BAOverse
View in store- Brand
- BAO
- Year
- 2023
- Objective
- Loyalty
- Industry
- Food & Drink
- Mechanic
- Simulation & Strategy
- Platform
- App
- Agency
- НАТО
Objective
BAO wanted to turn one-off restaurant visits into a habit and pull guests toward locations across the whole London group, not just their usual spot. Rather than bolt on a standard points card, the founders set out to build a loyalty product that felt native to BAO's own 8-bit visual identity — and to hit 15,000 users in year one, a base big enough to move group turnover if even a third of them returned.
Solution
Players open the app and drop into a pixel-art city styled after SimCity and Pokémon, picking a character from BAO's cast to walk its streets. Every real BAO restaurant and the Convni shop sit on the map as buildings the player can wander between. After a meal, the player types the code printed on their receipt into the app, and BAOcoin lands in their wallet — five coins per pound spent. Those coins buy virtual items in-app, which get redeemed for real rewards on the next visit: a free bao, a cocktail, skip-the-queue access. Visiting more unique locations levels up the player's tier and unlocks further perks, and around Lunar New Year the map filled with red-envelope collectibles and limited-time prizes.
Results
The app passed 2,000 downloads in its first week, above the team's own expectations.
- 1
The player downloads BAOverse for free, available on the App Store since January 2023 and later the same year on Google Play.
- 2
On signup the player defaults into the Tourist tier, gaining access to app-exclusive rewards and a Certified Tattoo List, then picks a character from the BAO family and arrives on the city map with a welcome balance of 250 BAOcoin.
- 3
The city is a small pixel-art map where each building represents one of BAO's six London restaurants plus the Convni online shop, with each location reflecting a different piece of Taiwanese culture.
- 4
The core loop ties real spending to the game: eating at a BAO restaurant produces a code on the receipt, and entering that code in the app earns 5 BAOcoin for every £1 spent in restaurants or through BAO's online channels.
- 5
The player spends accumulated BAOcoin on virtual items, starting at 300 coins for a free classic bao and extending to bubble tea, a Curry Cheese BAO, and a BAO Tote Bag, then redeems a purchased virtual item for its real-world counterpart on the next restaurant visit.
- 6
A separate passport system tracks progress by the number of unique restaurant locations visited rather than amount spent: two unique visits unlock Tier 2 Visa (early merch access and 50%-off preview invitations for walk-ins), four unlock Tier 3 Resident (closed events, tastings, and event priority), and the top tier, Lonely Club, is invite-only with undisclosed benefits.
- 7
Advancing tiers unlocks additional playable characters and hidden perks, rewarding the player for visiting different restaurants rather than repeating one.
- 8
Regularly collecting BAOcoin and using in-game bonuses raises the player's purchasing power at BAO by roughly 20%.
- 9
At launch, timed to Lunar New Year on January 20, 2023, the game ran a seasonal event, Lucky Red Envelopes, offering limited prizes including a BAO a Day Signet Ring that grants free food daily.
- 10
A separate branch of the map, the Convni online shop, ties its purchases to the app as well, with real merchandise purchases intended to sync to the player's avatar wardrobe.
