The best Black Friday restaurant promotion is a bonus gift card offer, such as "buy $50, get a $10 bonus card" good for January through March. It pulls cash into your account during the holidays, gives you a built-in reason for guests to return in a slow season, and costs you far less than the face value because the bonus is redeemed at your food cost, not at menu price.
Why gift cards beat discounting
A 25% off coupon cuts your price on every sale. A bonus card does the opposite: the guest pays full price today, and the bonus only costs you when it is used. Most bonus cards are redeemed on a visit that includes additional spending, and some are never redeemed at all. Done well, the promotion pays for itself and then some.
Before launching, make sure your accounting is ready. Gift cards are a liability until redeemed, so review how to account for gift card liability, and confirm your system can sell and redeem them using how to set up gift cards and digital wallets.
Choose the offer
| Offer | Guest sees | Typical cost to you |
|---|---|---|
| Buy $50, get $10 | 20% bonus | About 6% to 8% of face value after food cost |
| Buy $100, get $25 | 25% bonus | About 8% to 10% |
| Buy $25, get $5 | 20% bonus, entry level | About 6% to 8% |
| Free $10 card with any purchase of $50 | Treat for card buyers | About 6% |
Bonus costs assume a 30% to 35% food and beverage cost. Use your own number from calculating food cost percentage in the calculator.
Set the rules that protect you
- Make the bonus card a separate card with a "valid January 2 through March 31" window, so it drives traffic in your slow months.
- Exclude alcohol from bonus card redemption if your margins or local rules call for it, and check state rules on gift card expiration, which vary.
- Limit it to one bonus per purchase or a cap per guest.
- Set a minimum spend on redemption, such as $20, to avoid people using $10 on a $6 coffee.
- Run it for a defined window, typically the Friday after Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, or through mid-December.
The math in one example
Say you sell 100 cards at $50 each. That is $5,000 in cash today. You give out 100 bonus cards at $10 each, a $1,000 face value. If 85% are redeemed and your food cost is 32%, the real cost is $1,000 × 0.85 × 0.32 = $272. Meanwhile, guests redeeming the $10 bonus usually spend well beyond it, which brings additional margin. Even if you ignore that upside, your net cost is under 6% of the $5,000 raised.
Promote it where guests already are
- Email and text: send a launch message the Monday before Black Friday and a reminder on Cyber Monday. See building an email list and text message marketing.
- In the restaurant: table tents, a counter display and a line on the check presenter.
- Online: a link on your website and Google Business Profile, covered in setting up a Google Business Profile.
- Local tie-ins: pair it with Small Business Saturday ideas.
Tell staff the offer in your pre-shift meeting and give servers a script: "Gift cards are 20% bonus through Monday." A small server contest for most cards sold can double results.
Track what happens
Measure cards sold, dollars raised, bonus cards issued, and redemption by month. Compare spend per visit on redemption days to your normal average. Fold the results into your measure of marketing ROI so you know whether to repeat it next year.
Sell the gift card at full price, give the bonus as a separate card that expires in your slow season, and you raise cash now while filling tables in January.
Make selling and redeeming easy
The promotion fails if the process is clumsy. Your POS should sell, load and redeem cards in seconds and show you what is outstanding. Cobblestone POS is a free, all-in-one POS for independent restaurants with loyalty and reporting built in and no monthly fee, so you can tie gift card buyers into a loyalty program without paying the roughly $470 a month some competitors charge. For other seasonal ideas, browse holiday and seasonal promotion ideas.
Free Gift Card Bonus Offer Calculator (Excel).