Free $10 Restaurant.com Certificate
(UPDATE: Here are the current Restaurant.com promo codes.)
Reader Bill offered a helpful comment about the promotional site feeditforward.restaurant.com where you can give and receive free $10 certificates from Restaurant.com until Christmas.
However, I wanted to point out this offer is tricky in that you have to weigh the benefit of getting a $10 certificate for free or simply buying a $25 certificate for $2, since most restaurants have a minimum purchase requirement and you can only use one certificate per visit.
The way the math works out, if the restaurant requires the same minimum purchase of anything over $12, you’re better off buying the $25 certificate for $2. Let’s say you want to spend just $15. With the $10 certificate, the final net cost is $5. With the $25 certificate for $2, the final net cost is only $2.
A common scenario is a $20 minimum purchase for the $10 certificate, and a $35 minimum purchase for the $25 certificate. As long as you plan on spending at least $35, then you’re much better off buying the $25 certificate for $2. Getting $20 worth of food would end up with a net cost of $10. But getting $35 worth of food would only end up with a net cost of $12 ($2 for the $25 certificate + $10).
Run a search at Restaurant.com first to find a place you like and carefully note their specific restrictions.
Find more in Deals & Offers | 12/24/09, 2:59am | Trackback
December 24th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
the math doesn’t make sense because most $25 certificates have a $35 minimum purchase requirement.
December 24th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
@fo – Thanks for your comment. I have expanded my post to include the comparison between getting a free $10 certificate with $20 min vs. the two-dollar $25 certificate with $35 minimum.
December 25th, 2009 at 1:45 am
The other interesting thing about these is that at least 2 of the restaurants on there (the only two we happen to go to on a regular basis) only have coupons for $10. Now, these two places also regularly send out $9 coupons (buy one meal, get the second off with a $9 maximum) in those value packs you get in your postal mail. So it’s all a wash anyway. (More or less)