Gift Cards Are No Longer Just Holiday Gifts: The $503.7 Million Opportunity Restaurants Can Turn Into Year-Round Customer Traffic

 

Gift cards have graduated from the holiday stocking stuffer to something much more important: a year-round food marketing, customer acquisition, and revenue-generation tool. For restaurant operators, convenience stores, grocery retailers, and other foodservice businesses, the opportunity is not simply selling more gift cards. It is using those cards to create more consumer occasions, encourage customer migration, build brand relationships, and bring customers back according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®. .

New research from Paytronix underscores this changing marketplace. According to its 2026 Gift Card Report, gift card revenue increased 18.3% year over year, climbing from $425.7 million in 2024 to $503.7 million in 2025. Yet the number of cards sold increased just 2.6%, from 11.3 million to 11.6 million.

That difference deserves attention.

Consumers are not necessarily purchasing substantially more cards. They are purchasing higher-value cards. In other words, the gift card business is experiencing a meaningful increase in dollars per transaction.

For foodservice brands competing for increasingly selective consumer spending, that is a marketing opportunity worth recognizing.

Consumers Are Trading Up, Not Simply Buying More

The most interesting finding in the Paytronix research is the shift in gift card denominations.

The $50 gift card was the strongest performer, with unit sales increasing 11.5%, from 1.88 million to 2.10 million cards. Meanwhile, $25 cards declined 5.8%, although they remained the largest denomination by unit volume, with 2.29 million cards sold.

The $10 denomination increased 5.3%, while $5 cards experienced the steepest decline, falling 12.5%.

What does this tell foodservice marketers?

Consumers appear increasingly comfortable giving a more substantial gift or putting more purchasing power behind a single brand relationship.

For restaurants, this creates an opportunity to rethink gift card merchandising. Rather than simply displaying $25 cards at the checkout counter, brands should consider promoting $50 cards, family meal occasions, dinner experiences, bundled offerings, and digital gifting.

A $50 gift card can represent more than a prepaid purchase. It can introduce a household to a restaurant, encourage a family dinner, or give a consumer a reason to try a brand they have not visited previously.

However, operators should not abandon smaller denominations. The $10 card's growth demonstrates that accessible entry points remain relevant.

The objective is to offer choices that match different gifting occasions and consumer budgets.

Full-Service Restaurants Are Finding Growth

Paytronix also identified an important difference between restaurant segments.

Full-Service Restaurants (FSR) led growth, with gift card units increasing 4.4%, reaching nearly 4.3 million cards.

Electronic gift cards increased 3.0%, reaching approximately 972,000 units.

Quick-Service Restaurants (QSR), despite representing approximately 58% of all cards sold, experienced a slight 0.3% decline, with approximately 6.65 million cards sold.

That is a development QSR operators should not overlook.

Quick-service restaurants have historically benefited from convenience, familiarity, accessibility, and frequent consumer visits. Yet the gift card numbers suggest that full-service restaurants are gaining momentum in this particular category.

Could consumers be placing greater emphasis on experiences, shared meals, and occasions when selecting a restaurant gift?

That is a possibility worth exploring.

QSR operators should not assume that convenience alone will sustain gift card growth. They need to make their gift cards more relevant to today's consumer.

Family meals, group occasions, digital gifting, breakfast bundles, snack occasions, and meal deals can all give consumers a reason to purchase a gift card.

The winning strategy is to sell the occasion, not just the card.

Digital Gifting Is Changing the Customer Relationship

Electronic gift cards accounted for approximately 8.4% of total card volume in the Paytronix data.

While that remains a relatively small portion of the overall market, its continued growth demonstrates the importance of digital accessibility.

Consumers want to purchase and deliver gifts when and where it is convenient for them. A birthday, graduation, thank-you, employee recognition, or last-minute celebration no longer requires a trip to a physical store.

For foodservice brands, digital gift cards also create opportunities to connect gifting with loyalty, mobile ordering, online ordering, and personalized marketing.

