Gift cards for restaurants, sold and redeemed at the counter
Mezbano Gift cards is for selling and redeeming gift cards at a restaurant’s counter. Staff sell a printed card or slip, or a card sent by email, reload cards, and take part or all of a bill from one. Each brand chooses whether its cards work at one store or every store.
What you can do
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Sell a card
Sell a new card with a printed slip showing its code, PIN, balance and a QR code, and email it to the guest if they want. Or sell one of the brand’s printed cards, or add money to a card the guest already has. Each sale can carry the till receipt number.
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Take a card as payment
Scan or type the code, enter the PIN to see the balance, and charge part or all of the bill to the card. If the bill is more than the card holds, charge the balance and take the rest on the till.
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Check a balance
The code and PIN show what a card has left, when it expires if it does, and its last movements. Once the brand’s owner has saved its gift card settings, guests can see the same on the brand’s balance page.
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Match the till at close
The counter shows the cards sold and amounts redeemed today, with every card that moved, and the day’s record shows the same totals.
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Run the brand’s cards
The brand’s owner chooses where cards work and when they expire, prints card stock in batches, and sees what guests still hold and what each store owes another.
What’s included
The parts of the module, named as the app names them.
Gift cards
Sell and redeem gift cards, and see what guests hold.
Staff sell and redeem; store owners and admins also issue new promotional cards at the counter, adjust a balance, reprint a slip, resend an e-card or void a card, and showing a code and PIN again is written to the activity log. The brand’s owner sets where cards work and when they expire, prints card stock, and reads the liability and settlement reports.
Works on its own, or with
Gift cards works alone. When the store uses Day sign-off, each day’s record shows the gift cards sold and redeemed that day.
Who it is for
- Independent restaurants
Sell gift cards at your own counter, with a printed slip and a camera scan to read the card back.
- Franchise brands
Choose whether a card works at every store of the brand or only where it was sold, print card stock for your stores, and see what each store owes another.
- Multi-location groups
Cards work at every store or only at the store that sold them, as you choose, and the liability report shows what guests still hold, store by store.
- Franchisees
Run gift cards at your store, with owners and admins alone able to adjust or void a card.
In the app
Questions owners ask
Can I sell gift cards from my restaurant’s counter?
Yes. Staff sell a card at the counter, print a slip for the guest with its code, PIN and balance, and later take part or all of a bill from it.
How are gift card codes kept safe?
Each card has a code and a four-digit PIN, stored encrypted and never written to logs. Five wrong PINs lock a card for 15 minutes.
Can a gift card be used at another location?
If the brand chooses. A card works only at the store that sold it unless the brand’s owner sets cards to work at every store of the brand. Settlement then shows what each store owes another.
Can guests check their balance themselves?
Yes, once the brand’s owner has saved its gift card settings. On the brand’s balance page, a guest enters the code and PIN to see the balance, the last day to use the card if it expires, and its recent changes. Wrong PINs there count toward the same lock as at the counter.
Can I send a gift card by email?
Yes. When staff start a new card at the counter, rather than selling a printed one, they can type the guest’s email. The guest gets a link to a page with the card’s code, PIN and QR code to show when they pay, and a store owner or admin can resend it.
Do gift cards expire?
Paid cards never expire unless the brand’s owner sets a number of months, and the setting warns to check the law first. Promotional cards a store gives away always expire: after three months, unless the brand sets another number.
Do I need a special scanner?
No. Staff can type the code, use the counter’s USB or Bluetooth scanner, or scan the QR code on the slip with the device’s camera.
What if the bill is more than the card holds?
Charge the card’s balance and take the rest on the till.
How do I see what gift cards sold today?
The gift card counter shows today’s sold and redeemed totals and every card that moved, and the day’s record shows the same totals.
What it does not do
- Selling cards online: every card is sold and reloaded at the counter, and guests cannot reload a card themselves.
- A link to your point of sale: the till receipt number is typed in, and gift card sales are not added to daily sales automatically.
- Moving money between stores: Settlement shows what each store owes another, and the stores settle it themselves.
See it with your own restaurant
Book a demo and we will go through how your stores run today and where Mezbano fits.