Why Gift Cards and Store Credit Are a Game-Changer for Restaurants
A customer buys a $50 gift card for their friend’s birthday. That friend — someone who may have never heard of your restaurant — places their first order, spends $62 (because gift card holders almost always spend beyond the card’s value), and becomes a regular. You collected the $50 weeks ago, before a single ingredient was prepped. That’s the power of restaurant gift cards in a nutshell.
The restaurant gift card market is massive. According to the National Restaurant Association, restaurant gift cards consistently rank among the most popular gift card categories in the United States, with billions of dollars in sales annually. Research from First Data (now Fiserv) has shown that gift card recipients tend to spend 20–60% more than the card’s face value when redeeming. That overspend is pure incremental revenue.
For WooCommerce restaurant owners, the opportunity is even sweeter. Unlike restaurants locked into third-party platforms that skim 15–30% per transaction, you control your own storefront. Selling gift cards through your WooCommerce site means zero commission fees — every dollar goes directly to your business. And because gift cards are essentially prepaid revenue, they improve your cash flow immediately, even before the recipient places an order.
If you’re running a WooCommerce restaurant ordering system with delivery, pickup, or dine-in capabilities, adding gift cards is one of the highest-ROI moves you can make. Let’s walk through exactly how to set it up.
Choosing the Right WooCommerce Gift Card Plugin: YITH, PW Gift Cards, and Smart Coupons Compared
WooCommerce doesn’t include native gift card functionality, so you’ll need a dedicated plugin. Three options dominate the market, each with distinct strengths for restaurant use cases.
YITH WooCommerce Gift Cards
YITH’s plugin is one of the most feature-rich options available. It supports custom denominations, email delivery with personalized messages, scheduled delivery dates (great for birthdays), and physical gift card generation. The premium version includes balance checking from the frontend, partial redemption, and multiple gift card designs. Pricing starts at around $129.99/year.
PW WooCommerce Gift Cards
PW Gift Cards is a strong mid-range option with a generous free version. The free tier supports email delivery, custom amounts, and balance checking. The pro version (around $59/year) adds features like recipient-selected delivery dates, physical card support, and automatic balance display at checkout. It’s lightweight and plays well with most themes and page builders.
WooCommerce Smart Coupons (by StoreApps)
Smart Coupons takes a broader approach — it handles gift cards, store credit, bulk coupons, and advanced discount rules in a single plugin. Gift cards function as store credit coupons, which makes them extremely flexible for restaurants that also want to issue refund credits or loyalty rewards. Pricing starts at $99/year.
Quick Comparison Table
- Best for design-heavy gift cards: YITH — offers the most gift card template options and image customization
- Best free option: PW Gift Cards — the free version covers most essential features
- Best for combined gift card + store credit + loyalty: Smart Coupons — handles all three in one plugin
- Partial redemption support: All three (premium versions)
- Email delivery with custom messages: All three
- Works with food ordering plugins: All three are compatible with WooCommerce-based ordering systems, including FoodMaster
For most restaurant owners, PW Gift Cards offers the best balance of simplicity and features. If you also want built-in store credit and coupon management, Smart Coupons is the better all-in-one pick.
[IMAGE: Side-by-side comparison table showing YITH, PW Gift Cards, and Smart Coupons features including pricing, email delivery, partial redemption, and store credit support]
Step-by-Step: Setting Up Digital Gift Cards for Your Restaurant Website
Let’s walk through the full setup using PW Gift Cards as our example (the workflow is similar across plugins). This assumes you already have WooCommerce installed and your restaurant menu configured.
Step 1: Install and Activate the Plugin
Navigate to Plugins → Add New in your WordPress dashboard. Search for “PW WooCommerce Gift Cards” and click Install Now, then Activate. For YITH or Smart Coupons, upload the premium zip file via Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin.
Step 2: Create Your Gift Card Product
Go to Products → Add New. Give it a name like “Restaurant Gift Card” or something branded — “Tony’s Kitchen Gift Card” feels more personal. In the product data section, select PW Gift Card as the product type. Set your denominations: $25, $50, $75, and $100 are standard restaurant amounts, but also consider enabling a “Custom Amount” field so buyers can enter any value. Set a minimum (e.g., $10) and maximum (e.g., $500) for custom amounts.
