STAMPEDE is an AI-powered loyalty and marketing platform for Singapore's F&B industry, starting at $50 per outlet per month. It helps hawker stall owners identify repeat customers, automate WhatsApp follow-ups, and track what drives return visits. no app download or POS system required. STAMPEDE AI PTE. LTD. (UEN 202611946M) is headquartered in Singapore.
Here's a question most hawker stall owners can't answer:
How many of your customers this week were here last week?
Not a rough guess. An actual number.
If you can't answer that, you're running your business blind. You're making decisions about what to cook, when to open, and how much to prep based on gut feel. And gut feel works. until it doesn't.
I've spent 10 years in Singapore F&B. I've worked with hawker stalls (Singapore has approximately 13,400 licensed hawker stalls), cafes, restaurant chains, and franchise brands. The ones that survive long-term all have one thing in common: they know who their regulars are and they have a system to keep them coming back.
Here are six things that actually work.
1. Make the first visit count
A customer tries your chicken rice for the first time. It's good. They're satisfied.
Now what?
If the answer is "nothing". they walk out and you have no way to reach them, no way to remind them you exist, no way to bring them back when they're deciding between you and the stall across the road.
The fix: give them a reason to identify themselves on the first visit.
A QR code at your counter. They scan it. Enter their phone number. They get a digital stamp and a welcome reward. a free drink, a side dish, a discount on their next visit. Takes 10 seconds.
Now you have their number. Now you can reach them. Now the second visit isn't luck. it's a system.
At OMMA Chicken Soup in Bedok Market Food Centre, this approach signed up 309 customers in 10 days. The welcome reward drove the first scan. The stamp card drove the return.
Full story → OMMA Chicken Soup Case Study
2. Reward progress, not just completion
Most paper stamp cards work like this: collect 10 stamps, get a free meal.
The problem? Stamp 6 feels like nothing. Stamp 7 feels like nothing. By stamp 8, the card is lost or forgotten. The customer drifts away at the exact point where they should be coming back more.
Smart loyalty programs add milestones along the way. Hit 5 stamps? Free drink. Hit 8? Free side dish. Hit 10? Free meal.
This does two things. First, it shortens the reward cycle. the customer never feels too far from a payoff. Second, it gives you data on where people drop off. If most customers stall at stamp 4, your card is too long. If they blast through to 10, you can add more milestones.
STAMPEDE's weekly AI report includes velocity analysis. it tracks how fast customers move through stamps 1–3, 4–6, and 7–10. If there's a slowdown, the report tells you exactly where and recommends adding a milestone.
Mystery milestones work even better. The customer doesn't know there's a reward at stamp 5. When it appears, it feels like a surprise. and surprises create loyalty faster than predictable rewards.
3. Turn your best customers into recruiters
Word of mouth has always been the most powerful marketing channel for hawker stalls.
But "word of mouth" is invisible. You can't measure it. You can't incentivise it. You can't tell who's talking about you and who isn't.
A referral program makes word of mouth trackable.
Every customer gets a personal referral link. They share it with friends on WhatsApp. When a friend scans the QR code and signs up using that link, both people get a reward. You can see exactly how many new customers came from referrals, who your top referrers are, and what the conversion rate looks like.
For hawker stalls, referrals work best when the reward is instant and tangible. "Refer a friend, both get a free drink" works better than "refer a friend, get 20% off" because the value is clear and immediate.
The math compounds. If 10 regulars each refer 2 friends, and those 20 new customers each refer 1 more. you've added 30 customers without spending a cent on ads.
4. Reach them where they already are
Your customers are on WhatsApp. All of them. Every day.
The question is whether you're using that channel or ignoring it.
Three automations that work for hawker stalls:
Near milestone. Customer is 1–2 stamps from a free reward. They get a WhatsApp: "One more visit!" This is the highest-converting message because the customer is already invested. They've put in the work. you're just reminding them to finish.
