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How to create a discount code

How to create a general, customer-specific, or drop-specific discount code

Updated this week

With Hotplate, you can easily create discount codes that take a percentage or dollar amount off when a customer applies it at checkout.

Here are some situations we commonly see chefs create discount codes:

  • To create repeat business: encourage customers to order from you again by printing a thank you card with a discount code and including it with each order.

  • Gifting: easily gift your friends, family, or loyal customers with some money off their order

  • Follower exclusive discounts: offer exclusive discount codes to your social media followers and you could see your following grow!

How to create a discount code

  1. Go to the Discounts tab

  2. Click + in the top right

  3. Select a discount type

    1. General (valid for any customer on any drop)

    2. Customer (valid for a specific customer)

    3. Drop (valid for a specific drop)

  4. Choose between Percentage (%) or Flat ($)

    1. For a dollar amount off, like $5 off, use Flat ($) and enter the Amount

    2. For a percentage off, use Percentage (%) and enter the Amount

  5. Enter a Name for the code (this is not visible to customers, just for your internal use)

  6. Enter the Code (3-20 characters, letters and numbers only). This is what the customer will enter at checkout.

  7. Set Restrictions (optional)

    1. For Percentage discounts, you can set the Maximum discount value in dollars (ex: 15% off, with a maximum of $10 off)

    2. Set the Minimum subtotal required if you want the code to apply only above a certain order size (or leave as None)

    3. Set Dates valid if you want the code to be active for a specific timeframe (or leave as Any)

    4. Set Maximum redemptions if you want to limit the total number of times the code can be used (or leave as None)

    5. For General and Drop discounts, you can set Customer restrictions. (Customer discounts are only valid for the customer you choose.) Here, you can limit the code to first-time customers only, or limit redemptions per customer.

Managing discount codes

Once you've created a discount codes, you can find it on your Discounts tab.

You can click on each code to see its details and usage history.

At the bottom, Copy the code, or click the 3 dots on the right to Disable or Duplicate it.

The Active tab shows

  • Currently Active codes

  • Scheduled discount codes with a start date in the future

The Inactive tab shows

  • Codes that have been disabled

  • Codes that have expired -- their expiration date has passed

  • Codes that have been exhausted -- the Maximum uses limit you set has been reached

A Note on Fees

Hotplate charges a fee based on the original (pre-discount) subtotal of each order. If your storefront is set up to pass some or all of that fee to the customer, applying a discount to an order will lower the subtotal — and also lower how much of the fee the customer pays. When that happens, you’ll see that you’re covering the remaining portion of the fee — the part that was reduced because of the discount — even if your settings normally pass 100% of the fee to the customer.

For example:

  • A customer places an order with a subtotal of $25.

  • The Hotplate fee would be $1.80 (that’s a base fee of $0.55 + 5% of $25, which is $1.25).

  • If the customer uses a 20% discount, their subtotal drops to $20.

  • The Hotplate fee is now $1.55 ($0.55 + 5% of $20, or $1.00).

  • Since the customer’s fee is based on the discounted subtotal, you’ll cover the $0.25 difference.

This ensures fees always reflect the full value of the order, while discounts still benefit your customers.

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