Overview
This article provides a high-level introduction to coupons in Lunchbox, including what they are, how they work, and common configuration options. It serves as a reference point for understanding the purpose, capabilities, and limitations of coupons before diving into creation, management, or advanced features.
Coupons
IMPORTANT NOTE: Before launching created coupons, we must test coupons internally to ensure the behavior and discount match the client's request.
Coupons in Lunchbox offer discounts on full orders, categories, items, modifier groups, and specific modifiers. They can be applied as promo codes, auto-applied discounts, or loyalty rewards, seamlessly passing through to the POS for tracking.
To find coupons, log in to the client's dashboard and from the left sidebar
Select Operate
Select Coupons
We are going to land on the Coupons page. Here we can:
Filter Coupons by:
Name: This setting allows us to search by the value in the name field of the coupon. This search field is not case-sensitive, but when searching, be sure to include punctuation exactly as it appears in the coupon.
CLU: This setting allows us to search by the value in the CLU field of the coupon. This does not include values entered into the discount code portion of a coupon.
Options:
Auto Apply
Apply to Total
Delivery Based
Rep CLU
Require Paper
Single Use
Active
POS Item-Based Discount
Service Types: All service types available on the Lunchbox ordering platform
Locations: The default view will show us coupons for all locations. This search will let us target a single location.
Item Names: This searches the names of items inside the coupon banks. Putting an item ID or GUID in this search field will not return search results.
Expired Coupons: This setting allows us to display or hide coupons when they are past their expiry date.
Sort By: This button helps a user sort the list by one of the following fields in either ascending or descending Order
CLU
Start
End Date
Name
When filters are applied, a Reset Filters button will appear to remove the previously set filters.
Coupon Limitations
Lunchbox can't track in-store coupon usage for transactions outside its app or website. Separate coupons help streamline discount reporting in the POS. Keep in-store and online discounts separate.
Coupons configured for a single location cannot be used elsewhere. To apply a coupon to multiple locations, set it as a master coupon and use the Restaurant Availability tab.
CLUs & Promo Codes can't contain uppercase letters, spaces, or special characters. They can only include lowercase letters and numbers without spaces. When customers enter promo codes in the ordering UI we intentionally do not adhere to case sensitivity to avoid promo code entry friction caused by mobile device auto capitalization.
Example:
CLU: sarahssweets123
Customer Can Enter: SaraHsSweets123, and the discount will apply.
Create a Coupon
The list of Coupons will display all created coupons, but if we need to create a new one, take the following steps:
Navigate to the Coupons section of the Admin dashboard
Select = Create Coupon. To apply a coupon to multiple locations, set it as a master coupon and use the Restaurant Availability tab. Coupons configured for a single location cannot be used elsewhere.
Enter the Coupon details:
Name: the descriptive name of the coupon viewed by the customer once the discount has been added to the cart and is also visible on customer receipts.
CLU (Master Promo Code): Coupon Look Up code for customers to use during checkout.
For coupons that are linked to Loyalty rewards, :redeemable: should be used in front of the promo code. This value should never be tampered with, or we'll break the connection to the loyalty database.
CLU/Discount Code Examples:
:redeemable:loyaltycredit
:redeemable:birthdayreward
:redeemable:signupreward
:redeemable:tier1
:redeemable:tier2
:redeemable:tier3
Description / Disclaimer: The description of the coupon that will be visible to the customer on customer receipts. This should explain conditions like use limits, expiration dates, and availability.
POS Reference:
This field is required for any restaurant using a POS integration.
It must match the Discount External ID that is already set up in the POS.
Think of it as the “connection ID” between Lunchbox and the POS — it tells Lunchbox exactly which discount in the POS to apply.
Without the correct POS Reference, the order will fail when being sent to the POS.
Example: In Toast, the POS Reference is the discount’s GUID (a unique identifier stored in Toast).
Select Location:
By default, coupons are available for all locations. To limit a coupon to a specific location, select it from the list.
We can select only one location, or leave it unspecified to make the coupon available at all locations. Coupons assigned to a single location cannot be used at other locations.
To apply a coupon to multiple locations, set it as a master coupon and configure locations in the Restaurant Availability tab.
Start Date: When the coupon will be active for use. Coupons must have a start date to be applied to an order.
Expiry Date: When the coupon is scheduled to expire, and will not be active for use. This setting expires the coupon at the end of the business day that is selected in the field.
Active: Toggle this on or off to make the coupon available for use.
Enter Value Details: When entering values, be sure to use decimal points. DO NOT use symbols (e.g. $, %). Example: 10% would be entered as 10.00.
BOGO or Item Bank Note: When creating Item, Category or Bogo based discounts the Value Details here should stay blank and will be applied later in the coupon building process when building the Item Banks.
Combo Note: If we are building a Combo discount the enter the Value Details here and leave the logic on the Item Banks Blank
To set an order Coupon Type, select one of the options:Deduct Percentage (e.g. 20% off)
Deduct Dollar Amount (e.g. $5 off)
Fixed Price (e.g. 3 items for $5)
Enter Limit Details
The following section allows us to apply limits to purchase requirements and redemption quantities on the discount. 0 means unlimited when applying values to the Limit Details Section.
