4 Reasons To Sell Gift Cards At Your Restaurant

You would be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t enjoy a good meal. And, because of that, you’d be really hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t enjoy a good meal for free! It’s hard to beat food as a gift. And with so many restaurants to choose from, consumers have tons of options about what types of gifts they wish to give their hungry family members and friends. It should come as no surprise to you that restaurant gift cards are widely beloved.

Why should you sell gift cards at your restaurant? Here are four reasons:

1. You stand to significantly increase revenue. Restaurant owners are pretty used to having their revenue streams made up of food sales. However, gift cards enable them to offer an entirely new and highly-sought after product. It’s important to remember, as well, that gift card redeemers often spend more than the value of their cards. By offering gift cards, you stand to make more money on meals than you normally would.

2. They increase customer loyalty. Remember that gift cards are recommendations. When someone buys a gift card from you, it is that person’s way of saying “I recommend this restaurant to you”. There’s nothing better that such referrals! Customers who promote your brand are simply the best, aren’t they? On QSRweb.com, Kristen Gramigna suggests that you create a gift card program to help deepen customer loyalty.

“Whether you limit your gift card program to ‘physical currency’ or supplement it with a digital gift card program that allows customers to purchase ‘virtual’ cards online to send to the recipient via social media or email, gift card programs lend themselves to incentivizing customer loyalty,” she writes, “Though having a quality product certainly doesn’t hurt, the success of its program is largely driven by the fact that it is designed to keep customers coming back.”

3. They’re perfect for celebrating important occasions. Restaurateurs are well aware that their establishments are great places for people who are looking to celebrate special occasions. Birthday parties, anniversaries and other important life events are very often commemorated at restaurants. People like going out to eat. So the taking of a person to lunch or dinner is regularly seen as a great gesture. Your gift cards make it a lot easier for people to gift their loved ones with meals even if they can’t be part of them.

On Ctuit.com, Rob D\’Ambrosia explains that not only are gift cards the most requested of all gifts (according to a National Retail Federation’s annual Gift Card Spending Survey), but “restaurant gift cards can be passed on to multiple people, meaning multiple new (and potentially returning) customers.” As a result, you not only address the needs of many of your current customers, but you open yourself up to opportunities for gaining new ones.

4. It helps you to remain competitive. It’s important to remember that your patrons always have options. Naturally, there are many places where they can go to eat. But do they all offer the ability to gift others with meals at their establishments? Selling gift cards means that you strengthen your reputation with the general public. It makes your brand look like it is part of your industry’s upper echelon.

“If your restaurant isn’t yet equipped to sell gift cards, you’re missing out on a significant opportunity to capture the ‘low-hanging fruit’ that might otherwise go to your competitors,” insists Gramigna, who goes on to note that “gift cards give your patrons a convenient gifting solution, but more importantly, they serve as branded marketing tools that help you acquire new customers.”

For more information about how to begin selling gift cards at your restaurant, call Canadian POS Corporation at 1-877-748-2884 or email us at info@localhost.