A digital gift card can become an entry point into a brand's broader customer engagement ecosystem.

But there is an important distinction: selling a digital card is not the same as creating a digital customer relationship. Brands must have a plan to encourage redemption, introduce customers to their menus, and provide reasons to return.

The National Restaurant Association's 2025 Off-Premises Restaurant Trends research found that nearly 75% of restaurant traffic occurs off-premises. It also found that 65% of drive-thru customers and more than 60% of takeout and delivery customers say loyalty program membership influences where they order.

That makes the connection between gift cards, loyalty, digital ordering, and off-premises dining particularly important.

A gift card should work across the consumer's preferred access points, whether that means dining in, ordering takeout, using the drive-thru, or arranging delivery where available.

Redemption Speed Matters: The Clock Is Working in Restaurants' Favor

Another encouraging Paytronix finding is that consumers are redeeming gift cards faster.

Average days to redemption declined from 32.7 days in 2024 to 31.1 days in 2025, a 5% improvement.

That matters because redemption represents an opportunity to create an actual foodservice transaction.

The gift card purchaser may be the person who introduces the recipient to a brand. The recipient becomes a potential customer. The redemption visit becomes an opportunity to sell additional food, beverages, desserts, sides, and future occasions.

However, redemption should not be treated as the finish line.

The real marketing opportunity begins when the recipient walks through the door or places an online order.

Restaurants should use that first redemption occasion to introduce loyalty enrollment, encourage a second visit, promote a relevant menu item, and create a reason to return.

In the Grocerant Niche, where consumers migrate between restaurants, grocery prepared foods, convenience stores, and other fresh-prepared food destinations, every new consumer interaction matters.

A gift card can be the introduction. The food, service, convenience, and experience must earn the next visit.

December Is Still King, But the Opportunity Is Expanding

According to Paytronix, December accounted for approximately 31% of annual gift card volume in both 2024 and 2025.

Yet December 2025 sales were essentially flat compared with the previous year, at approximately 3.623 million cards.

The more interesting development is what happened outside the traditional holiday season.

January gift card sales increased 16.2%, April increased 10%, and June increased 10.1%.

These numbers suggest that gift cards have opportunities beyond Christmas, Hanukkah, and other traditional holiday gifting occasions.

Think about the possibilities:

·       January: New Year's celebrations, resolutions, and employee recognition.

·       February: Valentine's Day, friendship, and shared dining experiences.

·       March and April: Spring celebrations, Easter, and graduation gifting.

·       May and June: Mother's Day, Father's Day, graduations, and summer gatherings.

·       July and August: Travel, family reunions, and summer celebrations.

·       September and October: Back-to-school appreciation, birthdays, and employee recognition.

·       November and December: Holiday gifting, corporate incentives, and family celebrations.

Every month offers a reason to connect consumers with a food brand.

The National Restaurant Association reported in December 2024 that 59% of American adults planned to give restaurant gift cards during the holiday season. That figure increased to 74% among Gen Z adults and 70% among Millennials.

Those findings reinforce the potential of restaurant gift cards to reach consumers across generations.

Meanwhile, the National Retail Federation projected $29 billion in total gift card spending during the 2025 holiday season. Gift cards ranked as the second-most popular holiday gift category.

The market is large, but the opportunity for restaurant brands is to capture a greater share of those dollars and turn gifting into repeat business.

Gift Cards Must Deliver Price, Value, and Convenience

There is another consideration foodservice operators cannot ignore: consumers remain price-conscious.

The National Restaurant Association projected 2026 restaurant and foodservice sales of $1.55 trillion, while identifying persistent operating costs and cautious household spending as continuing industry challenges.

Its 2026 industry research also found that 61% of consumers consider restaurants essential to their lifestyles and intend to continue prioritizing dining out.

That creates a balancing act for restaurant marketers.

