Why Restaurants Are Quietly Becoming the New Gifting Giants

Gift vouchers used to be a last-minute panic purchase. A Band-Aid for “I didn’t know what to get you.” Walk into any restaurant today, especially the ones with a killer set menu and curated wine list and you’ll find something different, gifting is now part of the experience. For restaurants and bars, it’s quietly becoming a high-margin revenue engine.
 
Smart restaurants are using gifting to do more than sell meals, they’re pre-selling experiences, building brand loyalty, and locking in cash flow.
 
Let’s unpack it.

We live in the experience economy. People want memories, not merchandise. What do you buy the couple who already has everything? A six-course chef’s tasting with matching wines. What do you gift your stressed-out mate for their birthday? A night off from cooking, complete with cocktails, candlelight, and dessert.
 
This shift isn’t anecdotal. According to Statista, global gift voucher sales topped $899 billion in 2023, and continue to grow. A significant chunk of that growth is coming from experience-based sectors, led by food and hospitality.
 
In the restaurant world, that means a shift from “$150 voucher” to “Romantic Date Night for Two, includes 3 courses, a bottle of sparkling, and guaranteed window seating.”

Let’s get tactical. For a business that typically runs on tight margins, prepaid gift voucher sales offer a golden triangle of advantages:

Vouchers bring money in before the food is ordered, cooked, and served. That means better cash flow and more certainty during traditionally slow seasons.

Many restaurants are shifting to curated menus for voucher packages: think chef’s tastings, wine pairings, or set brunch experiences. These are operationally efficient, easier to prep, easier to staff, and high margin if priced correctly. If your food cost sits at 30% and drinks are bundled with a 400% markup, that type of bundling turns a simple voucher into a highly profitable, low-effort experience sale.

The average breakage rate (unused voucher percentage) sits between 5%–15% in the F&B industry. That’s pure profit, no plating required.

When the couple comes in to redeem their “Dinner for Two,” there’s a high chance they’ll add an extra entrée, a fancier bottle, or a dessert board. Your voucher brought them in; your team brings the bonus spend.

What works in 2025 is packaging.
 
Think:

• Tasting Menu for Two + Wine Pairings
• Birthday Brunch & Bubbles
• Sunday Roast & Craft Beer Flight
• Midweek Escape: Tapas & Sangria Night

When you combine the food with ambience, service, and storytelling, you’re not just selling food.

It’s not just about selling a voucher, it’s about powering your revenue engine with intelligence, automation, and scale. HyperGift isn’t an add‑on, it’s a full-stack gifting platform designed to transform your F&B business.

HyperGift gives you a customisable, mobile-first gift shop that plugs directly into your brand from logo to domain to fonts.
 
You can:

• Sell bundles, monetary vouchers, even corporate packs.
• Accept BNPL while you get paid immediately.

It’s not a plugin, it’s your gift shop as a revenue centre.

Redeeming is seamless for both staff and guests:

• QR code or manual code redemption.
• Supports full or partial redemption, built for flexible food & drink use.

It’s fast, simple, and removes friction at busy tables.

HyperGift isn’t just customer-facing, it powers your internal operations too:

• Finance dashboard with real-time order reports, audit trails, refunds.
• Onboarding/import tools move legacy data seamlessly (in ~14 days).
• Seasonal campaign guides, strategy tutorials, and a robust Help Centre.

You don’t need a celebrity chef or an Instagram ad budget to turn gifting into a growth engine. What sets successful venues apart isn’t scale—it’s strategy.
 
Here’s what we’re seeing across top-performing restaurants, wineries, and cafés using HyperGift:

• They engineer off-peak demand. By tying voucher redemptions to midweek seatings or quiet seasons, they’re turning slow periods into guaranteed covers.
• They bundle experiences, not just meals. Think wine pairings, VIP seating, take-home add-ons, or transport. These aren’t just upsells—they’re margin builders with emotional value.
• They launch fast and lean. Instead of waiting for the perfect promo, they use seasonal spikes (Mother’s Day, EOFY, Valentine’s) as momentum plays—with one-click voucher offers and limited-time bundles.

The common thread? They’re not just offering vouchers—they’re selling moments, powered by smart systems and built to scale.

At HyperGift, we don’t see vouchers as a side hustle—we see them as a sales channel. One that restaurants, bars, and hospitality groups can fully own when the right tech is behind it.
 
With HyperGift, venues aren’t just putting a price tag on a meal. They’re:

• Packaging signature experiences with precision
• Selling them across every digital channel they own
• Tracking every dollar from purchase to redemption—no spreadsheets required

It’s about turning slow nights into prepaid bookings. Turning wine pairings into high-margin bundles. Turning one-time guests into repeat customers—before they’ve even walked through the door.
 
And the best part? You don’t need a marketing team or IT department to make it work. You just need clear offers, solid service, and a tool that’s designed to make gifting simple, scalable, and profitable.
 
If your current voucher setup feels like an afterthought, ask yourself:
 
What would it look like if gifting became a core part of your revenue strategy?