Minimum Purchase Amount:
The minimum amount a customer must spend to redeem a discount. We recommend using a value in the minimum purchase amount equivalent to or higher than the food cost of the item being discounted. This can be used to help increase customer spend while also protecting the client's margin.
Example: Free Kids Sundae with a purchase of $15 or more;
To configure, we would enter 15 in this field.
Maximum Discount per Order $: The Maximum discount amount that can be applied to the order.
Example: 10% off your order up to $20 off;
To configure, we would enter 20 in this field.
Use Limit per Order: How many items in one order can be discounted by this coupon; how many times can a coupon be used in a single transaction?
Example: This discount can only be applied to every pizza ordered.
To configure, we would enter 0 in this field.
Example: This discount can only be applied to the first 5 pizzas ordered.
To configure, we would enter 5 in this field.
Use Limit per Location: How many times a coupon can be used at each location
Example: This discount can be used 1 time per customer at all participating locations
To configure, we would apply 1 to this field.
Use Limit per Customer: How many times a coupon can be used per customer.
Example: Customers can redeem the coupon twice on 2 separate transactions
To configure, we would enter 2 in this field.
Use Limit per Coupon: How many times the coupon can be used for all time.
Example: First 100 customers to use promo code xyz can redeem at participating locations.
To configure, we would apply 100 to this field.
Enter Additional Coupon Options:
Auto-Apply: Automatically applies the discount at checkout without the customer entering a code.
Apply To Total: Discount applies to the total after tax. Do not use with the Toast or Revel Integration.
Delivery Based: Deducts the amount from the delivery fee. Do not use with the Toast Integration.
Rep CLU: Used to track coupons from Company Representatives
Require Paper: Customer must hand in a paper copy of the coupon upon receiving their order
Single Use: Limits a customer to using the coupon only once, same as Use
Limit Per Customer for the coupon if set to 1.
Customers Only: Discount available for online orders only and excludes any customer with management credentials.
Internal Use: The coupon can only be applied by internal employees who have been granted management credentials.
Is Open Value: The amount of the coupon should be sent down as ‘open’.
Only used with the Lunchbox Credit-Based Loyalty Discount.
Do not use with other discounts.
Is Rewards Dollars: Coupon is a rewards dollar coupon
Only used with the Lunchbox Credit-Based Loyalty Discount.
Do not use with other discounts.
Exclusive: When this is set, only this coupon can be applied to an order.
Include Children: Coupon will be applied to child items/modifiers.
POS Item-Based (Toast Only): For Item-based discounts configured in the POS.
Keep this disabled if the discount is configured to apply to the entire check in the POS. Do not use with other discounts
This setting is only used with Toast POS and is only required when Coupons are set to apply to "Any item" or "Specific item/group". See how it looks on Toast Coupon View
Send Value to POS: Automatically sends the value of the coupon to the POS. Only check if it is for a POS client.
Select Service Types
All service types are selected by default. To make the coupon available for specific service types, deselect all and select only the ones the client has requested.
Limiting loyalty rewards to certain service types will prevent guests from redeeming them in-store.
Example: Catering Only rewards cannot be redeemed in-store.
Select Menu Modes
All menu modes are selected by default. To make the coupon available for specific modes, deselect all and select only the ones our client requested.
Review Coupon Settings & Save
Edit Coupon
To make changes to the initial settings you set for the Coupon, you can always go back and edit the coupon. The same goes for Discount Codes, Customer Availability, and coupon Banks:
Navigate to Coupons
Select More (three dots)
Select Edit
Make changes and updates
Select Save
Discount Codes
If we want to use more than just the Master CLU and create multiple promo codes with their rules and limitations, we can do so using Discount Codes.
Create discount codes
Navigate to Coupons
Find a coupon to create a discount for
Select the More button (three dots)
Select Discount Codes from the drop-down
Discount Code Options:
Create the new Single Add Promo Code name following the same CLU parameters mentioned above,
Enter Use Limit: Set the use limit to 0 if the promo code (coupon) is unlimited
Optionally select a Time Slot for which this Discount Code will only be available
Select the Add button to create a new Discount Code
The Discount code will be added, and you will see the success message
In this tab, you can upload a CSV file containing promo codes. This is most often used with integrations like Tattle and Ovation that generate single-use promo codes for customer reviews.
Select Download Sample Document to get the sample Excel sheet
Follow the formatting rules to complete the sample
Save the Excel sheet
In the Admin dashboard, click Upload File or drag and drop the file into the field
Once the file is uploaded, click Add
Discount codes will be added, and you will see a success message
View, Filter & Delete discount codes
After creating discounts, we can view the discount list, filter, and delete discounts. There is no option to edit a discount code.
To find discounts,
We can use the Promo code filter and enter the promo code associated with the discount.
