[LyndaSLP]

During the holidays, many restaurants offer "free GC wyb $25+ GC" deals. They market it as "Buy your friend/family/coworker/babysitter a $25 GC to our restaurant, get a free $5 GC for yourself"

Now, you may be thinking, "Well, these restaurant deals aren't anything I need to know about. I don't buy people GC for Christmas...and if I do buy a GC as a present, well, I don't ever buy restaurant ones."

That may be true, but do YOU and your family eat at any of the restaurants offering the free GC wyb a GC? Why not buy the GC for your family to use?? Keep reading to see how to take advantage of this GC offer this holiday season:


I will use Red Robin restaurant as an example b/c my family eats there at least twice a month. For our family of 3, our bill is usually around $24 before the tip.

The hostess seats us. The waitress comes to the table to take our drink order and I state, "Before we order anything, I'd like to buy a $25 giftcard please. And I'd like to pay for it now, separately from our dinner." And I hand her my credit card.

Waitress brings us the $25 GC and our free $5 GC (which at RedRobin you can't use until January). I take the GCs and sign the cc receipt. We order.

Meal is done. Bill comes. I pay with the $25 GC that I just purchased before dinner. I purposely bought the GC to use after dinner. I wanted the free $5 GC. I figure if I am going to shell out close to $25 for dinner at RR, why not buy the GC first and get some free $$ to use toward dinners in January??

We have eaten at RedRobin 4 times since they started their holiday GC offer. Only ONE time was the cost of the GC significantly more than our meal -- that was b/c I had a coupon for a free burger. The other 3 times, the cost of the GC was close to or more than the cost of our dinners. And now I have $20 in free GC to use in January. It's a money maker to me.

If you eat at one restaurant frequently enough -- and that restaurant offers this "free GC wyb a GC" deal -- take advantage of it!

No waitress is going to say NO to you buying a GC. Most restaurants offer incentives to the server who can sell the most GC during the time frame of the offer. No manager is going to say NO either -- b/c most restaurant companies are offering incentives to the store that sells the most GC.

(If anything isn't clear in my advice above, please ask and I will clarify.)

Go here for a thread about which restaurants are offering buy GC, get Y.

[tklein]

what a great post, I would have never put that together myself, makes sense , thank you

[AngieP]

Genius!

[KellyMarie]

Plus, save that receipt and if you live in certain states, you can get $10 back on a $20 GC purchase! There are forms out there! So now you save even more!!!

[LyndaSLP]

Restaurants are starting to offer the "Buy GC, get X" deals. Bumping this information to help people make the most of it!

[Javahead]

Applebees did this last year too.

[CouponMama]

We just went to Moe's for lunch. The bill was $19. The manager asked me if I wanted to buy a gift card. I said no. After we paid he explained that it was buy a 20 gift card and get a $5 one free. He said next time buy the GC. I had not thought of that either. BTW, I use all the $5 gift cards for my 17 year old nephew and sister's gifts. They love to eat out and it is nice for them to have their own money.

[jcsaxx]

Very smart. Thanks.

[LyndaSLP]

(b/c it's good info!)

[Kmchamplin]

There is a thread that is started in the Restaurant deal section with all the Buy this get that.

[LyndaSLP]

Thanks Karen! I added a link to that thread in the OP.

[philipandrachel]

WOW... I would have never, never, never thought of that... and we eat out more than we do at home... thanks, that is an awesome idea~

[AubreysMommy]

What a great idea!! I never would have thought of that!! Thanks!

[LyndaSLP]

[LyndaSLP]

Time for restaurants to start offering these deals again!

Please pay attention to the DATE on the replies to this thread -- the thread was started in 2007. The information in the OP is still valid/reliable. The replies containing information about restaurants may not be.

[carmended]

This is exactly what me and my mom were talking about!! :-)

[kurautismnow]

I do this as well!!

[AStacy123]

great idea. now I need to find some resturants that do that clos to me!

[tratra]

We do this sometimes too. Did it at Chik-fil-a to be able to get the coupon calendar for free (regularly $6). The free GC deal is great if somebody in the family eats out at lunchtime-- a bonus lunch.

Just be sure to be mindful of the expiration date on the bonus gift card. One year we did it, we had to use the card within 30 days or it was void.

[Alexdur85]

We haven't eaten out in a while. But when we do and they offer this type of promotion we totally take advantage. I now even have my IL's doing it.