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Online gift vouchers for restaurants with Square

Sell eGift cards on your own Square page all year and redeem them at the till, with no monthly fee. From about $21£16€19A$31C$30 a month in card fees.

At a glance

  • What it costs$21£16€19A$31C$30 a month

  • Worth, in extra profit or time saved in the worked example$718£540€643A$1,037C$1,015 a month

  • Pays for itselfIn a few days

  • Sign up and configure; no technical skills neededEasy to set up

Figures come from the worked example below, using its stated assumptions. Tool prices checked . How we check prices

The problem

Dinner vouchers are a common gift, and a restaurant without an online way to buy them misses sales, especially in the weeks before Christmas, Mother's Day and Valentine's Day. If a restaurant could sell 15 vouchers a month at $80£60€71A$115C$113 that's $1,197£900€1,071A$1,728C$1,692 a month of bookings it isn't getting.

What the AI does

Square Gift Cards work with Square point of sale. Square's UK page says it costs $0£0€0A$0C$0 to set up digital cards, there's no monthly fee, customers buy eGift cards online and redeem them at your Square till, they can check and reload their balance, and the cards don't expire. Online card processing is 1.4% + 25p for UK cards, and redeeming costs nothing. Put the link on your website, booking confirmation and Instagram, and remind diners at Christmas.

A worked example

A 40-cover restaurant in Bristol uses Square at the till and resOS for bookings. It adds eGift cards from $33£25€30A$48C$47 to $200£150€179A$288C$282 and links to them from its website and booking emails.

Before

0 vouchers sold online; a few paper vouchers sold at the bar

After

About 15 eGift cards a month at $80£60€71A$115C$113: $1,197£900€1,071A$1,728C$1,692 of sales, redeemed at the till

What it's worth

About $718£540€643A$1,037C$1,015 a month in profit, if 15 vouchers a month at $80£60€71A$115C$113 bring in $1,197£900€1,071A$1,728C$1,692 of meals that wouldn't otherwise be eaten, at an assumed 60% margin. The 15 vouchers is an assumption and will be higher in December. Card fees are 1.4% x $1,197£900€1,071A$1,728C$1,692 = $16.76£12.60€14.99A$24.19C$23.69 plus 25p x 15 = $4.99£3.75€4.46A$7.20C$7.05, about $21£16€19A$31C$30 a month; there's no monthly fee.

How to set it up

  1. Set up eGift cards in your Square account with amounts that match a meal for two and a tasting menu.
  2. Buy one online and redeem it at the till to test the whole flow.
  3. Link to it from your website, booking confirmations and Instagram bio.
  4. Show front of house how to check a balance and redeem a card when a table pays.
  5. Ask your accountant how to record voucher sales and VAT before the Christmas rush.

What goes wrong

  • Voucher money is owed to customers until they eat. Don't count it as profit on the day it's sold.
  • VAT on vouchers depends on what they can be spent on; ask your accountant.
  • Square Gift Cards don't expire, so you must be ready to honor them years later.
  • They need Square point of sale to redeem. If your till is another make, this doesn't fit without switching.

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Last updated October 17, 2026.