You’re Offering Gift Cards. You Should Be Selling Them. Here’s the Difference.

There’s a question I ask every restaurant owner I work with about gift cards, and it changes the way they think about this entire revenue stream. Are you offering gift cards, or are you selling them?

Because I think there’s a whole business around selling gift cards. And what triggered that foundational realization for me was this: gift cards statistically redeem at an 80% rate. If that’s the case, that means I can offer a 20% discount, and generally speaking, I’m at a flat margin. That feels like a really good deal. That feels like I can use that to create a lot of perceived value.

So I started looking at the opportunities to do it. And what I found is that when you combine the right timing, the right offer, and the right audience, gift card sales become one of the most powerful revenue levers in your business. No new customers required. No new menu items. No new marketing spend. Just a strategic approach to something you’re probably already doing passively.

Sell When People Are Already Primed to Buy

The best time to sell is when people are primed to buy. That sounds obvious, but most restaurants completely ignore the timing component of gift card sales.

For me, it started with corporate gifting. If you were hosting a private event with me for a holiday party, I would say, “Hey John, wouldn’t it be cool if at the end of the event, we were able to hand out gift cards to everyone for $20, $30, $40? You know, if you buy them in bulk, I’ll give you a 20% discount.”

Or John comes to me and says, “Man, it’s been a really bad year. We’re not going to be doing a holiday party this year.” To which I would say, “Well, come on, Scrooge. Let’s give them something. Why don’t you order gift cards? We’ll do gift cards. They had a party last year. They’re totally going to expect something. And if you do it, I’ll give you 20% off.”

We sold tens of thousands of dollars in gift cards that way. Just by being strategic about when and how we offered them to people who were already in buying mode.

The other occasion-based opportunity that works incredibly well is Black Friday. People are already looking to spend money on Black Friday. Nobody says, “Will I spend money on Black Friday?” The question is, what are they going to spend money on? So I want to throw my hat in the ring, because the people on my mailing list already know, like, and trust me.

The Promise, Pitch, Remove, and Return Campaign

The strategy we use to sell gift cards is a multi-tier campaign built around four phases: promise, pitch, remove, and return. You’ve seen this in every other industry. Here’s how it works for restaurants.

Promise. I make the announcement. I let my mailing list know that something special is coming. Something exclusive to them. Something they’re going to want to get in on.

Pitch. The next day, I pitch. “This is the thing we’re doing. It’s only available to our list. Click here to redeem before it goes public.” It goes public the next day. This creates an early-access window that makes your best customers feel like insiders.

Remove. Then I pull it. It ends at midnight. The discount code doesn’t work. The website is down. They no longer get access to the thing.

Return. A couple of days later, we re-release it. “Hey, due to overwhelming demand, we are now bringing this thing back. You now have 12 hours to get the thing.”

Why would we structure it this way? Because consumer buying behavior works like this. People only buy on two days. They buy on the first day, and they buy on the last day. Urgency is a thing. And so what this campaign does is it gives you one first day, but it gives you two last days.

It works. It works very well.

The Numbers That Prove This Works

I want to show you what this looks like when it’s executed at scale, because these aren’t theoretical numbers. These are real restaurants using this exact system.

Loveland Coffee in Irmo, South Carolina. In 2025, they sold $72,374.10 worth of gift cards. A coffee shop. Seventy-two thousand dollars in gift cards.

Black Flannel in Essex, Vermont sold $20,000 on Black Friday alone. One day. Twenty thousand dollars.

Urban Omni in Whitefish, Montana sold $35,000 worth of gift cards to a mailing list of 1,800 people. That’s nearly $20 per person on the list. From a single campaign.

It works. It’s really compelling. If your list is primed to buy, this is how you sell.

The Corporate Gifting Lever

Beyond direct-to-consumer gift card campaigns, there’s another entire revenue stream hiding in corporate gifting that most restaurants completely ignore.

Companies need gifts for their employees. They need client appreciation gifts. They need year-end bonuses that feel personal. They need holiday gifts that don’t feel generic. Gift cards from a great local restaurant check every single one of those boxes.

The approach is simple. When someone is already booking a private event with you, the gift card conversation is natural. “While we’re putting this event together, would you like to send everyone home with a gift card? If you buy them in bulk, I’ll give you 20% off.” The 20% discount is not actually a discount – remember, gift cards redeem at 80%. You’re at flat margin. But it feels like a massive win for the buyer, and they get to be the hero who gives everyone something personal and local instead of another Amazon gift card.

Even companies that aren’t doing holiday parties need a gifting solution. That’s your opening. “I know you’re not doing an event this year, but let’s make sure your team still feels appreciated.” Gift cards solve that problem instantly, and at scale, the numbers add up fast.

Marketing Is Math, and the Key to Success Is Scale

Here’s what I’ll tell you about gift card sales, and really about everything we’ve covered in this entire series. Marketing is math, and the key to success is scale.

If you reach out to 10 people a day for three days and it doesn’t work, you’re not doing it right. What we have to do is 10x, 100x these efforts, because these are the things that create the biggest impact in your business.