Consumers want convenience, quality, service, and experiences, but they also want to feel that their money is being well spent.

A gift card can help communicate value without requiring a brand to permanently discount its menu.

For example, a restaurant can merchandise a $50 gift card alongside a family meal experience, a special occasion dinner, or a seasonal menu promotion. The card becomes a vehicle for purchasing power and an introduction to a particular dining occasion.

Brands can also create incremental sales opportunities through suggested pairings, limited-time offers, and loyalty incentives.

The important point is to avoid confusing a gift card promotion with a discounting strategy.

Gift cards should strengthen the brand's Price Value Service Equilibrium. The consumer must believe the food, service, convenience, and experience justify choosing that brand again.

The Grocerant Guru® Perspective: Stop Treating Gift Cards as a Holiday Department

Gift cards are not merely a financial transaction or a seasonal retail item. They are a customer acquisition vehicle, a brand introduction, a potential loyalty trigger, and an opportunity to influence future food purchasing behavior.

The Paytronix findings reveal three important developments: higher-value denominations are gaining momentum, full-service restaurants are growing their share of gift card activity, and redemption is happening faster.

For restaurant and food retailers, the next step should be connecting those findings to consumer behavior.

Brands must stop thinking in terms of selling a card and start thinking about selling the next food occasion.

The consumer does not think in channel silos. A household may use a restaurant gift card for dinner, purchase fresh-prepared meals at a grocery deli the next evening, and pick up breakfast at a convenience store the following morning.

Every brand needs to remain relevant at the intersection of price, time, flavor, convenience, and service.

Gift cards can help accomplish that objective, but only when they are integrated into an ongoing customer engagement strategy.

Three Grocerant Guru® Insights: How Gift Cards Can Help a Brand All Year Long

1. Gift Cards Are Customer Acquisition Tools, Not Just Revenue Tools.

Every gift card represents an opportunity to introduce a new consumer to your brand. The purchaser may already be a loyal customer, but the recipient could be a first-time visitor. Make redemption the beginning of a relationship through loyalty enrollment, personalized offers, and reasons to return.

2. Merchandise Gift Cards Around Food Occasions, Not Just Holidays.

Birthdays, graduations, employee recognition, family meals, sporting events, summer travel, and everyday appreciation create year-round opportunities. Connect gift cards to specific meals, menu bundles, and experiences. Sell the occasion and the food, not simply the denomination.

3. Use Gift Cards to Create Repeat Visits and Increase Customer Lifetime Value.

The initial redemption is only the beginning. Connect gift cards with loyalty programs, mobile ordering, seasonal menu introductions, and targeted promotions. Measure not just cards sold, but redemption, incremental spending, repeat visits, and long-term customer engagement.

The Bottom Line: Gift cards should never be relegated to a holiday display or an occasional promotional campaign. They are a year-round marketing asset. Brands that understand how to turn a gift into a food experience, and that experience into a repeat customer, will be better positioned to grow.

Success Leaves Clues—Are You Ready to Find Yours?

One key insight that continues to drive success is this: "The consumer is dynamic, not static." This principle is the foundation of our work at Foodservice Solutions®, where Steven Johnson, the Grocerant Guru®, has been helping brands stay relevant in an ever-evolving market.

Want to strengthen your brand’s connection with today’s consumers? Let’s talk. Call 253-759-7869 for more information.

 

Blue Apron, the Meal Kit Wake-Up Call: When the Customer Changes, the Business Model Must Follow

 

There is an important distinction in the latest Blue Apron story that the food industry should not overlook: Blue Apron did not file for bankruptcy. Its major meal-kit fulfillment supplier, FreshRealm, did. That distinction matters, but the consequences for Blue Apron customers, the meal-kit category and the future of home meal solutions are significant.

In 2026, the FreshRealm bankruptcy exposed just how vulnerable a food brand can become when its customer promise depends on a third-party supply chain. Blue Apron and Marley Spoon customers experienced missing ingredients, incomplete boxes and delivery interruptions as fulfillment operations changed hands.

