Guide · 12 min read
How to sell more restaurant gift cards
A gift card calendar for the whole year: five moments, who buys at each, where your buy link goes, and the rules your terms must follow.
The short answer
To sell more restaurant gift cards, plan around five moments, December, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day and graduation, and move your buy link to where each moment's buyers look a few weeks ahead. Sell on your own site so cards arrive by email at once, and keep terms within the expiration law.
- Five moments a year, each with its own buyer.
- Move the link before each moment, not during it.
- Federal minimum: five years before expiry; some states ban it.
At a glance
- Moments to plan
- December, Valentine's, Mother's Day, Father's Day, graduation
- When to start
- Two to four weeks before each
- Where the link goes
- Wherever that moment's buyers already look
- Federal expiration minimum
- Five years from purchase or last load
- Inactivity fees
- Only after 12 months unused
- State rules
- Some states ban expiration dates outright
December: the link on your homepage
December buyers are shopping for a list: family, hosts, a boss, the neighbor who feeds the cat. Give them the link everywhere they land. Put a banner on your homepage from mid-November, a Gift cards item in your main menu bar, and a line on the confirmation of every holiday party you book.
The last three days before the holiday belong to buyers who forgot. A card sold on your own site goes out by email the moment it is paid, so say so in your posts that week.
Do this todayPut the homepage banner up the week before Thanksgiving, not the week after.
Valentine's Day: sell the dinner
A Valentine's gift card is a promise of a night out, often for a date later in February when tables are easier to get. Sell it that way: name the dinner it covers, not a dollar figure.
Put the link beside your reservation button for the week, and in the confirmation of every Valentine's booking, so a guest who reserved can add a card for a friend's dinner too.
Do this todayWrite one post that says a gift card covers dinner for two, and pin it for the first two weeks of February.
Mother's Day: lead with brunch
Mother's Day buyers are grown children, many of them in another city. They cannot bring their mother in, but they can send her and a friend to brunch. An emailed card with a note is exactly the gift they are looking for.
Put the link on your brunch menu page and send your guest list a short note in late April with one good brunch photo.
Asked an AI assistantYou don't appear
Restaurant gift card I can send my parents by email today?
- 1.The steakhouse downtownGift cards online, any amount, sent by email.
- 2.The Italian place on Elm StreetGift cards on its website, with a note to the recipient.
- 3.The brunch spot by the parkDigital gift cards, balance checked online.
Your restaurant: not mentioned
Do this todayUse a real photo of your brunch in the April note, never a stock picture.
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Father's Day: catch the final week
Father's Day buyers decide late. Many start looking in the last few days, after the card aisle has failed them. Plan your push for the final week before the day rather than the whole month.
Lead your posts with the dish he would order, a steak, a burger, a pint, and the link under it. Post on your Google listing too, since many buyers search your name before they buy.
Do this todaySchedule two posts: one a week before Father's Day and one two days before it.
Graduation: sell to the families
Graduation season runs from May into June, and the buyers are parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. A card for a graduate is a dinner out with friends, a first meal as an adult, a thank-you to a teacher.
Families are also booking graduation dinners and parties. Add the gift card link to every graduation private event confirmation, so the host who books the room can send cards to the guests of honor.
Do this todayLook up the graduation dates of the schools near you and mark each one on your calendar.
Write terms the law allows
Under federal rules, a store gift card cannot expire sooner than five years after it was bought or money was last added. Inactivity fees are allowed only after twelve months without use, and at most one a month. Some states go further and ban expiration dates on most gift cards.
Check your own state's rules, or ask your lawyer, then write the terms in two or three plain sentences on your buy page.
Do this todayIf you are unsure, the simplest terms are often the safest: no expiration date and no fees.
What each moment's card buys
Three seasons of the same courtyard and table: a December card, a Mother's Day brunch, a June night out.
The calendar
Where the buy link goes, moment by moment
Each moment's buyers look in a different place. Move the link there a few weeks ahead, and take it down after.
| Moment | Homepage and menu bar | A note to your guest list | Google and social posts |
|---|---|---|---|
| December holidays | Yes:Banner from mid-November to December 24 | Yes:Early December, then the week before | Yes:Weekly from Thanksgiving week |
| Valentine's Day | Varies:A line beside the reservation button | Yes:Early February, with your dinner menu | Yes:The final three days before |
| Mother's Day | Yes:On the brunch menu page | Yes:Late April, with a brunch photo | Yes:The week before, brunch photo |
| Father's Day | Varies:A homepage line the final week | Varies:One short reminder, if any | Yes:Final week, the dish he'd order |
| Graduation season | Varies:On your private events page | No:Party confirmations reach families instead | Yes:Around local school graduation dates |
| Birthdays, all year | Yes:A permanent menu bar link | No:Not needed; the link does it | Varies:Now and then, with a party photo |
| Office thank-yous | Yes:A line welcoming company orders | Varies:One note to past event hosts | No:Office buyers rarely look there |
A plan to adapt, not a rule: shift each date to your own slow and busy weeks.
The gift card year, in depth
Why five moments beat one December push
Most restaurants promote gift cards once, in December, and then forget them until next year. December earns its place, but it is one moment out of five. Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day and graduation each bring their own buyers, and each lasts only a few weeks. A restaurant that shows up for all five sells to five different crowds.
Each push is small: a link moved to a new spot, one note, two posts. Spread across the year, the work stays light, and the buy link is in front of buyers at the moment they are deciding instead of eleven months too early or a day too late.
