In restaurant hospitality’s article relating to gift cards, they speak on some of new found effects that having a gift card can cause when hosting customers. According to their study, they have found that if a customer has a gift card, they often end up spending more than what they normally would at the restaurant and this additional profit flow is good for you and therefore you should find a way to increase your gift card sales.

Key Takeaways:

• When visiting full-service restaurants, patrons with gift cards spend 72 percent more. Guests with gift cards tend to spend much more on the check, especially at full-service restaurants.
• Wednesday is the best day to sell gift cards. One might assume that gift card sales peak on weekends, when traffic peaks. But data showed that Wednesday and Thursday were the top days.
• Almost half of gift card users spend more than the gift card value. When using gift cards, 45 percent of guests spend more than the card’s face value

“Guests with gift cards tend to spend much more on the check, especially at full-service restaurants.”

http://restaurant-hospitality.com/consumer-trends/gift-cards-spur-higher-full-service-check-averages