Step 3: Design the Gift Card Email
Most plugins let you customize the email template that recipients receive. Upload a restaurant-themed header image — your logo, a hero shot of your signature dish, or a seasonal design. Keep the layout clean: the gift card amount, a personal message from the sender, and a prominent “Order Now” button linking to your menu page. Under plugin settings, enable the personalized message field so buyers can write a birthday greeting or note.
Step 4: Enable Scheduled Delivery
This is critical for restaurants. Many gift card purchases are for future occasions — birthdays, anniversaries, holidays. Enable the delivery date option so buyers can schedule when the recipient gets the email. This single feature dramatically increases gift card sales around holidays.
Step 5: Add Gift Cards to Your Ordering Page
Don’t bury gift cards in a random product category. Add them where customers will actually see them. Create a “Gift Cards” category and display it alongside your menu categories. If you’re using FoodMaster for your restaurant ordering system, you can add the gift card product to your WooCommerce shop page and link to it from your main ordering interface. Consider adding a banner or callout on your homepage: “Give the gift of great food — send a digital gift card instantly.”
Step 6: Test the Full Purchase Flow
Before going live, buy a gift card yourself. Verify the email arrives with the correct design, the balance displays properly, and the recipient can redeem it at checkout. Check that partial redemptions work — if someone uses $30 of a $50 card, the remaining $20 should be available for the next order.
How to Configure Store Credit and Refund-to-Credit for Restaurant Orders
Store credit is the quieter, equally powerful sibling of gift cards. Instead of refunding a customer’s money back to their credit card (where it leaves your ecosystem forever), you issue store credit that keeps them coming back.
Setting Up Store Credit as a Payment Method
If you’re using Smart Coupons, store credit is built in — it functions as a coupon with a stored balance. For PW Gift Cards, store credit works the same way as a gift card balance. Go to your plugin settings and ensure “Allow gift card balances at checkout” is enabled. Customers will see their available balance during checkout and can apply it with one click.
Refund-to-Credit Workflow
This is where store credit really shines for restaurants. A customer’s delivery order arrived late? Their entrée was wrong? Instead of processing a credit card refund (which can take 5–10 business days and often frustrates the customer), issue immediate store credit.
- Navigate to the order in WooCommerce → Orders
- Click Refund and select the items or enter a custom amount
- Choose “Refund to store credit” (or manually create a gift card/coupon for the refund amount)
- The customer receives an email with their credit balance, ready to use on their next order
This approach has two benefits: the customer gets instant resolution (improving satisfaction), and the money stays within your restaurant. Many restaurant owners report that refund-to-credit policies reduce their net refund losses by 30–50%, because customers return to spend the credit — and often add more to their order.
Manually Issuing Credit to Loyal Customers
Want to surprise a regular customer? Go to WooCommerce → Gift Cards (or the equivalent section in your plugin) and create a new gift card balance assigned to their email address. Send them a quick note: “Thanks for being a loyal customer — here’s $15 on us for your next order.” This kind of personalized gesture builds the kind of loyalty that no discount code can match.
[IMAGE: Screenshot of WooCommerce admin panel showing the store credit refund interface with a gift card balance being issued to a customer email]
Integrating Gift Cards with Your Loyalty Program, Email Campaigns, and Promotions
Gift cards and store credit become exponentially more powerful when connected to your broader marketing stack.
Cross-Pollinate with Loyalty Programs
If you’re running a points-based loyalty program (using plugins like WooCommerce Points and Rewards or MyRewards), let customers redeem loyalty points for store credit. For example: 500 points = $5 store credit. This creates a virtuous cycle — customers order food, earn points, convert points to credit, and order again. Smart Coupons makes this particularly easy since its store credit system integrates natively with coupon-based reward flows.
Trigger Automated Email Campaigns
Connect your WooCommerce store to Mailchimp, Klaviyo, or a similar email platform using a WooCommerce integration plugin. Set up automated emails for key gift card moments:
- Purchase confirmation: Thank the buyer and suggest they also order food for themselves (cross-sell)
- Recipient reminder: If a gift card hasn’t been redeemed after 30 days, send a gentle nudge: “You have $50 waiting — browse our menu!”
