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In-House Gift Cards — Sell gift cards directly at your restaurant

In this article, you'll find everything you need to know about In-House Gift Cards: what they are, how to use them, and how they work for you and your guests.

 

Summary

  1. What are In-House Gift Cards and why use them?
  2. How to create a gift card from your back-office
  3. Troubleshooting & FAQs
  4. Support & Related Articles

 

What you need to know

You can now create gift cards directly from your Zenchef back office (Pay > Shop > Gift Cards) and record the payment as taken at the restaurant. Zenchef does not process any payment for these gift cards: you collect the money on your own POS, and Zenchef records the sale so the gift card behaves exactly like one purchased through your online shop — same codes, same PDF, same redemption. Online and on-site sales now live in the same list and the same export, so you manage your entire gift card business from one place.

 

1. What are In-House Gift Cards and why use them?

Turn every in-person gift card request into a recorded sale, without sending the buyer through your online shop.

Guests often ask to buy a gift card at the restaurant — after a meal, at the counter, or over the phone. Until now, the only option was the online shop. With In-House Gift Cards, your team creates the gift card on the spot, in a few clicks, and the payment is simply recorded as received at the restaurant.

What you can create:

  • Cash value gift cards — for any amount, even if custom amounts are disabled on your online shop widget. When you enter a custom amount, you can also set the gift card's validity.
  • Experience gift cards — one or several at once, each with its own unique code. The buyer, recipient, and personal message are shared across all gift cards created together.

Everything else stays the same: the gift card PDF, the redemption flow, and your gift card list work exactly as they do for online sales. Your CSV export gains a new column showing whether each gift card was sold online or on-site, which makes accounting reconciliation easier.

 

2. How to create a gift card from your back office

Prerequisite: your restaurant needs an online shop with at least one gift card template. The gift cards you create in-house are based on these templates.

Creating a gift card takes less than a minute. You can do this directly from the Gift Cards screen:

  1. In your Zenchef back office, go to Pay > Shop > Gift Cards. You will see the gift cards list there. At the top of the page, click + New (next to Export). This will open the gift card creation form.

     

  2. From the dropdown box, select Custom amount or one or more experiences. Then choose the number of cards, the validity period and the amount.
  3. Choose the delivery method: Email sends a receipt and the gift card PDF to the buyer's email address. Paper allows you to print and hand over the PDF yourself, retrieved from the gift card list after purchase.
  4. Make sure On-site payment is indicated.
  5. Fill in the buyer's details: first and last name are required, as well as email address for Email deliveries; phone is optional. You can also add the recipient's name and a personal message (up to 200 characters), which will appear on the PDF.
  6. Click Save.

  7. Only after you've collected payment, click Confirm payment. This step matters: once issued, a gift card cannot be cancelled or removed, so only confirm after the buyer has paid.

  8. Your gift card list updates automatically, and the newly created gift card(s) appear at the top of the list. Click on any entry to view its details.

After each creation, you also receive a summary email with the recipient, type(s), amount(s), and code(s). If you prefer your own formats, you can copy these details into your own documents.

 

3. Troubleshooting & FAQs

Common Issues

  • I don't see the + New button — The button only appears if your restaurant has an online shop with at least one gift card template. Create a gift card template in your shop first.
  • The On-site payment option is disabled — Recording on-site payments requires an additional option on your account. Contact your CSM to activate it.
  • I created a gift card by mistake — Issued gift cards cannot be cancelled or removed. This is why Zenchef asks you to confirm the payment before creating the gift card. If this happens, put the gift card in "used" to prevent it from being used on a reservation.

FAQ

  • Does Zenchef charge a fee on gift cards created in-house? — No. Zenchef does not process the payment. You collect it at the restaurant, and Zenchef only records the sale. There is no transaction fee.
  • How does the guest redeem an in-house gift card? — Exactly like a gift card purchased online: same code format, same redemption flow, no difference for the guest or your team.
  • What validity applies to in-house gift cards? — Your existing default gift card validity settings will appear in the creation form. You can change the validity there.
  • Can I see which gift cards were sold on-site versus online? — Yes, the CSV export of your gift card list includes a Channel column showing "online" or "on-site" for each gift card.

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