Or we can use the Time slot filter and filter promo codes by assigned time slot
To delete a discount code,
Select More (three dots)
Select Delete
Customer Availability
If you would like to limit who can use this coupon for items and orders, set these parameters using Customer Availability:
Navigate to Coupons
Find a coupon to create a discount for
Select the More button (three dots)
Select Customer Availability
We have two options: to enable a coupon for all customers or to select specific customers.
Enable Coupon for All Customers
The default settings for Coupon Customer Availability will be toggled on for All Customers.
Enable Coupon for Specific Customers
Toggle All Customers off to search for the Customers who will only have access to this Coupon
Enter the email or the first or last name of the customer
Select Search
The list below will populate. Select the checkbox next to the customer you want to make a coupon available to
Select Add Selected (green button)
The coupon is now available only to selected customers
IMPORTANT NOTE: If All Customers toggle is turned off and no customers are selected, the coupon will not be available to anyone.
View or Remove Selected Customers
Navigate to the Customer Availability. We can see a list of selected customers for a given coupon.
Select the checkbox next to the customer to remove them from the list
Select Remove Selected
Restaurant Availability
To set restaurant locations for which we want to make a coupon available or unavailable,
Navigate to Coupons
Find a coupon to create a discount for
Select the More button (three dots)
Select Restaurant Availability
We can choose to set Global Availability and assign associated menu(s) to support coupon availability. If the menu is not active, the coupon won't be accepted.
Or we can choose to set specific locations the coupon will be accepted at. We have to select a location and optionally associated menu.
Coupon Banks
(BOGO, Item Specific & Combo Coupons)
To create a Coupon Bank, we must create a coupon first. Coupon Banks are a type of repository that holds information about the items or categories associated with the specific coupon. When the coupon is created, we use Coupon banks to associate items with that coupon.
We can also use Coupon Banks to exclude specific items or categories from the Order-based coupons or to create BOGO (buy one, get one) coupons. The newest addition to Coupon Banks allows the application of item-based coupons depending on the selected picklist options (e.g. discount can be applied only with specific modifiers selected).
To create a Coupon bank,
Navigate to Coupons
Find a coupon we need to create a bank for
Select the More button (three dots)
Select Coupon Banks from the drop-down
Select +Add Coupon Bank
Enter Coupon Bank details:
Quantity (required): the number of items required to be ordered for a customer to be able to use the coupon (i.e. $5 off 2 SUBS: the 2 would go in the Quantity field)
Minimum Quantity: Optional minimum of items required for the coupon
Name (required): description or name of the Coupon Bank. This is what the customer will see if the coupon fails. It’s best to name the bank item the item name clearly so they will know what they need to add to the cart to use the coupon
Coupon Bank Type (required): choose from one of the following bank types:
Deduct Percentage (e.g., 20% off)
Deduct Dollar Amount (e.g., $5 off)
Fixed Price (e.g., 3 items for $5)
Amount (required): enter the dollar amount deduction, percentage deduction, or fixed price in 00.00 format, depending on your bank type. Don’t enter $ or % characters.
Lowest Price First toggle: Makes sure to discount the lower-priced item before other applicable items
Select the Save button to save the coupon bank
Edit the Coupon Bank
After creating a Coupon Bank, we have to edit it and assign menu items/ categories to it.
To assign a menu category:
From the Coupon Bank view, select the More button (three dots)
Select Edit from the drop-down
Select + Add New Bank Item
Enter Coupon Bank Item (Category) details:
Category: Choose the Category you want to apply to this Coupon Bank
Size: Choose the Size you want to apply to this Coupon Bank
Style: Choose the Style you want to apply to this Coupon Bank
Exclude: Toggle on Exclude if you want this category to NOT be available for this Coupon
Select Save
To add/exclude Menu Items, we should use the Item Browser. To assign a menu item:
From the Coupon Bank view, select the More button (three dots)
Select Edit from the drop-down
Select +Item Browser
Search for the item using the filters: Category Name, Item Name, Item External ID
In this example, we searched by Item Name for "Juice" and all items with "Juice" in the name populated.
Select the checkbox
Select the checkbox next to the Item name to include the item in the Coupon Bank
or select the checkbox in the Exclude column to exclude the item from the coupon bank
Select Save to save the item preference.
Linking Item (include/exclude child modifiers)
The linked item defines the relationship between the item receiving a conditional discount and the items that must be present in the cart for the discount to apply. In other words, the discount is only applied when one or more linked items are available in the cart. The idea is to select item(s) associated with the bank item, which determines when the coupon can be used.
For example, one of our bank items might be the “Extra Cheese” modifier, with a 100% discount applied across all items by default. By using the Link Items option, we can associate specific parent items with the child item to control when the discount applies. In this case, we could set the discount to be valid only when purchased with a Large Sandwich or a Large Pizza, and activate their toggles.
This setting is available in the defined Bank Items:
Find the bank item to edit
Select the More button (three dots)
Select the Link Item button
In the pop-up window, we will see the selected bank item and Items available for linking.
Set the toggle to Active next to each item where our Bank item appears
Select Save
The linked item will be shown under the Links column among Bank Items of the coupon.
