Custom Rewards

What is a custom reward?

Custom rewards are anything you create and fulfill yourself — a piece of swag, lunch with leadership, an extra day off, tickets to a local event. They're the most flexible reward type in HeyTaco: you decide what's offered, how much it costs in tacos, and how it gets delivered.

This is different from HeyTaco's other reward types:

• Custom rewards — you define them and fulfill them yourself (see below)
• Gift cards — delivered automatically by HeyTaco to the redeemer's email; no admin action needed (Deluxe only)
• Collaborative rewards — the whole team pools tacos toward a shared goal, like a team outing or donation

How fulfillment works

Unlike gift cards, custom rewards don't fulfill themselves. When someone redeems one, it's up to you (or whoever you designate) to follow through — mailing the swag, booking the lunch, approving the day off. That's why the redemption instructions you write when creating the reward matter so much: they're the only thing telling the redeemer (and reminding you) what happens next.

Because fulfillment is manual, custom reward redemptions are handled entirely by your team's admin — HeyTaco support isn't involved in fulfilling or tracking them.

Creating a custom reward

Only HeyTaco admins can create rewards. If you don't see the "Add Reward" button on the Taco Shop page, you don't have admin permissions. If you're not sure who your admin is, contact us and we can help.

Go to the Taco Shop page and click "Add Reward," then select Custom as the reward type. Fill in the reward details:

• Name and description — Give the reward a clear name and describe what it is. For experiences or physical items, include enough detail so people know what they're getting.
• Redemption amount — The number of tacos required to redeem the reward. A good rule of thumb is 4 tacos per $1 of value, though you can adjust this based on your team's taco economy. See How should I price and budget for rewards? for more guidance.
• Quantity available — Optionally set a limit on how many times the reward can be redeemed. This is useful for budget control and for creating a sense of scarcity around desirable rewards. Once the quantity runs out, the reward becomes unavailable automatically. You can also set this up as a dynamic quantity if the reward comes in different variants — see below.
• Redemption instructions — Use this field to tell the person redeeming what to do next. For example: "Reach out to Kelly in HR to coordinate getting your T-shirt" or "Submit your receipt to expenses@company.com for reimbursement." Clear instructions here reduce confusion and admin follow-up after redemption.
• Reward cost — You can add the monetary value of the reward (viewable by admins only). That way, when you download the Redemptions Report, you'll have an easier way of seeing how much money you're spending on rewards.
• Announce to team — If checked, HeyTaco will send a direct message to everyone on your team letting them know a new reward is available. Recommended when launching new rewards.

Adding dynamic quantities* (for rewards with sizes, colors, or other variants)

*currently available for HeyTaco for Slack only.

If a reward comes in multiple variants — sizes, flavors, colors, or anything else that changes per unit — you don't need to create a separate reward for each one. Instead, when setting the quantity available, choose Dynamic instead of a single fixed number.

Here's how it works:

1. Select Dynamic as the quantity type.
2. Under "Vary quantity by," name the attribute you're tracking (for example, "Size").
3. Add a row for each option (for example, S, M, L) and set the quantity available for that option specifically.
4. Use the up/down arrows to reorder options, or the X to remove one.

This keeps everything under one reward tile in the Taco Shop, while HeyTaco tracks inventory separately for each variant behind the scenes — so you'll always know you have, say, 4 mediums left even after you've run out of smalls.

Organizing rewards with categories (for easier filtering)

As your Taco Shop grows, it can get crowded. In addition to filtering by reward type (Custom, Collaborative, Gift Cards), admins can create categories and tag rewards with them so people can filter the shop more precisely — for example, "Swag," "Experiences," or "Wellness." A single reward can belong to multiple categories.

To set this up:

1. Create categories directly on the Taco Shop page — you can create as many as you'd like.
2. When creating or editing a reward, add one or more categories to it, then save.
3. People browsing the Taco Shop can now filter by any category you've created.

Note: category filtering is currently available for HeyTaco for Slack only. For the full walkthrough with screenshots, see Filtering the Taco Shop.

Editing or removing a reward

You can edit or remove any reward at any time by clicking the pencil icon on the reward tile in the Taco Shop. This works for custom, collaborative, and gift card rewards. Only admins can make these changes.

Reward ideas

The Taco Shop includes a set of pre-loaded reward ideas on the right side of the creation form — these are rewards we've seen teams have success with over the years. You can use them as-is or as a starting point. See Reward ideas for Your Taco Shop for the full list.