“If you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die.” 

This famous quote from Warren Buffet has never been more pertinent to restaurateurs. In this Covid landscape, restaurant businesses have been forced to ‘sleep’ more than ever before, with persistent lockdowns, changing regulations, limited seating capacity and a national staffing crisis.

One of the greatest challenges facing restaurant owners right now is how to grow new revenue streams from the restaurant business model and not be so exposed to the environmental factors of today, OR tomorrow. How can a restaurant make money when it’s ‘sleeping’?

The answer might be at the nearest supermarket, service station or post office. In the last 5 years, walls of retail gift cards have begun to crop up in almost every retail environment. Unlike most market trends, it’s important for business owners to realise that this growth has not been driven by consumers, they were not asking for more gift cards, but by the retailers themselves. Key retailers in Australia and the world over have all realised that by widely distributing their gift card products, they in turn increase growth and sustainability in their holistic business models.

Where a customer would previously need to go to JB HiFi to purchase a JB HiFi gift card, or Country Road, or Apple, or Coles or Woolworths; all they need to do now is either go to the nearest general store; or purchase online from any number of different websites with immediate fulfillment. It has never been easier to buy a gift card and where this model was driven by the retailers it has been embraced by consumers.

The great news for restaurateurs is that the opportunity is no different. A restaurant’s gift card product is potentially it’s most valuable product, and not only because it can be sold when the business is ‘sleeping’ with its doors closed. The simple and somewhat uncomfortable fact is that not all gift cards sold are ever redeemed, and these unredeemed gift cards deliver revenue without any cost into the business.

To help restaurateurs widely distribute their own gift card products, beyond just their own restaurant website, Gift A Restaurant (GAR) supplies restaurant gift cards directly into corporate sales channels and to multiple online stores where gift cards are sold. These services increase a restaurant’s distribution channels and consumer reach.

In the restaurant, GAR has integrated with leading industry software provider Now Book It’s gift card portal, which is used by over 4000 restaurants across Australia & New Zealand. When using Now Book It, a restaurant’s existing sales and gift card operations will not be impacted and in fact complemented by the service. Gift A Restaurant simply provides an opportunity for restaurants to reach new corporate sales channels to generate sales 24-7; even if the restaurant is ‘sleeping’.

If you are a restauranteur and would like more information, please click here or email: merchants@giftarestaurant.com