What a discount does#

A discount takes money off a real order. It can apply on its own to every order that qualifies, or it can wait behind a coupon code the customer types at checkout.

This is the tool that actually changes the total. The cards on your website that advertise an offer are Deals, and they change nothing by themselves. A common setup is one of each: a deal card that says "20% off pasta this week", and a discount that really takes the 20% off.

Create a discount#

Sign in to dinevate.com.
Open Ordering Settings, then click the Discounts card.
Click Add New.
Fill in the five sections below.
Click Save.

The discount is live the moment you save it with Enabled on. There is no start date, so if you are preparing something for next week, leave it disabled until then.

Discount Information#

Discount Name. What the customer sees on their order summary. "New Customer 15%", "Tuesday Pasta Night".
Enabled. On means it is running right now.
Description. A short line for your own clarity.
Discount Value. The number. 10 means 10% on a percentage discount, or $10 on a fixed one.
Discount Type. Four choices, and they behave differently:
- Percentage Item. A percentage off the items you choose. 20% off any pizza.
- Fixed Item. A dollar amount off an item. $3 off a salad.
- Percentage Order. A percentage off the whole order. 10% off everything.
- Fixed Order. A dollar amount off the whole order. $5 off orders over $30.

Careful with Fixed Item: it comes off one item per order, and Dinevate picks the cheapest one that qualifies. "$3 off any salad" on an order with three salads takes $3 off the cheapest salad, not $9 off the order. If you want it to apply to every one of them, use a percentage instead.

Available Menus, Sections and Items#

This section only appears for the two item types. Choose where the discount lands:

Entire Menu. Any item.
Specific Sections. Everything in the sections you tick.
Specific Items. Only the items you tick.

Required Choices (Optional) narrows it further, down to the options a customer picked. Tick "Large" under a pizza and the discount only applies when they chose Large. Leave it empty and the discount applies however they built the item. If the list is empty, the items you picked have no options yet.

Discount Conditions#

Minimum Order Value. The cart has to reach this before the discount counts.
Is Unlimited? The label also shows how many times the discount has been used so far. Turn it off to cap it.
Usage Limit. How many times in total it may be used, across all customers. There is no per person limit.
Fulfillment Types. DELIVERY, PICKUP, or both. At least one is required.
Same As Restaurant Hours. Leave it on and the discount runs whenever you are open. Turn it off and you get a weekly grid: lunch only, Mondays only, whatever you need.
Expiration Date. Leave it empty and it never expires.

Expiry deletes, it does not archive. An expired discount is removed automatically, and its usage history goes with it. If you want to keep the record, or plan to run the same offer again, leave the date empty and switch Enabled off when you are done instead.

Coupon Settings#

Off means the discount applies automatically to every order that qualifies. Nobody types anything.

On means the customer has to enter a Coupon Code at checkout. Keep it short, memorable and upper case: WELCOME15, TUESDAY10. Up to 30 characters.

Turn this on and the discount is advertised as a banner on your website, with an optional Banner Image. The preview under the switch shows what it will look like.

One thing to watch: the banner keeps advertising even after the usage limit is reached. It does not know the offer has run out, and the customer finds out at checkout. If you set a limit, keep an eye on the Used column and switch the banner off when you get close.

What the customer sees#

At checkout there is a line reading "Have a Coupon or Gift Card?". It opens one box that accepts both a coupon code and a gift card number, with an Apply button.

Applied discounts are listed under Discounts Applied with a Remove link next to each. Once something is applied the box disappears, because only one discount goes on an order.

The saving shows on the order summary, on the confirmation email, and on the order in your dashboard.

The rules that surprise people#

One discount per order. A second code is refused with "You can only apply one discount at a time." A gift card is the exception: a gift card and a coupon can sit on the same order.

Discounts and loyalty do stack. A loyalty reward and a coupon both come off the same order.

Tax is charged after the discount. The customer is taxed on what they actually pay.

Service fees are not reduced by a whole-order discount. Item level discounts do lower the base the fees are worked out on, order level ones do not.

