How should a restaurant handle gift voucher questions?
Short answer: answer them quickly, and handle a voucher booking the same way you handle any other table. A restaurant voucher is usually bought as a present, often in the evening and often in December, by someone who wants to know what it covers and whether it will arrive in time. Weeks later, the person who received it gets in touch to book, often with a menu question. Both conversations land while you are cooking or working the floor.
How big is the voucher season?
Big enough to plan around. The Gift Card and Voucher Association puts the whole UK gift card market at around £10.7 billion a year. Almost a quarter of UK adults, 24 per cent, bought or received a gift card in the past twelve months, and 6 per cent bought or received one for dining or takeaway. The same report says physical cards typically sell strongly in the run-up to Christmas.
For an independent restaurant, every voucher is a table paid for in advance, often by someone who has never been in before. So the first reply they get matters almost as much as the voucher itself.
What do people ask before they buy?
- Does it cover a set amount, or a particular menu?
- Can it be used for the tasting menu, or only à la carte?
- Does it include drinks, and service?
- Is it valid at the weekend, and on special evenings like Valentine’s?
- How long does it last?
- Can you post a card in time for Christmas?
What do people ask when they come to use it?
- “I have a voucher, can I book a table for two on Saturday?”
- “Can I use it on the Christmas menu?”
- “My partner is vegetarian, will the menu work for us?”
- “It ran out at the end of last month, can I still use it?”
The first three are easy if someone is free to answer. The fourth needs a person. All of them arrive as calls during service, as emails, as Instagram messages and as notes in the booking form.
Voucher questions, three ways
| Answer when someone is free | A voicemail or shared inbox | An always-on agent (Sorino) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Answered while the buyer is still deciding | Rarely | No | Yes |
| Knows the voucher terms | Whoever is on | No | Yes, from what you have given it |
| Sends them to your voucher shop | If someone remembers | No | Every time |
| Books the table when they use it | Yes, after service | No | Yes, within your rules |
| Takes someone off the pass | Yes | No | No |
What does the agent do with voucher questions?
You give it your voucher terms, your menus and your booking rules. It answers phone calls, website chat, email and social messages in your restaurant’s voice.
- Answers the buyer’s questions and sends them the link to your voucher shop.
- When someone wants to use a voucher, checks the date and books the table within your rules, then notes the voucher number for your team to check.
- Answers menu questions from your own menu, and only gives allergy answers that match your allergen records. Anything uncertain goes to a person. There is a full guide to that: Can AI answer your allergen questions safely?
- Keeps a record of each conversation, so you can see which vouchers people asked about.
What will it leave to you?
- It will not take payment for a voucher. People buy through your own voucher shop.
- It will not decide whether a voucher is valid. It notes the number and your team checks it.
- It will not extend an out of date voucher, swap it for cash or make an exception. It gathers the details and passes them to you.
- It will not book a voucher table on an evening you have closed to vouchers.
How quickly can it go live?
About six weeks. The first fortnight sets up your menus, voucher terms, allergen records and booking rules, and decides what gets passed to a person. Then the phone and website chat go live and get tuned to your voice, then email and social messages are added. It runs at £299 a month. Start now and it can be in place before the busiest voucher weeks of the year.
Frequently asked
Can it sell the voucher? No. It answers the questions and sends the buyer to your own voucher shop to pay.
Does it check the voucher is valid? No. It notes the voucher number with the booking and your team checks it.
What if someone asks about allergies? It only gives answers that match your allergen records, and passes anything uncertain to a person.
Does it work with our booking system? It sits alongside the booking platform you already run and takes the booking into it, so there is one diary, not two.
Christmas party bookings arrive in the same weeks as the vouchers: Answer every festive enquiry.
The short version
- Vouchers sell hardest just before Christmas, and they are often bought by someone who has never eaten with you.
- The buyer wants to know what it covers and whether it will arrive in time.
- The person who receives it comes back weeks later to book, often with a menu question.
- The agent answers both, sends buyers to your voucher shop and books voucher tables within your rules.
- Payment, validity checks, expired vouchers and anything about allergies it cannot confirm stay with you.
Sources
- The UK gift card market is estimated at £10.7 billion a year; 24 per cent of UK adults bought or received a gift card in the past 12 months; 6 per cent bought or received a dining and takeaway gift card; physical cards typically perform strongly in the run-up to Christmas. Sales Analysis & Outlook (UK), H1 2026 Summary Report, Gift Card & Voucher Association, September 2026. gcva.co.uk
Get started
Make the first answer part of the present.
Build an agent for your own restaurant, ask it what your voucher covers and whether it works on the tasting menu, and see how it answers.