Can we use coupons for restaurant shops, those that pay $35...

Read your guidelines! Every shop is different.

Most of the shops I have seen say that you cannot use a coupon or Groupon or Restaurant.com thing, but most of them say you can use a gift certificate. It is always safest to read the guidelines for your specific shop and if you have a wonderful coupon and the guidelines are silent, contact your scheduler to ask.

But here is the deal. If I am being reimbursed $35, I really don't want to buy and report on $45 of food, use my $10 coupon or gift card and only get reimbursed $35. Similarly if I buy $35 worth of food I don't want to 'waste' my $10 coupon and get reimbursed only $25.

If it's the $35 steakhouse, I believe it states you may not use coupons. Check your guidelines always, the answer is usually lurking there. If not, I'd contact your scheduler ASAP. A coupon is not worth a rejected shop!

I go to several of the used gift card resellers. As soon as I book a shop, I look for a gift card for that corporate owner. Many cards can be used at restaurants that are not the one on the card itself and you will fin that some are sold at a higher discount. Also, you can find some gift cards sold at a discount at Costco. That is just money in my pocket, as most cards sell at 16%-20% off. You can even tip off the gift card.

Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Longhorn Steakhouse, The Capital Grille, Bahama Breeze, and Seasons 52 22.25% off [www.giftcardbin.com]

California Pizza Kitchen 18% off [www.cardpool.com]

Dave & Busters 15% off [www.cardkangaroo.com]
Papa Johns 15% off [www.abcgiftcards.com]

TGI Fridays 27% [giftcardzen.com]

Thanks for the gift card tip! I had never thought of this and I will be using this in the future!

It seems like lots of the jobs I see say you can't use gift cards. Maybe that's just in Canada...I don't know.

@Flash wrote:

Most of the shops I have seen say that you cannot use a coupon or Groupon or Restaurant.com thing, but most of them say you can use a gift certificate. It is always safest to read the guidelines for your specific shop and if you have a wonderful coupon and the guidelines are silent, contact your scheduler to ask.

But here is the deal. If I am being reimbursed $35, I really don't want to buy and report on $45 of food, use my $10 coupon or gift card and only get reimbursed $35. Similarly if I buy $35 worth of food I don't want to 'waste' my $10 coupon and get reimbursed only $25.

Am I right in thinking that I will receive my itemized check, which is what I show for reimbursement, and how I pay for it does not affect my reimbursement? So, if I had a $200 check at High End Steak House, I could pay with the discounted gift cards, saving about $28, and still receive the full reimbursement from the company, if payment with gift cards is allowed.

@Roxie wrote:

So, if I had a $200 check at High End Steak House, I could pay with the discounted gift cards, saving about $28, and still receive the full reimbursement from the company, if payment with gift cards is allowed.

Looking at the site scanman posted above, I see 2 high-end steakhouses that offer cards on it. One of them, who's shop reimburses close to $200, has a specific instruction that reads:

-You may use any coupons that you have, but do not pay with a gift card. We cannot reimburse for this.

Another, that reimburses far less, list the following:

-You are not permitted to use a coupon, Groupon, Living Social, Scout Mob etc. during this shop. However, gift certificates are permissible.

The question remains if gift cards and gift certificates are considered the same thing, as I would generally think of gift certificates as something bought directly from the restaurant at face value, but a lot of corporate chains will simply sell you a gift card these days.

The remainder of the steakhouses I have shopped (I actually shopped 3 this month, which is a lot of steak for me!) are not large enough ventures to offer location specific gift cards, and no cards were allowed on those shops anyway. Each of them also had a bar component that needed to be paid in cash.

That said, another thing to consider is the milage you can acquire using an airline-connected credit card. I use an American AAdvantage card. In addition to the miles that I earn for the credit card charges, I am also part of the dining program,:

[aa.rewardsnetwork.com]

If you register the card with them and the restaurant is associated, you get an additional 5 miles for every dollar spent once you have a certain number if dines. It works transparently behind the scenes with your bank, and the restaurant or server is not even aware of the association when you pay. That means I can potentially earn over 1,000 miles for that steak dinner.