For the Grocerant Guru®, this is bigger than a supplier bankruptcy. It is a case study in customer migration, brand relevance, convenience, operational execution and the importance of understanding what consumers actually want today.

Blue Apron helped pioneer the modern meal-kit business in the United States. Since its launch in 2012, the company says it has delivered more than 600 million meals. But being an industry pioneer does not guarantee a permanent place at the consumer's dinner table.

The central lesson: Consumers do not owe a brand their loyalty. Brands must continually earn it.

The food facts: The meal-kit market is changing, not disappearing

The numbers tell an important story. Meal-kit companies are operating in a much larger food marketplace than the traditional subscription box category.

Consider these independently identifiable industry data points:

·       2024 – A $12.8 billion opportunity: Euromonitor data published by Canada's Agriculture and Agri-Food department estimated U.S. food-kit retail sales at $12.85 billion in 2024. Meal kits represented approximately $7.83 billion of that total. These are estimates, not audited company revenues.

·       2024 – The post-pandemic correction: Meal kits had grown at a 28% annual rate from 2019 through 2023, but the category's momentum slowed as consumers returned to other eating occasions, faced higher ingredient prices and rediscovered grocery shopping.

·       2025 – Consumers still see potential value: A Harris Poll food and beverage report found that 73% of U.S. adults considered meal-kit subscriptions a luxury purchase. Yet 47% of meal-kit subscribers agreed that cooking at home was more expensive than subscribing. That contrast is important: perceived affordability and actual household value are not necessarily the same thing.

·       2026 – Price is a competitive vulnerability: Technomic's 2026 Emerging Channels research reported that 39% of consumers had reduced meal-kit usage because of expense. It also found that value was more important than quality in this emerging channel.

The message is clear. Consumers like the idea of meal kits, but liking a concept and buying it repeatedly are two very different things.

The competitive set has also expanded. Meal kits are competing with grocery deli meals, prepared refrigerated entrees, restaurant takeout, drive-thru, delivery, warehouse-club family meals and ready-to-heat products.

The consumer is not shopping by industry classification. The consumer is shopping for dinner.

That is the Grocerant Niche in action: consumers migrate between foodservice and retail channels to find the right combination of price, quality, convenience, portability and service.

Blue Apron: Five things they got right

Blue Apron deserves credit for several important innovations. Its history offers lessons that other food companies should study.

1. They helped create a new food category.

Blue Apron helped popularize the modern meal-kit experience in the United States beginning in 2012. It gave consumers an alternative to conventional grocery shopping and restaurant dining.

It transformed recipes, ingredients and home cooking into a delivered food experience. That was an important innovation.

2. They sold more than ingredients; they sold inspiration.

Pre-portioned ingredients and chef-designed recipes helped remove some of the uncertainty from home cooking.

Consumers were buying a dinner solution, but they were also buying culinary confidence, variety and an opportunity to prepare something different.

3. They recognized the importance of premium ingredients and food quality.

A meal kit cannot simply be a box of groceries. The promise must include freshness, flavor, consistency and an appealing finished meal.

A 2024 academic study published in the International Journal of Hospitality Management identified convenience, price and food quality as important drivers of consumer attitudes toward meal-kit services.

4. They built brand recognition and consumer trust.

Blue Apron became a recognizable name in a relatively new food category. Its reported delivery of more than 600 million meals since 2012 illustrates the scale of consumer trial it achieved.

That kind of brand awareness is an asset, even when a company must change its operating model.

5. They eventually recognized that the traditional subscription model needed to evolve.

This is particularly important.

In August 2025, Blue Apron introduced a subscription-free shopping experience, expanded its menu to more than 100 meals per week and introduced three distinct offerings:

·       Dish by Blue Apron: prepared meals ready in as little as five minutes.