The promise, pitch, remove, and return campaign works because it’s sent to your entire list. Not a segment. Not a test group. Your entire list. The corporate gifting pitch works because you’re embedding it into every event conversation, not just mentioning it once a year in December.

And the 20% discount works because the math supports it. Gift cards redeem at 80%. You’re not losing money on the discount. You’re creating perceived value at flat margin while simultaneously driving future visits from people who redeem those cards.

Every gift card redeemed is a person walking through your door. Many of them are first-timers who have never been to your restaurant. If you give them the best imaginable version of the experience – which is the whole point of everything I teach – they come back. And now that gift card has turned into a customer acquisition tool that paid for itself.

Insulate Yourself from the Volatility of the Industry

One of the core reasons I push gift card sales so hard is diversification. When we make money more than one way, what we do is insulate ourselves from the volatility of our industry.

In Los Angeles, when it drizzles, revenues go down by 20% for the day. That used to panic me. What I wanted to do was make sure I was guaranteed to make money no matter what, because I was in direct control of it. Diversification of revenues is the best way to do that.

I talk about hitting a 15 to 20% net margin with every client. How do I do it if we spend absolutely no time talking about cost controls? It’s a blended average. We work at 10 to 12% in-house, but then we supplement that with 30% margins on events, catering, and gift cards. That blended average puts you right at 20%.

Gift cards are part of that equation. They’re high-margin revenue that you control. They’re not subject to weather or foot traffic or whether your server calls in sick on a Saturday night. You sell them on your terms, on your timeline, to people who already love you.

Your 7-Day Gift Card Sales Action Plan

Day 1: Check your current gift card sales. Pull the data. How much did you sell in gift cards last year? If you don’t know, that’s your first problem. You can’t optimize what you don’t measure. Get the number.

Day 2: Build the promise, pitch, remove, and return campaign. Write the four emails. Promise announces it’s coming. Pitch delivers the offer with early access for your list. Remove pulls it at midnight. Return brings it back 48 hours later with a 12-hour window. Load them into your email system.

Day 3: Add a corporate gifting pitch to your event conversations. Train your team to ask one question during every event planning conversation: “Would you like to send everyone home with a gift card?” Offer the 20% bulk discount. Remember – at 80% redemption, you’re at flat margin.

Day 4: Plan your seasonal calendar. Identify every gifting occasion on the calendar – Black Friday, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, graduation season. Each one gets its own campaign using the same four-phase structure.

Day 5: Create the “no party” pitch. For every company that tells you they’re not doing a holiday party this year, have a gift card counter-offer ready. “Let’s give them something anyway. Gift cards for the whole team, 20% off bulk orders.” Don’t let the conversation end at “no party.”

Day 6: Set your Black Friday target. Based on your mailing list size, what’s a realistic gift card sales goal for Black Friday? Black Flannel did $20,000 in one day. Urban Omni did $35,000 from a list of 1,800. Set your number and build backward from there.

Day 7: Launch your first campaign. Don’t wait for November. Your restaurant’s anniversary, a seasonal menu launch, a random Tuesday – any occasion works when the offer is compelling enough. The system works because the system works. Money likes speed. Start today.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why can restaurants offer a 20% discount on gift cards and still make money?

Gift cards statistically redeem at an 80% rate. That means 20% of the money you collect never comes back as an expense. So when you offer a 20% bulk discount, you’re generally at a flat margin – the discount is covered by the non-redemption rate. It feels like a massive deal to the buyer, but the math works in your favor every time.

What is the promise, pitch, remove, and return campaign for gift card sales?

It’s a four-phase email campaign. Promise announces something special is coming. Pitch delivers the offer with exclusive early access for your mailing list. Remove pulls the offer at midnight – the code stops working, access ends. Return brings the offer back 48 hours later with a tight 12-hour window. It works because people buy on the first day and the last day, and this structure gives you one first day and two last days.

How much can a restaurant realistically sell in gift cards?

Loveland Coffee in Irmo, South Carolina sold $72,374.10 in gift cards in 2025. Black Flannel in Essex, Vermont sold $20,000 on Black Friday alone. Urban Omni in Whitefish, Montana sold $35,000 to a mailing list of just 1,800 people. The results depend on your list size, your offer strength, and your willingness to actually sell rather than passively offer.

How does corporate gift card sales work for restaurants?

When a company is hosting a private event with you, offer to provide gift cards for all attendees at a 20% bulk discount. For companies not doing events, pitch gift cards as an alternative way to appreciate their team. Companies need client gifts, employee bonuses, and holiday presents. Gift cards from a great local restaurant feel personal and premium, and at 80% redemption, your 20% discount costs you nothing.

Why should gift cards be part of a restaurant’s overall revenue strategy?

Gift cards help you hit a blended 15 to 20% net margin. In-house dining runs at 10 to 12%. Events, catering, and gift cards run at 30% margins. When you blend those revenue streams, the overall margin rises without cutting a single cost. Gift cards also insulate you from the volatility of the industry – they’re not subject to weather, foot traffic, or staffing issues. You sell them on your terms to people who already love you.