A good restaurant gift card promotion for the holidays has four parts: a simple bonus offer that brings buyers back in the quiet weeks of January, card terms that follow federal gift card rules, bookkeeping that treats the cash as a liability until it is spent, and a staff script that asks every table. Get those right and November and December can fund part of your slow season.
The details are where restaurants trip up. Bonus cards with the wrong fine print, gift card cash counted as December revenue, and servers who never mention the offer are all common.
To make it concrete, this walkthrough follows a hypothetical restaurant through the whole campaign, from planning in October to reading the results in February.
Key takeaways
- Plan the offer around your slow season. A bonus card valid from January fills tables when you need them.
- Under federal rules, gift card funds cannot expire in less than five years, and inactivity fees are limited.
- Promotional bonus cards are treated differently from purchased cards and must be labelled as promotional on the front.
- Gift card sales are a liability until redeemed. Breakage and unclaimed property rules need your accountant’s input.
- Track sales, redemptions and the extra spend of redeeming guests, not just how many cards you sold.
The scenario and the goal
Say you run a 70-seat neighbourhood restaurant. December is busy with parties. The first three weeks of January are your slowest of the year. Regulars ask every year whether you sell gift cards, and you have a basic card at the host stand that nobody promotes.
Your goal for this campaign is not just to sell cards. It is to sell them in November and December and see them redeemed in January and February, ideally by guests who spend more than the card’s value. Every decision below serves that goal.
- Campaign window: the Friday after Thanksgiving through December 24.
- Redemption focus: January 2 through the end of February.
- Owner: one manager who is responsible for stock, reporting and staff reminders.
Designing the offer
The most common holiday structure is a bonus: buy a set amount in gift cards, get a smaller bonus card. It gives the buyer something for themselves, and the bonus card brings them back.
Choose the bonus with your margin in mind
A bonus is a discount paid later. If the offer is a $20 bonus card with every $100 purchased, and every bonus card is redeemed, you have given up $20 of sales for $100 of prepaid revenue. Before choosing the amount, check what that discount does to your food and beverage margin on a typical check.
| Offer design | Pros | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Bonus card with a set purchase amount | Easy to explain; gives the buyer a reason to return | Needs clear promotional terms and a redemption window |
| Bonus valid only in January and February | Shifts visits into slow weeks | Must be labelled as promotional, with its expiry shown |
| Small freebie with purchase (dessert, drink) | Low cost; no new card to track | Less appeal for larger buyers |
| Discounted card (e.g. pay less than face value) | Simple headline | Discount applies to every dollar; hard to reverse later |
For our 70-seat restaurant, a bonus card valid from January 2 through February 28 lines up with the slow weeks and keeps the paid cards as clean, standard gift cards.
The sale happens in December. The profit happens when the card walks back in the door.
Getting the rules right
Federal rules under the Credit CARD Act apply to store gift cards sold to consumers. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau summarises the key points: a gift card cannot be sold that will expire in less than five years, and it cannot charge inactivity or service fees for 12 months. States may add further protections.
What the regulation requires
The rule itself, Regulation E section 1005.20, sets out the details:
- The funds must not expire until at least five years after the card was issued or last loaded.
- A dormancy, inactivity or service fee is allowed only after a year with no activity on the card, no more than once in a calendar month, and only if the fee is disclosed.
- Cards issued for loyalty, award or promotional purposes are excluded from most of these requirements, but must show on the front that they were issued for promotional purposes and when the funds expire, and must disclose any fees along with a toll-free number for fee information.
In practice, the simplest approach for a restaurant is no fees at all and no expiry on paid cards. Put the promotional statement and the valid-through date on the front of every bonus card, and check your own state’s rules, which can be stricter than federal law.
Booking the money correctly
Gift card cash is not revenue when you sell the card. The accounting firm Baker Tilly explains that the sale is recorded as a deferred revenue liability, because no food or service has been provided yet. Revenue is recognised when the card is redeemed.
Breakage and unclaimed property
Some cards are never fully spent. That unredeemed balance is called breakage. Baker Tilly notes that under the ASC 606 accounting standard, breakage is recognised gradually in line with the redemption pattern rather than all at once, typically estimated from several years of redemption history. States also have unclaimed property laws that can require some unused balances to be turned over to the state, and cards subject to those laws are excluded from breakage.
- Set up a gift card liability account in your books before the campaign starts.
- Record the bonus cards separately so you can see their cost.
- Ask your accountant how breakage and unclaimed property apply in your state before you estimate any breakage income.
Selling it: channels and staff scripts
Where to sell
- In the restaurant: a small card at the host stand and in the check presenter, plus a table tent on the bar.
- Online: an e-gift card on your website that can be sent by email for last-minute buyers.
- Email and social: three sends are plenty. Launch weekend, mid-December, and a last-minute reminder around December 20.
- Corporate buyers: local offices buying staff and client gifts. A short email to regulars who work nearby can bring in bulk orders.
Link the offer from your Google Business Profile and website. Our guide to restaurant email marketing covers list building if yours is thin.
A staff script that doesn’t feel pushy
Most sales come from one sentence said at the right moment. For our 70-seat restaurant, the script goes with the check:
- “If you have anyone left on your holiday list, our gift cards come with a bonus card this month. I can add one to the bill.”
- For parties: “A lot of groups pick up a card for the organiser. Want me to set one aside?”
Run a short contest between shifts, tracked on the POS, and post the tally in the back of house. Keep it light. The goal is that every table hears the offer once, not three times.
Tracking results into January
Set up a simple tracker before launch so you can judge the campaign on more than the December sales number.
| Metric | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Cards sold and total value | The headline number and your new liability |
| Bonus cards issued | The cost of the promotion |
| Redemptions by week, January to March | Whether the cards actually filled slow weeks |
| Average check on redeemed visits | Whether guests spent beyond the card |
| Bonus card redemption rate | Whether the offer brought people back |
Read the numbers in early March, when most bonus cards will have been used or lapsed. For more campaign ideas, browse our restaurant marketing guides.
FAQ
Can a restaurant put an expiration date on gift cards?
Under federal rules, the funds on a purchased gift card cannot expire sooner than five years after issue or last load. Some states go further. Check your state before printing cards.
Can bonus cards expire faster than paid cards?
Promotional cards are excluded from most federal gift card requirements, but they must be labelled as promotional on the front and disclose terms such as the expiration date.
Is gift card money income when I sell the card?
For accounting purposes it is generally recorded as a liability until redeemed. Talk to your accountant about how your business handles revenue and tax timing.
When should I start promoting holiday gift cards?
Have cards, terms and staff scripts ready by mid-November, then launch the weekend after Thanksgiving.
Your planning checklist for this week
This week, decide on your bonus amount and redemption window, get the promotional wording onto the card design, and set up the liability account with your bookkeeper. Then write the one-line staff script and put it on the pre-shift board. For the POS side of gift cards, see our guide to choosing a restaurant POS.
Featured photo: Open Pink Gifft Box with White Ribbon by Jpquidores, BY-SA 3.0.
