• by Teresa Buyikian , Yesterday

This year more consumers purchased restaurant gift cards on Black Friday than on Cyber Monday, according to the recent report "Thanksgiving Holiday Card Sales Research."

The report from digital guest engagement platform Paytronics saw consumers move toward earlier gift card purchases, with Cyber Monday sales falling about 7% as compared to 2024. Specifically on Black Friday, $6.5 million in cards were sold in 2025, vs. $6.3 million in 2024. Cyber Monday sales were down at $6.6 million for 2025 vs. $6.8 million for 2024.

Overall, the number of gift cards saw Black Friday at 112.8 thousand cards sold in 2025, vs. 108.8 thousand in 2024. Cyber Monday sales were down, with 131.1 thousand cards sold in 2025 vs. 141.4 thousand in 2024.

Third-party sales are taking a bigger portion of overall gift card sales, but the total amount spent is about the same. While corporate sales increased to $641.2 million worth of cards sold in 2025 vs. $561.5 million in 2024, in-store sales were down with $8.6 million purchased in 2025 vs. $8.8 million in 2024. Third-party sales were up with $2.6 million sold in 2025 vs. $2 million in 2024.

While overall purchases were up on Black Friday, the dollar amount loaded onto gift cards actually decreased. The average dollars loaded per card on Black Friday averaged $47 in 2025 vs. $56 in 2024. Cyber Monday did see an uptick with an average of $49 loaded on cards in 2025 vs. $47 in 2024.

As far as full service restaurants vs. QSRs, overall FSRs gift cards increased while QSRs declined in both spend and load amounts. For FSRs, Black Friday 2025 saw $63 loaded per card vs. $68 in 2024. Cyber Monday was up $63 vs $61.

QSRs took a hit this year, with Black Friday card loads “down significantly” at an average of $29 per card in 2025 vs. $40 in 2024. Cyber Monday was the same as 2024, with $33 loaded per card.