A code can be accepted in the cart and refused at the end. The cart checks the code exists and is enabled. The expiry date, the hours, the delivery or pickup restriction and the minimum are checked when the order is placed. So a customer can see a code accepted and still be told at Place Order that it is not available for pickup, or that they need $5 more.

Phone orders cannot use a code. Dinevate Voice AI has no way to take a coupon code. Automatic discounts still apply to online orders as normal, but if your promotion depends on a code, say "order online" in the ad.

Your app can. The mobile app has the same code box at checkout.

What a discount costs you#

The discount comes out of your side of the order. Your platform fee is worked out on the menu price and does not change because you gave money away. That is worth knowing before you set 30% off everything: the whole 30% is yours to fund.

Nothing stops you doing it. Just size the offer against your own margin, not against the total.

More than one location#

If your locations share one account and one website, discounts live on your main location. Open Discounts on any other location and you will see the same list, read only, with a note telling you where to change it. Add New is not available there.

That has one consequence people miss: a usage limit is one shared pool. A code capped at 100 uses is 100 uses across the whole group, not 100 per restaurant. First come, first served, whichever location the orders arrive at.

If your locations genuinely need different offers, you have two options. Run the offer as a per location Deals section on that location's menu, priced the way you want, which is location specific by nature. Or ask Dinevate support to separate the locations' settings, which affects more than discounts and is worth a conversation first.

Example: Rossi's has three locations sharing one website. A LUNCH10 code capped at 200 uses is one pot of 200 shared by Downtown, Beach and Airport. If Downtown is busy it can burn the whole thing by Thursday.

Keeping an eye on usage#

The list page shows a Used count against every discount, next to its Usage Limit, its Coupon Code, its status and its expiry. That is the fastest read on whether a promotion is working.

Each order records the discount that was applied to it, its type, its value, the code if there was one, and the exact amount taken off, so an individual order always tells you the truth.

One honest limitation: your statement adds coupon savings and loyalty savings into a single line. If you need them separated for a period, ask support rather than reading it off the statement.

Sending a code by email#

Your marketing emails can carry one of your discounts as the offer. To be selectable, it has to be enabled, apply to the whole order (percentage or fixed), have a coupon code, and not be expired. An item level discount cannot be emailed, because the email cannot promise which item the customer will buy.

Dinevate also sends its own automatic offers, such as a nudge to a customer who left a full cart. Those carry codes generated for that one email, so you will not see them in your list.

When a code does not work#

"Invalid Coupon Code". The code does not exist at this restaurant, or it was typed differently. Codes are matched exactly.

"Coupon is not enabled!". The discount exists but its Enabled switch is off.

"Coupon already used!". The usage limit is reached. Raise the limit, or turn on Is Unlimited?.

"This coupon is not applicable to any items in your cart!". The discount is limited to sections, items or option choices that are not in this cart.

"You can only apply one discount at a time." Something is already applied. Remove it first.

Accepted, then refused at Place Order. Expiry, hours, delivery or pickup, or the minimum. The message at the end names which one.

The customer was under the minimum after the discount. A large discount can pull an order below your minimum order amount. The order is stopped and the customer is told how much more to add.

A discount you had switched off is running again. Opening an existing discount pre-selects Enabled, so a save that was only meant to fix a typo can switch it back on. Check that switch before you save.

You cannot open the Discounts page. Discounts are managed by the account owner and by Dinevate staff. A team member with ordering settings permission still cannot open it.

Questions#

Automatic or code, which should I use? A code when you want to hand it out and measure who used it. Automatic when you want everyone who qualifies to get it, such as a permanent $5 off orders over $40.

Can I limit a code to one use per customer? Not today. The limit is a total across all customers.

Can I cap how much a percentage takes off? Not today. On a large order, 20% is 20%. Use a fixed amount if you need a ceiling.

Can I set a start date? No. Save it disabled and switch it on when the promotion starts.

Can I discount delivery? Not directly. There is no free delivery type. A whole-order discount roughly the size of your delivery fee is the usual way around it.

Does a discount work on the tablet or the POS? Discounts are for online orders. Staff take money off at the terminal in their own way.

How do I stop a discount right now? Open it and switch Enabled off. It stops on the next order.

Discounts and Coupon Codes