- Low balance alert: When a gift card balance drops below $10, email the holder with a suggestion to reload or top up
- Expiration warning: If your cards have an expiration date, send reminders 30 and 7 days before
Seasonal and Holiday Promotions
Gift card sales spike predictably around Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and graduation season. Plan promotions around these dates:
- Bonus card promotions: “Buy a $50 gift card, get a $10 bonus card free” — this is the single most effective gift card promotion in the restaurant industry
- Holiday-themed designs: Swap your gift card email template to match the season
- Limited-time denominations: Offer a special $75 “Holiday Feast” gift card that includes a suggested order pairing
You can create these promotions using WooCommerce‘s built-in coupon system alongside your gift card plugin. For the bonus card offer, simply set up an automation that generates a $10 gift card whenever a $50+ gift card is purchased.
Best Practices for Promoting and Managing Restaurant Gift Cards Year-Round
Promotion Strategies That Actually Work
The biggest mistake restaurant owners make with gift cards is setting them up and assuming customers will find them. You need active promotion:
- Homepage placement: Add a gift card banner above the fold on your restaurant website. A simple “Send a Gift Card” button in your header navigation works well.
- Checkout upsell: After a customer places a food order, show a post-purchase prompt: “Know someone who’d love our food? Send them a gift card.”
- Social media: Post about gift cards at least once per week during peak gifting seasons. User-generated content (“Tag someone who deserves a dinner on you!”) drives engagement.
- In-store signage: If you have a physical location, place QR codes at the register and on tables linking directly to your gift card product page. If you’re using QR table ordering through FoodMaster, you can include a gift card link in your digital menu.
Managing Balances and Expiration Policies
Check your local laws before setting expiration dates on gift cards. In many U.S. states, gift cards cannot expire for at least five years, and some states prohibit expiration entirely. The federal Credit CARD Act of 2009 sets a minimum five-year expiration from the date of purchase or last reload. Many restaurants opt for no expiration at all — the outstanding liability is minimal, and it avoids customer frustration.
Track outstanding gift card balances in your WooCommerce reports. Most gift card plugins include a dashboard showing total issued, total redeemed, and outstanding balances. Review this monthly. If you notice a large pool of unredeemed balances, that’s a signal to run a redemption campaign.
Handling Edge Cases
Partial redemptions: Ensure your plugin supports them. A customer with a $50 card placing a $32 order should have $18 remaining — not lose the difference. All three plugins recommended above handle this correctly.
Multi-location use: If you operate multiple restaurant locations on a single WooCommerce site, gift cards work seamlessly since they’re tied to the store’s coupon or credit system. If each location has a separate WooCommerce installation, you’ll need a shared database or manual credit transfer process — this is one reason to consolidate locations under one WooCommerce instance.
Fraud prevention: Gift cards are a known target for fraud. Protect yourself by limiting bulk purchases (cap at 5 gift cards per transaction), requiring account creation for gift card purchases, and monitoring for unusual patterns like multiple high-value cards purchased with the same payment method. Enable CAPTCHA on your checkout page and consider requiring email verification for new accounts.
Tracking Gift Card Revenue
In WooCommerce analytics, gift card purchases show up as product sales. Create a dedicated “Gift Cards” product category so you can filter reports and see exactly how much gift card revenue you’re generating each month. Track redemption rates too — a healthy program sees 80–90% of issued gift cards eventually redeemed. If your rate is below 60%, your gift cards may not be reaching the right audience, or recipients don’t know how to use them.
Putting It All Together
Gift cards and store credit aren’t just “nice to have” features — they’re revenue-generating tools that bring new customers through your door, increase order values, improve cash flow, and reduce refund losses. The setup takes an afternoon. The returns compound for years.
Start with the basics: install a gift card plugin, create an attractive gift card product with multiple denominations, and place it prominently on your restaurant website. Then layer on store credit for refunds, connect it to your email marketing, and run seasonal promotions. If you’re already using FoodMaster to manage your WooCommerce restaurant orders, gift cards slot right into your existing checkout flow without any additional complexity.
The restaurants that win online aren’t just the ones with the best food — they’re the ones that make it effortless for happy customers to share that experience with someone new. A gift card is the simplest way to make that happen.