Each moment has its own buyer
Think about who is buying, because it changes where they look. In December it is everyone with a list, plus offices thanking clients. On Valentine's Day it is partners planning a night out. In May it is grown children sending their mothers to brunch, often from another city. In June it is families: children for their fathers, parents and grandparents for graduates.
Each of those buyers starts somewhere different. The December buyer sees your homepage. The Valentine's buyer is on your reservation page. The Mother's Day buyer opens your note, then your brunch menu. The Father's Day buyer searches your name in the final week. The graduation buyer is already booking your room. The calendar table above puts the link in each of those places.
Lead time: when each moment's buyers start looking
Gift buyers come in two waves: the planners a few weeks out and the late deciders in the last days. Plan for both. Start each moment two to four weeks ahead with the link in place and one note, then repeat the message in the final days, when the planners are done and the late deciders arrive.
December starts earliest, around Thanksgiving week, because lists are long. Valentine's Day and Father's Day lean late, so most of the effort goes into the last week. Mother's Day falls in the same weeks as graduations and end-of-year teacher gifts, so treat late April to mid-June as one long stretch with three audiences.
Amounts that fit each moment
Amounts sell better when they match a real visit. Name them that way in your posts: a Valentine's card that covers dinner for two with a bottle, a Mother's Day card that covers brunch for two, a graduation card that covers dinner out with three friends. A buyer who can picture the meal stops worrying whether the number is enough.
Keep a custom amount for the buyer who already knows their number, and keep the set amounts to three or four. Too many choices slow down a tired buyer in the final days of a moment, which is exactly when you most want them to finish. Three clear choices and one open box is usually enough for every moment of the year.
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What the law says about expiration and fees
Under the federal Credit CARD Act of 2009 and its rule, a store gift card generally cannot expire sooner than five years after it was issued or money was last loaded onto it. An inactivity fee may be charged only after twelve months with no use, no more than once a month, and only when it is clearly disclosed.
Some states go further. Several ban expiration dates on most gift cards, and some limit or ban inactivity fees too. The rules differ from state to state and change from time to time, so check the rules where you operate, or ask your lawyer, before you publish terms. This guide is not legal advice.
Writing terms a guest can read in ten seconds
Terms belong on the buy page, in two or three plain sentences, so nobody discovers a rule at the table. The friendliest version is short: the card never expires, it carries no fees, and it can be used a bit at a time until it is spent.
On Tableify, cards have no expiration date by default and the default terms say the amount paid never expires, so most restaurants start from the simplest version. Whatever you choose, use the same words on the buy page, in the gift card email and on any sign at the register, so a guest never reads two versions of the rules.
Between the moments: birthdays and companies
Between the five moments, gift cards keep selling for birthdays, anniversaries, thank-yous and get-well wishes. These buyers do not follow a calendar, so they need a link that is always there: a Gift cards item in the menu bar and a line on your menu page.
Companies are the other steady buyer. Offices buy cards for client thank-yous, employee awards and holiday gifts, several at a time. Say on your buy page that you welcome company orders, and tell the hosts of past corporate events in one short note. If your event hosts already sit in Tableify CRM, that list is already built.
After each moment: count, then move the date
When a moment ends, write down what it sold and when the sales came, early or in the last days. Next year, start the moments that sold well a week earlier, and keep the ones that came late focused on the final days.
Count redemptions too. Each card spent brings someone to your table, often a guest who has never been in, so check that the pages a new guest reads are ready for them. Before a busy moment, the free restaurant report shows whether a buyer who searches your name can reach your buy page, and the menu SEO guide covers the menu that recipient reads before they come in.
Questions about gift cards
When do restaurants sell the most gift cards?
Sales follow the gifting calendar: the December holidays, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day and graduation season. For many restaurants November and December are the busiest stretch. Your own sales by month will show which moments matter most for you.
How early should a restaurant promote holiday gift cards?
Start around Thanksgiving week, with the link on your homepage and in your menu bar. Send your guest list a note in early December and repeat the message in the last days before the holiday. Late buyers are the ones an emailed card suits best.
Do restaurant gift cards expire?
Under federal rules, a store gift card generally cannot expire sooner than five years after it was bought or money was last added. Some states ban expiration dates on most gift cards. Check the rules in your state before you write your terms.
Can a restaurant charge a fee on an unused gift card?
Federal rules allow an inactivity fee only after twelve months with no use, at most once a month, and only when it is clearly disclosed. Some states limit or ban these fees. Many restaurants charge none, which keeps the terms simple.
How do I sell gift cards for Mother's Day?
Lead with brunch. Put the buy link on your brunch menu page and send your guest list a short note in late April with one real brunch photo. Many buyers live in another city, so make sure cards go out by email with a personal note.
How do I sell restaurant gift cards to companies?
Say on your buy page that you welcome company orders, and let each card go by email to its own recipient. Tell the hosts of past corporate events in one short note before December. A company that buys cards is often a company that books a holiday party.
Where should the gift card link go on my website?
Keep a permanent Gift cards item in your main menu bar, then move a second link to wherever each moment's buyers look: the homepage in December, beside the reservation button for Valentine's Day, the brunch menu page for Mother's Day. The gift card page shows the buy page itself. Take each second link down when its moment ends, so the page never feels out of date.
Be found before each moment.
Gift card buyers search your name first. See how your restaurant shows up on Google and in AI answers, next to the places nearby.
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