5 Tips on how to properly use gift cards in your restaurant.
Just in the Advent season in the catering trade increased gift coupons are sold and are considered as a delightful gift idea for the family, friends, acquaintance and so on. Such a coupon is not only an enrichment for the own cash, likewise this can be seen as positive restaurant recommendation. After all, what great praise is it for a restaurant that customers find the food so good that it may even find a place under the Christmas tree as a gift in the form of a voucher?
Pay attention to legal requirements
The time of purchase is decisive for the receipt of payment. The customer comes into the store, wants to buy a 20€ voucher, for example, pays for it and will subsequently give it away. But so far, the voucher is not subject to sales tax. This is because it is only when the voucher is redeemed that the final tax rate is determined and can be booked. Thus, it is decisive whether the redeemer of the voucher eats the food out-of-house or in-house or whether drinks are included in the bill, which have a different tax rate than the food. The issuance or prior transfer of vouchers within the restaurant, show only an exchange of means of payment and are not taxable.
Of course, vouchers may be limited in time. Especially with discount vouchers, this is even common. However, this is not always legal. The legal requirements for time-limited vouchers are very high and should therefore be avoided. In principle, a value or gift voucher remains valid for three years from the end of the year of purchase. This means, for example, if it was purchased on 15.03.2021, the end of the year and therefore 31.12.2021 counts as the cut-off date. Accordingly, the voucher would be valid until 31.12.2024 and could be redeemed regularly.
Design gift cards attractive and clear
Keep in mind that even a voucher that has only this one use should still look appealing enough to convince customers at the counter to buy it. After all, spontaneous voucher purchases at the checkout happen more often than you might think. Therefore, a coherent graphic should be convincing. It is important that the voucher clearly describes what service it contains. The buyer, as well as the recipient, should clearly know what service or value they will receive in return.
As already mentioned, some data of the issuing company should be present on the voucher. In addition to information such as the name and address of the restaurant, you should also include a few other details, such as email address, telephone number or optionally your opening hours. A signature and the date do not have to be directly present. But especially the former makes the voucher even more personal and individual.
Design a tamper-proof look
What can you do to make sure that no one can copy your vouchers and rip you off? Of course, you can never rule out one hundred percent that coupons can’t be counterfeited. But here you can learn how to make it at least a little more difficult for criminals. First of all, it would be a great advantage to use thicker and more colorful paper, which might also differ in structure from the usual paper. This also has the advantage of appearing more high quality. In the same way, an individual form of the paper can show a unique selling point.
Signature and company stamp are not required by law, but are advantageous because of the avoidance of forgeries. Likewise, the voucher value should not be entered by hand. This can be subsequently changed to a higher amount. The value should therefore be printed on the voucher by computer. Digital solutions, which can be redeemed via scanner or QR code and are therefore quite safe from forgery, are of particular advantage here.
Profit from unredeemed vouchers
Another advantage that speaks for the sale of vouchers is that up to one third of all vouchers that have already been paid for are not redeemed. The restaurant has thus taken this money without providing anything in return. This can be naturally on the one hand because the restaurant does not agree with the presentees or in addition, that the coupon was simply forgotten, misplaced or lost. Therefore coupons are financially often a lucrative source of income without an expenditure.
From the customer’s point of view, however, vouchers have also been a risk, especially in the past lockdowns. For example, some voucher portals have emphasized at the time of purchase that it is possible that redemption of the voucher may no longer be possible due to corona-related closures. Thus one would lose the requirement on refund. Accordingly, buyers should be aware that they can support restaurants very well with vouchers, but the voucher could expire in the event of a closure.
Sell gift cards on online portals
During the lockdowns of the past year in particular, some sectors had to close their doors. As a result, many restaurants had to come up with something to compensate at least somewhat for the drop in sales. Quick support was needed, and in many places that meant vouchers! In addition to their own vouchers, which are sold at the counter or on their own website, external online portals were also switched on, which help to draw attention to the vouchers of small businesses as a platform. Thus immediate sales can be generated. The amount of money is taken immediately, but the service only has to be provided later.
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