This isn’t going to be telling you to order water to save $3, although I already covered that in Drank the Emergency Fund. These tips were ones I came up with in a pitch to a freelance writer friend about a year and a half ago, and I’m not sure they were ever published, so here’s a quick 5:
1. Use a restaurant.com gift card. You can buy them for 40% of their face value (aka $4 for $10 off) but they do have stipulations as to how much the total bill must be ($20 in this example). But be sure to still tip on the full face-value of the menu price. You can save money without stiffing the wait staff!
2. Sign up for the dining rewards programs with your favorite hotel or airline. You could earn points for nights or flights when you dine out. Most of them offer a bonus 1,000 miles for spending $25 in a participating restaurant and writing a review within your first 30 days in the program.
3. I haven’t used either of these in a while, but some spending at restaurants qualifies to earn points in apps like Drop or Dosh, and then you can redeem points for cash or gift cards.
4. The Bumped app allows you to earn fractional shares of stock from certain “loyalties” that you select – For example, I got $0.33 back in stock for a recent $33 fill up at Shell). Obviously Shell isn’t a place you consider a restaurant, but I earn 1% cash back in stock from Dunkin’ (could be Starbucks instead), McDonald’s (other options are Burger King, Chipotle, Domino’s, Jack in the Box, Taco Bell and Wendy’s).
5. Pay with a cash-back credit card or a travel card giving 2x, 3x or higher in travel points for your restaurant purchases.
A few of those sound like a lot of work and don’t add up to a whole lot, but I try to get as many free points as I can, since I’m spending the money anyway.
What favorite tips do you have for saving money at restaurants?