·       Assemble & Bake: meals requiring five minutes or less of hands-on preparation.

·       Traditional meal kits: ingredients and recipes for consumers who still want to cook.

Blue Apron also introduced greater menu customization and a permanent selection of customer favorites.

That was a meaningful acknowledgment that customers' needs had changed.

Six things the meal-kit business got wrong

These are strategic criticisms of the traditional meal-kit model and the industry's vulnerabilities, not allegations that every problem applied equally to Blue Apron.

1. They confused subscription convenience with customer convenience.

A weekly subscription may be convenient for the company, but it is not necessarily convenient for the customer.

Consumers have changing schedules, different appetites, unexpected travel, changing family needs and unpredictable work commitments.

A food company should not expect customers to organize their lives around a delivery calendar.

2. They underestimated the competition from grocery stores.

Grocery retailers were never simply suppliers of ingredients.

They have increasingly become competitors in prepared meals, fresh deli offerings, heat-and-eat dinners, meal bundles and ready-to-cook solutions.

The U.S. food-kit market was already estimated at $12.85 billion in 2024, while ready-meal sales were estimated at $28.46 billion. Those are two distinct but increasingly competitive food solutions.

Meal-kit companies must compete with the entire dinner marketplace, not just other subscription companies.

3. They allowed price to become a barrier to repeat purchases.

The Harris Poll's 73% luxury perception and Technomic's 39% usage reduction due to expense demonstrate the problem.

Consumers may enjoy the experience but still decide the price is too high for routine use.

The Price-Value-Service Equilibrium matters. Price alone does not establish value. Portion size, ingredient quality, preparation time, delivery fees, freshness and convenience all influence the consumer's calculation.

4. They made the customer do too much work.

Traditional meal kits still require planning, unpacking, refrigeration, preparation, cooking and cleanup.

For some consumers, that is precisely the experience they want.

For others, it is another chore.

The category must recognize that the consumer who wants a 35-minute cooking experience on Sunday may want a five-minute dinner on Wednesday.

5. They exposed the brand to serious supply-chain concentration risk.

This is where the 2026 FreshRealm bankruptcy becomes especially important.

FreshRealm's bankruptcy filing in April 2026 revealed that it had entered into a 10-year production and fulfillment agreement with Blue Apron. The bankruptcy declaration also described approximately 70,000 boxes per week being packed and shipped for Blue Apron and Marley Spoon combined.

A brand can own the customer relationship and still lose control of the customer experience when it depends too heavily on another company's manufacturing, inventory and distribution.

6. They did not always adapt quickly enough to customer migration.

Consumers have not stopped wanting convenient meals. They have more ways to get them.

They can purchase prepared food at a supermarket, pick up a restaurant meal, order delivery, buy a warehouse-club family dinner or heat a refrigerated entree.

The mistake is assuming that the customer who once purchased a meal kit will continue to do so simply because the brand has a recognizable name.

Brand recognition is not a substitute for relevance.

Four things meal-kit companies must do to survive

The future belongs to companies that understand consumers are dynamic, not static. Here are four strategic imperatives.

1. Sell meals, not subscriptions.

Subscription should be an option, not an obligation.

Give consumers the ability to purchase individual meals, family bundles, prepared entrees, meal kits and add-ons.

Blue Apron's 2025 relaunch was a step in this direction. The industry should take notice.

The winning formula is to make purchasing easier, not make canceling harder.

2. Embrace the full Grocerant Niche.

Stop thinking exclusively about meal kits.

Think about the entire spectrum of fresh prepared food:

·       Ready-to-eat meals.

·       Heat-and-eat entrees.

·       Ready-to-cook meal kits.

·       Partially prepared family meals.

·       Protein-forward meals.

·       Breakfast and lunch solutions.

·       Snacks, sides and beverages.

The opportunity is to serve more eating occasions throughout the week.

