"Buy a $50 gift card, get a $10 bonus card" is the most common holiday offer in restaurants, and it works because it gives guests a reason to buy now instead of in mid-December. It also creates a promise you will honor months later, at a discount, in a slow month. Whether the deal pays off depends on choices most owners make in a hurry: the bonus amount, when the bonus can be used, how it is labeled and how your POS records it.
This guide covers the common deal formats, the math behind each, the federal rules that apply to paid gift cards and promotional bonus cards, how the money should be recorded, and a POS checklist to set it up before Black Friday. For the marketing side, such as channels, in-store displays and staff incentives, see our holiday gift card strategy guide. This article focuses on how to structure and run the deal itself.
Most gift card promotions fall into one of five shapes. Each one changes when the discount hits your margin and how much control you keep.
For most independent and small-group Asian restaurants, the separate bonus card or tiered reload bonuses give the clearest results, because the bonus has its own dates and its own report line.
A bonus is a discount that you give at redemption, not at the sale. Work out the real cost before you print anything. The figures below are illustrative.
Effective discount. With a "$50 get $10" offer, the guest receives $60 of value for $50. When all of it is redeemed, you have given about 16.7% off that $60 of food and drink. A "$100 get $15" offer works out to about 13%.
Food cost on the bonus. If your food cost runs around 30%, the true cost of honoring a $10 bonus is closer to $3 in ingredients, plus the labor and overhead of the visit. The bonus is cheaper than its face value, but it is not free.
Overspend. Guests often spend beyond the card balance. A $10 bonus that brings in a table of three spending $70 on a Tuesday in February is a very different result from a $10 bonus redeemed on a busy Saturday by a guest who was coming anyway. Track overspend on redemptions, since it is where the deal earns its money.
Cash timing. The $50 arrives in November or December. The bonus redemption lands in the window you choose. If January and February are your slow months, that timing helps cash flow at both ends.
A practical rule: set the bonus so the effective discount stays at or below the discount you would accept on a slow-month promotion anyway, and put the bonus window in those slow months.
Federal gift card rules come from the Credit CARD Act of 2009 and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Regulation E. They treat the card a guest pays for differently from a promotional card you give away.
Paid gift cards. Funds on a card the guest paid for may not expire for at least five years from the date the card was issued or money was last loaded. Inactivity or dormancy fees are allowed only after 12 months without use, no more than one per month, and only if disclosed. Most restaurants simply do not charge fees.
Promotional bonus cards. A card given free as part of a promotion can carry a shorter expiry, but only if it is clearly marked. The federal exclusion requires that the card state on its front that it is issued for promotional, loyalty or award purposes, show the expiration date on the front, disclose any fees, and give a toll-free number or website for questions. A card labeled "Bonus Card, valid Jan 1 to Mar 31, 2027, promotional, not for resale" is the usual approach.
State law. Many states add their own rules. California, for example, generally prohibits expiration dates on gift certificates sold to consumers and requires cash back on small remaining balances. Some states treat unredeemed gift card balances as unclaimed property. Before you launch, confirm your state's rules with your accountant or the state attorney general's consumer protection office, and repeat the check for each state where you operate.
This is the main reason to keep the bonus on a separate card. If the bonus is loaded onto the same card as paid value, it becomes difficult to show which dollars may expire and which may not.
Gift card money follows different rules from a regular sale, and getting it wrong distorts both your sales reports and your tax filings.
A POS that records gift card sales, gift card redemptions and bonus redemptions as three separate lines makes month-end reconciliation and tax filing much simpler.
Gift card buying clusters around a few dates. This year, Thanksgiving falls on Thursday, November 26, followed by Black Friday on November 27, Small Business Saturday on November 28 and Cyber Monday on November 30. Christmas Eve is a Thursday.
A simple calendar:
Valentine's Day 2027 falls on a Sunday. If that weekend is already busy for you, end the bonus window before it or exclude it.
Set this up and test it before launch day. A failed card swipe at the register on Black Friday is hard to fix with a line out the door.
The Chowbus gift card system supports physical and digital cards and tiered recharge bonuses, such as "get $30 free with a $300 purchase," and it can be combined with SMS marketing to announce the offer.
Multi-location groups need one more decision: where the money goes and how each store gets credit.
The cleanest setup sends gift card purchase money to the headquarters account and records each redemption in the report of the store where the guest ate. The store sees its sales accurately, headquarters holds the liability in one place, and nobody has to reconcile transfers between stores by hand. Chowbus supports this arrangement, with purchases and reloads going to headquarters, redemptions recorded in each store's reports and dedicated reports tracking gift card fund flows.
If your locations operate under different names, decide whether one card works across all brands. Cross-brand cards can introduce guests from one concept to another, which is a real advantage for groups with several restaurants in the same area.
When the bonus window closes, review the deal with a few numbers from your POS:
These figures tell you whether to raise or lower the bonus next year, which tier sold best and whether the redemption window did its job.
Q1: What are the most common gift card deals for restaurants?
The most common is a bonus card, such as "buy $50, get a $10 bonus card," usually valid in a later window. Other formats include loading bonus value onto the same card, selling cards below face value, tiered reload bonuses for larger purchases and a small bonus for guests who buy cards as gifts.
Q2: Can a restaurant put an expiration date on a bonus gift card?
Under federal rules, a free promotional card can have a shorter expiry if the front of the card states it is promotional and shows the expiration date, and the card discloses fees and a contact number. Paid gift card funds must last at least five years. Some states, such as California, are stricter, so check your state's law first.
Q3: Is it better to give bonus value on the same card or a separate card?
A separate bonus card is usually easier to manage. It keeps promotional value apart from paid value, so you can set a clear bonus window and meet the disclosure rules. It also gives you a cleaner report on how many bonuses were actually redeemed.
Q4: How much does a "buy $50, get $10" gift card offer cost a restaurant?
At full redemption, the guest receives $60 of value for $50, an effective discount of about 16.7%. Your real cost is lower, since you pay for food and labor rather than the menu price, and guests often spend more than the card value. Track overspend on redemptions to see the true return.
Q5: Do restaurants charge sales tax when selling gift cards?
Generally no. Sales tax is usually collected when the card is redeemed for food and drink, not when the card is sold, because the card itself is a form of payment. Confirm your state's rule and set the gift card item in your POS as non-taxable at sale.
Q6: When should a restaurant launch its holiday gift card deal?
Have the offer set up and tested before Thanksgiving, then launch in the window from Black Friday through Cyber Monday, which in 2026 runs from November 27 to November 30. Keep digital cards available through Christmas Eve for last-minute buyers.
A gift card deal works best when the bonus is sized like any other promotion, lands in the weeks you need traffic, carries clear labels and shows up as its own line in your reports. Those choices decide whether the offer brings new visits in February or simply discounts meals that would have happened anyway.
Start with your slow months and work backward: pick the bonus window first, size the bonus to match your usual promotion budget, then build the cards and POS items around it. Set everything up this month so the offer is ready when Thanksgiving week arrives.