Birthday. Customer shared their birthday. They get a reward on their birthday week. For a hawker stall, this could be a free side dish or a free drink. The cost is negligible. The feeling of being remembered is priceless.
We miss you. Customer hasn't visited in 14 days. They get a gentle nudge with a small incentive. For a hawker stall where regulars visit weekly, 14 days of absence is a red flag. This catches them before they become a lost customer.
WhatsApp reaches 84% of Singapore's internet users with open rates above 90%. Email is 20–25%. If you're only using email (or nothing), you're invisible to most of your customers most of the time.
5. Know your numbers
Here's what you should know about your business every week:
How many customers came back?
What's your return rate?
Which day had the most traffic?
Are your regulars coming more or less often?
How many new customers came from referrals?
Paper stamp cards give you zero of this. A cash register gives you totals but not names. GrabFood gives you order counts but owns the customer relationship.
A digital loyalty system gives you all of it.
STAMPEDE's weekly AI report writes it up in plain English. Not a dashboard with charts you have to interpret. a summary you read on your phone in two minutes. "You had 45 returning customers this week, up from 38. Your referral program brought in 7 new customers. Your Tuesday traffic dropped. consider running a Tuesday promo."
The AI segments your customers automatically: active (visited recently), slowing down (visiting less often), dormant (haven't visited in weeks), and new (just signed up). The "slowing down" segment is the most valuable. these are regulars who are about to leave. Reach them now, before they drift.
6. Make the QR code impossible to miss
Everything above depends on one thing: the customer scanning the QR code.
This is where most hawker stalls fail. They print a small QR code, stick it in a corner, and hope customers notice.
They won't.
Here's what works:
Eye level, where they wait. The best position for a QR code is where the customer stands while waiting for food. Not on the table. Not on the wall behind you. In front of them, at eye level, while they have nothing else to do.
Staff mention it. "Would you like to earn a free [reward]? Just scan the QR code." One sentence. The staff doesn't need to explain the app, the program, or the technology. Just the reward.
Print kit. QR sticker at the counter, A5 poster on the side, table tent if you have tables. STAMPEDE generates all of these with your brand and QR code built in. Download. Print. Done.
The first reward matters. If the welcome reward is "10% off your 11th visit," nobody cares. If it's "free drink on your next visit," they'll scan.
At OMMA, the signup rate was 9–11% of walk-in traffic. That's with a QR code sticker at a hawker stall counter. No fancy display. No iPad. Just a sticker and a part-timer mentioning it to customers.
The bottom line
Repeat customers aren't about the food. Your food is already good. that's why they came the first time.
Repeat customers are about the system. Do you know who they are? Can you reach them? Do they have a reason to choose you over the stall next door?
If you can answer yes to all three, your business compounds. If you can't, every day is a coin flip.
Set up free at stampede.sg/signup. Takes 15 minutes. See what your actual return rate looks like after one week of data.
More guides: AI for Hawker Stalls · Best Loyalty App for Hawker Stalls · WhatsApp Marketing for F&B
How automated messages at milestones, birthdays, and for inactive customers drive repeat visits
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does STAMPEDE cost for a single outlet?
STAMPEDE starts at $50 per outlet per month. The first 3 months are 50% off. No setup fees, no credit card required to start.
Does STAMPEDE work for hawker stalls?
Yes. OMMA Chicken Soup at Bedok Market Food Centre was STAMPEDE's first client. If a hawker stall can use it, any business can. Customers just scan a QR code.
Do I need to download an app?
No. STAMPEDE is a PWA that works in any mobile browser. No App Store download needed for you or your customers.
Can STAMPEDE work with my existing POS?
Yes. STAMPEDE works alongside any POS system. Your POS handles transactions. STAMPEDE handles customer retention and growth.
How quickly can I get started?
Most businesses are up and running within a day. You get a QR code to display at your counter, and customers can start scanning immediately.
Try STAMPEDE free at stampede.sg/signup. No credit card required.