Technomic's 2026 research identifies ready-to-heat meal kits as an opportunity for expansion. Its findings also indicate that grocery stores and wholesale clubs remain important sourcing channels, while restaurants show the highest expected growth in meal-kit usage.

That is customer migration across channels. Smart brands follow the consumer.

3. Protect the customer experience from the supply chain.

Food safety, ingredient quality, accurate fulfillment, temperature control and delivery reliability are not back-office issues.

They are brand promises.

Meal-kit companies should develop:

·       Multiple qualified suppliers for critical ingredients.

·       Backup manufacturing and fulfillment capacity.

·       Real-time inventory visibility.

·       Strong food-safety verification.

·       Delivery recovery and customer communication systems.

FreshRealm's bankruptcy demonstrates why operational resilience must be part of brand strategy.

A missing ingredient is not simply an inventory problem. It is a missing part of someone's dinner.

4. Deliver measurable Price-Value-Service Equilibrium.

Consumers must believe that the meal is worth what they pay.

That means balancing:

·       Price: Is it affordable enough for repeat purchases?

·       Quality: Are the ingredients and finished meal worth the money?

·       Convenience: Does it save meaningful time and effort?

·       Service: Does the order arrive complete, fresh and when promised?

·       Portability: Can the consumer easily take the meal wherever life takes them?

Meal-kit companies need to compete against the total cost and effort of alternative dinner solutions.

A $15 meal kit is not automatically a bargain because a restaurant entree costs $20. The consumer also considers delivery fees, additional ingredients, preparation time and cleanup.

Value must be demonstrated, not advertised.

Three Grocerant Guru® insights: Customer migration and brand relevance

Insight No. 1: Customers migrate to solutions, not industry categories.

A consumer does not wake up thinking, "Today I will purchase from the meal-kit industry."

They wake up thinking about what they want to eat, how much time they have and how much they want to spend.

One evening they purchase a restaurant meal. The next evening they buy a grocery deli dinner. Another night they prepare a meal kit.

The brands that understand this migration will capture more eating occasions.

Insight No. 2: Brand relevance is earned at the intersection of price, time and convenience.

Blue Apron built a recognizable brand around cooking at home. But the consumer's definition of convenience evolved.

Some consumers want to cook. Others want to assemble. Others want dinner ready in five minutes.

A brand that refuses to change its offerings risks becoming less relevant, regardless of its history.

Insight No. 3: Customer focus is the ultimate competitive advantage.

The most important question for every meal-kit executive is not, "How do we sell more boxes?"

It is, "How do we become the consumer's preferred solution for more meals, more often?"

That requires listening, measuring, innovating and delivering.

The consumer does not care whether dinner comes from a restaurant, grocery store, convenience store, warehouse club or meal-kit company. The consumer cares about the experience and the value received.

That is why there are no silos in the consumer's mind.

The Grocerant Guru® bottom line

Blue Apron is not a bankruptcy story. It is a brand evolution story occurring alongside a significant supplier bankruptcy that exposed the vulnerabilities of the meal-kit supply chain.

Blue Apron's 2025 transformation demonstrated an understanding that flexibility and convenience matter. FreshRealm's 2026 bankruptcy demonstrated that operational execution matters just as much.

The meal-kit category has a future, but the traditional subscription box cannot be its only future.

The next generation of winners will not be those companies that sell the most boxes. They will be those that become the most relevant food solution in the consumer's ever-changing daily life.

As I have said for years, consumers are dynamic, not static. Food companies that understand customer migration, rather than defend outdated business models, will be better positioned to grow.

Elevate Your Brand with Expert Insights

For corporate presentations, regional chain strategies, educational forums, or keynote speaking, Steven Johnson, the Grocerant Guru®, delivers actionable insights that fuel success.

With deep experience in restaurant operations, brand positioning, and strategic consulting, Steven provides valuable takeaways that inspire and drive results.

Visit GrocerantGuru.com or FoodserviceSolutions.US Call 1-253-759-7869

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