when the QR codes are handed out on paper.

One shared voucher or one for each person?

A company might, for example, buy ten lunches and ten coffees. In Solmio they can be delivered as one shared QR voucher or as separate vouchers.

A shared voucher can suit a group whose purchases are handled by one person. Separate vouchers are practical when participants eat at different times or at different points. Sharing the link to a shared voucher lets others use it, so agree on how it is distributed with the buyer.

Write clearly on the purchase page what the voucher includes, where it is valid and for how long. In Solmio, validity can also be set by group, for example for exhibitors' build-up days.

A business customer may need an invoice

A consumer can pay for vouchers when buying them. In Solmio, invoicing can be allowed separately for business customers. Invoicing can be based on the vouchers ordered or the vouchers used, depending on the chosen setup.

Agree on the invoicing basis in advance and make sure the buyer understands it. Also go through how unused vouchers and changes to orders are handled. That way, after the event no one has to work out what each party meant by the order.

Practise redemption with your sellers

Try an ordinary redemption and a situation where the customer shows a voucher that has already been used, is meant for a different item or is outside its validity period. Agree whom the seller asks for help.

The Solmio voucher can be found through the link in the order confirmation and on the shop's My orders page. It can also be resent from the order. Tell the customer already when they buy where to find the voucher and how to show it at the till.

Plan these before you open sales

• The items available with vouchers and the redemption points.
• The sales period and the vouchers' validity.
• Shared vouchers or vouchers per person.
• Payment for consumers and the invoicing basis for companies.
• Instructions for customers and sellers.
• Reports on sales, use and any settlements.

See the Solmio voucher shop. If business customers need deliveries straight to their trade fair stand, also see catering orders for trade fairs.