Benefits of Implementing Restaurant Vouchers in Your Business

A restaurant gift card personally made for your establishment is the perfect strategy to help build a foundation for your restaurant to experience a future of success.

Whether you are looking to grow your restaurant's brand awareness or build a more loyal customer base, a physical or digital gift card for your restaurant can offer this and much more.

What is a Restaurant Voucher?

Restaurant vouchers are prepaid documents that can be used to pay for meals at hospitality venues. They are an alternative to cash, debit, or credit card payments, although they can be used alongside them if the full cost of a meal is not covered by a voucher.

If the full amount of a voucher is not used in a single transaction, funds can be saved for future meals. The remaining card balance can usually be carried forward until the prepaid amount has been spent or the card expires.

Generally, every gift card for a restaurant has a set expiry date, typically ranging from a year to several.

How is a Restaurant Voucher Used in a Business by Customers?

Vouchers for restaurants tend to come in two forms: a physical gift card that can be used on an EFTPOS machine for payment, or an e-gift card.

Once a gift card is given to a customer, they can use it at any point from then on. Some vouchers may need to be activated before use through the provider or restaurant's website.

While some voucher providers assign themselves as an official partner of one business, others can be applicable to multiple restaurants. With tools like ResDiary, restaurants are empowered to create their very own customisable vouchers with ease.

What are the Benefits of a Restaurant Voucher in a Business?

Some of the top benefits of integrating restaurant vouchers into your business are:

Increased Revenue

One bonus of restaurant vouchers is that even if the voucher is not used right away, the initial purchase secures funds at the time of purchase.

Since vouchers are an additional feature offered by your business, this means they can increase the baseline revenue of everyday service.

For example, a regular customer may have a meal at your business, and then choose to also purchase a voucher to give someone in their life. This means your initial projected revenue has increased without much effort.

The use of a voucher may also encourage customers to spend more at a business as a set amount of their meal is already covered. This means an increase in revenue as you obtain the initial voucher sale and then the additional expenditure on top of it.

Due to its frequent use as a gift, holiday seasons can also see a jump in revenue as customers choose to purchase a voucher to give to others. This influx of passive income can help guide your restaurant towards greater success.

More Marketing Touch Points For Customer Communication

Restaurant gift vouchers can provide another opportunity to collect customer contact details such as their email address.

Having a customer's email allows you to incorporate them onto marketing email lists, increasing awareness of your brand and encouraging them to return for future deals or dining experiences. Voucher allows you to reach a wider audience in marketing as a new digital channel is opened.

Increased Brand Awareness

The simple act of giving someone else a restaurant voucher can be a powerful way of spreading brand awareness. The recipient is naturally encouraged to enjoy a meal at your venue. If they are satisfied by your services, they may suggest your restaurant to others.

Your brand can be further spread by incorporating logos and imaging associated with your business on the vouchers. Recipients may discuss their voucher or show it to others, encouraging them to become interested in your venue.

Higher Chance of Repeat Customers

When a person is given a voucher to your restaurant, they are encouraged to enjoy a “free” meal. This is a perfect marketing tool to draw in repeat customers. By providing loyal customers with the chance to incentivise a friend to try out the food they like, you can create a pipeline that increases your chances of creating more repeat customers.

Alternatively, much like other restaurant products and services, loyalty points can also be added to gift cards to create repeat customers. This targets your loyal customers, inciting them to buy more gift cards to gain more loyalty points to spend in-store.

Depending on the tools you use to create your vouchers, the process may differ. However, it should generally follow the sequence below:

Step 1: Determine Feature Objectives

Before introducing any new product to your restaurant, it is always integral that you analyse customer objectives and overall restaurant goals. Having these kinds of objectives in mind when creating a voucher ensures that your final design will cater to your target audience, thus encouraging more sales.

Step 2: Design and Distribute the Voucher

The next step is designing the voucher and your delivery methods. It’s important to integrate brand colours, logos, and typography to both make an impression and emphasise your brand identity.

This is easily achieved with ResDiary. With an intuitive voucher interface, you can set voucher values, titles and terms and conditions. You can then create your own delivery email with control over all the branding elements you need.

Once you have come to your final design, you can choose whether to make your vouchers digital, physical, or both. From your choice you will be able to determine your distribution options, which may require you to partner with a packaging and/or delivery company.

For digital vouchers in ResDiary, this is a super-simple process which allows you to begin selling vouchers on your website and social media in minutes. You can also develop a process for delivering physical vouchers. Learn more about the process by getting in touch with our team

Step 3: Integrate Into Your Restaurant

Once your gift card has been finalised and is ready to distribute to customers, you can integrate the feature into your restaurant. Be sure to set up your restaurant system to support both the purchasers and recipients of the voucher, allowing them to enjoy the entire experience.

When this step is finalised, you can begin opening your restaurant to your new and unique form of sales.

Keep Your Business Management and Vouchers On Track With ResDiary

If you are ready to take the next step towards your restaurant's success by introducing restaurant vouchers to your customer base, make the transition easier with ResDiary's restaurant management software.

We offer vouchers as just one method of building loyalty and marketing your venue. When created with the ResDiary table management system, it’s easy to integrate vouchers into your business.

Make day-to-day management a breeze by managing bookings and regular restaurant responsibilities with our expert aid.

Book a demo today and uncover all the ways that ResDiary can boost your business.