A reader e-mailed me today with this question:
Hi, I love the tips you give out, especially Restaurant.com. I'm curious though: what do the certificates say on them? I'd be giving them as gifts and wouldn't want the person to realize I bought a $25 certificate for $4!!!! So I guess my question is, is this certificate like any other: meaning it just says $25 certificate to XYZ Restaurant?
As far as I know, the certificate will just say what the redeemable amount is. It won't say how much you paid for it. Restaurant.com allows people to purchase them as gifts, so they wouldn't put the price on in that case.
Something else to consider though is that, as good as these certificates are, they're not quite the same thing as cash at participating restaurants. It's usually not the case that you can walk in any time you want, buy $25 worth of food and beverage, hand them the certificate, and be gone. There are restrictions, like:
- They may be redeemable on certain days only
- They may be redeemable during certain times only
- There may be minimum purchase requirements
- There may be a minimum number of entrees that need to be purchased
- The certificate may not be good toward some entrees
- Drinks, tax, or tip may not qualify
These aren't particularly onerous restrictions, but if you're concerned about how the gift may be received, consider whether you'd be comfortable giving them a really good coupon as a gift (which is what these are). If they go to a particular restaurant often, and their dining patterns match the restrictions, they probably would appreciate it. Buy a bunch of them. Buy them a Dinner of the Month club. (A year subscription from Restaurant.com is only $48 with coupon code ALLSTAR through July 20th!)
But if you want to get them something that they can use any time, just buy it through the restaurant for face value and there will probably be very few restrictions on it.
In general, if you're not sure how the gift will go over, try to get something that isn't merely a discount off of something. Make it free for them. Hope this helps!
I've got some advice for the reader: don't be so cheap! If you want to give someone a nice gift then give them a nice gift. Don't try to trick them into thinking you spent a lot of money when you didn't.
mbhunter: I like your suggestion of buying a bunch of them.
A friend gave me a $50 Restaurant.com gift certificate for my birthday. I was very excited, until I learned that I could not really redeed it anywhere.
I don't mean to look a gift horse in the mouth, but I was never able to find a restaurant that would take the coupon without tons of restrictions (such as ordering and paying for appetizers or such). In the end, I finally gave up frustrated and threw it up. I never told my friend.
Personally I would not give these coupons out as a gift, but rather use it for personal use or for when going out with family/friends. Like you mentioned, the coupons have certain restrictions. For example, I went to a local Thai restaurant and was looking forward to using my Restaurant.com coupon. I planned the visit around the coupon in a sense that I went to the restaurant during their dinner time, rather than lunch. I only had to purchase $15 in food in order to use the $10 coupon, which was totally fine since the dinner included just my girlfriend and I. By the way she is totally fine with me using coupons, lol. The weird thing is that when it came time to pay the bill, I showed the waiter my coupon, and he went to print me a new bill. The discount was applied to the bill, but the restaurant automatically added an 18% gratuity. This seemed odd, but I didn't want to fight it. On the other hand if you do not use the coupon, the restaurant will not automatically add the gratuity. In the end I can't complain, since I hardly paid anything near $10 for the coupon and this restaurant probably has the best Thai food around my area.
It's only okay as a gift if it's either a little extra gift or as something you're giving someone just for fun. In other words, it's fair to value it at the amount you paid for it, and you should explain what it is and how it works. They should know it's a "little something." Another possibility to make it work as a gift is to use it to take out the person you're giving a gift to. Lots and lots of people know what a Restaurant.com certificate is and they KNOW it isn't the same as a gift certificate.