DineOut lets restaurants publish dine-in discount offers to Bolt Food customers. Customers find your offer in the DineOut tab of the Bolt Food app, claim it for a specific arrival time, and redeem it at your restaurant with a PIN. There is no delivery or courier involved: customers visit you in person.
To join DineOut, fill in the registration form.
Tools you use
- DineOut Merchant app: create and manage offers (Offers tab), see today's and upcoming claims with each customer's PIN (Home tab), and see in-app payments (Payments tab). You can also open it in a web browser at waiter.bolt.eu. Download it from Google Play or the App Store.
- Bolt Merchant Portal: update your working hours. Offers can't be scheduled outside your registered working hours, so update them here first if needed.
- Menu changes aren't self-serve. Contact your Account Manager to request a menu update.
Creating an offer
- In the DineOut Merchant app, open Offers and tap the add button.
- Choose a one-time offer (single date) or a recurring offer (repeating schedule).
- Set the hours: all day, or a specific time window of at least 1 hour within your working hours.
- Choose the discount: from 20% to 50%, in 5% steps. The discount applies to the total bill.
- Set how many customers can claim the offer (1 to 5). If you need more for the same time, create another offer for that period. There's no limit on how many offers you can run.
- Publish. Only publish when you can welcome the customers who claim it.
Recommended discount levels: 30ā50% for quiet hours, 20ā30% for peak times or all-day offers.
The discount can't be changed after publishing. To change it, hide the offer and create a new one.
Managing offers
- Pause (hide) an offer to stop new claims, for example if you're fully booked.
- Remove an offer you no longer need. An offer that already has a claim can only be hidden, not removed.
- You can edit an offer only while it's still a draft.
Pausing or removing an offer doesn't cancel existing claims. Customers who claimed before you paused it must still be honoured.
When a customer arrives
- The customer tells staff they're using a DineOut offer and shows their PIN.
- Check the PIN against the claim on your Home dashboard and mark the customer as arrived. This also checks the customer in, so they can pay in the app. If the customer isn't marked as arrived and doesn't tap Check in themselves (possible from 30 minutes before until 60 minutes after the claimed arrival time), they can't pay in the app or get cashback, but you can still apply the DineOut discount.
- Apply the DineOut discount in your POS before printing the bill.
Before applying the discount, check that the customer is in the restaurant, the PIN is active, and the offer is for your restaurant and valid at this time.
Timing:
- Mark as arrived: from 30 minutes before until 60 minutes after the customer's claimed arrival time.
- Mark as no-show: from the claimed arrival time until 60 minutes after it.
- If you haven't marked the customer as arrived or as a no-show within 60 minutes after the claimed arrival time, the claim is redeemed automatically. If the customer didn't come, mark them as a no-show before then.
A customer who arrives late can still use the offer up to 60 minutes after their claimed arrival time, when check-in closes. Validate the PIN and apply the discount as normal.
Each claim covers up to 6 people. If more guests arrive, it's your choice whether to extend the discount to them.
Contacting the customer: you can see the customer's first name and phone number on the claim from 30 minutes before until 60 minutes after their arrival time, while the claim is active or redeemed. Use them only to check whether a late customer is still coming, or to warn them if you unexpectedly can't seat them.
What the discount covers
- The discount applies to the full bill, food and drinks, unless you tell the customer about an exclusion before they order.
- You can exclude specific items, such as an already-discounted lunch menu or a premium bottle of wine, but only if you tell the customer when they order. If you don't, the full discount applies to the whole bill.
- Only one restaurant discount applies per bill. DineOut offers can't be combined with your other promotions unless your agreement allows it.
- Service charges or other local charges you add on top of the discounted bill aren't covered by the discount.
- Staff carry out age checks wherever alcohol is served.
A claimed offer must always be honoured. Never refuse a valid offer or discourage a customer from using it.
If a customer can't redeem their offer
Possible reasons: it's too early (the customer's PIN appears in their app only from 30 minutes before their claimed arrival time), the offer is no longer active, the claim is for a different restaurant, or there's an app or connection issue.
- Check the time. If it's more than 30 minutes before the customer's claimed arrival time, their PIN isn't visible yet. This is expected.
- Ask the customer to refresh the Bolt Food app.
- Check the claim is for your restaurant and for today.
- Check the PIN is visible and active.
- If it still doesn't work, ask the customer to contact Bolt Support in the app.
Payments
The customer chooses how to pay the discounted bill: in the Bolt Food app, or directly to you by card or cash. Your discount applies either way. In-app payments appear in the Payments tab of the DineOut Merchant app.
Customers who pay in the app can get extra rewards from Bolt, such as cashback. These are funded by Bolt and don't affect your payout or fees.
Incorrect payment amounts
These steps apply to payments made in the Bolt Food app.
- The customer paid less: tell the customer the remaining amount and ask them to make a second payment in the app or pay you directly. Make sure the full bill is paid before closing it.
- The customer paid more: contact Support through the Merchant Portal with the amount due and the amount paid. We'll refund the difference to the customer.
- The customer paid twice: contact Support through the Merchant Portal with both transaction IDs. We'll refund one payment to the customer.
Only you can confirm the actual bill amount, so we can refund a customer only after you contact us.
If the customer paid you directly (by card or cash), the payment didn't go through Bolt, so we have no record of it and can't refund it. Please sort out any payment issue directly with the customer. If the DineOut discount wasn't applied, refund the difference to them.
Takeaway
DineOut is for dining in. If you choose to accept a DineOut offer for takeaway, any issue with that order is between you and the customer. Bolt can't see what was ordered and doesn't handle these complaints.
Fees
Your exact fee is defined in your agreement with Bolt Food. If you'd like to discuss or review your fees, contact your Account Manager. If you don't have one, reach out to Support for assistance.
Payouts
You'll receive weekly payouts for all DineOut in-app payments directly to your registered bank account, unless your agreement says otherwise. If you want to discuss the payout timeline, contact your Account Manager. If you don't have one, reach out to Support for assistance.