Restaurant gift cards are slipping in popularity, according to a recent report by MainStreet.
The financial blog quotes Kwame Kuadey, chief executive officer of GiftCardResue -- a company that buys unwanted gift cards at up to 90 percent of face value -- as saying restaurant cards are among the cards his site's users are most anxious to unload.
"Every year, after Christmas, we get boatloads of gift cards for restaurants that people want to sell back," Kuadey says. He hypothesizes people would prefer having something that lasts longer than the duration of a meal.
But restaurant cards may also go unused because the giftee doesn't like the restaurant, or has dietary restrictions the card-issuer can't honor. Whatever the reason, a North Texas Food Bank staffer says her organization will happily accept them.
"We are glad to receive them and distribute to people in need," Lynn Turpin Hendricks, senior manager for marketing operations, e-mails. "Likely they will be used in family holiday gift baskets."
The organization yesterday accepted someone's unwanted Subway gift cards, spokesperson Paige Phelps says.
"We can use whatever you send," Hendricks adds.
