Compare
Paper cards, general tools and Daily Loaf, side by side
Most bakeries start with a paper card and a rubber stamp. Others sign up to a general marketing or texting tool that was never built with a bread counter in mind. Here is how each one handles what matters across a bakery counter, plainly, capability by capability.
| Capability | A paper card | A general tool | Daily Loaf |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where the card is kept | In a purse or a jacket pocket, until the wash | In an app the customer installs and logs in to | Tied to their mobile number; no app needed |
| Signing up | You hand over a card | An account with an email and a password | A scan, their number, then the code we text |
| Stamping during the rush | A rubber stamp, if the ink pad is to hand | Often a scan or a code for each sale | Press Stamp on their row, on whatever device is handy |
| Knowing your regulars | Only by face and memory | Usually, once a report is set up | A members list with stamps, codes and joining dates |
| The reward | Whatever is printed on the card | Often tiers and rules to configure | A single treat you name, with a code the moment the card is full |
| Telling customers about a new bake | A chalkboard or a social post | Messages to any list you import | A message to the club, minus anyone who opted out |
| Who can be messaged | Nobody, by text | Any pasted-in list, and any complaint lands on you | Members who proved their number with our code |
| Leaving | Nothing to leave | Up to whoever configured it | Their own stop link on each message, plus STOP replies |
| What it costs to begin | A box of cards and a stamp | Usually a monthly fee from the first day | No money for 50 members on a marketing consent; $23 or $64 a month after |
| Time to set up | An afternoon with the printer | An afternoon or two of settings | Two fields and a printed QR |
| Cake orders and pre-orders | Not its job | Varies from tool to tool | Not taken: Daily Loaf is a card and messages only |
| Made for | Any counter, until the card is lost | Many kinds of business at once | A bakery counter with regulars and a till |
Paper lasts until the wash gets it, and it never says which faces keep returning to the bread queue. A general tool does more than Daily Loaf and asks more of you and your customers for it, including the chance to text a list nobody joined. Daily Loaf keeps to a stamp card at the till and news for the regulars who asked.
If you need tiers or messages that go out on their own, a general tool will suit you better, and we would rather say so now. If you want the paper card without the paper, the plans are on the pricing page.
Stand the QR by the bread rack this week
Writing the card takes a couple of minutes. The first fifty members cost no money, only a marketing consent, and the card works in full from the first morning.