Earn 20x Flybuys points per dollar spent on Restaurant Choice ($100), Luxury Escapes, Event Cinemas, Village Cinemas and RedBalloon gift cards at Coles.
Restaurant Choice gift cards can be spent at basically any restaurant, cafe or bakery. Every $100 you spend on these gift cards earns you 2,000 Flybuys points (equal to $10 or 1,000 Velocity points).
Here are the details:
- Runs from Wed 12 Aug to Tue 18 Aug 2026
- Only available in-store at Coles
- Excludes variable load Restaurant Choice, Event Cinemas and Village Cinemas gift cards
- Limit of five gift cards per day
- Limit of 50,000 points per Flybuys account
- This offer is open to everyone and does not require activation
- Points usually credit in 1-3 days
How it works
Purchase any of these gift cards in-store at Coles between 12 Aug and 18 Aug 2026 and you will earn 20x Flybuys points per dollar spent. The points usually arrive the following day at around 5pm but delays of a few days aren’t uncommon.
The included denominations are:
- Restaurant Choice: $100
- Luxury Escapes: $100-500 variable load
- Event Cinemas: $30, $50, $100
- Village Cinemas: $30, $50, $100
- RedBalloon: $100
Note that the variable load denominations of the Restaurant Choice, Event Cinemas and Village Cinemas gift cards are excluded so you will only receive 20x points on the fixed value cards listed above.
You can buy up to five gift cards per day and earn up to 50,000 points in total during the promotion, meaning you’re limited to a maximum spend of $2,500. Anything you spend over that won’t earn 20x points.
This offer will be advertised in the Coles catalogue and on in-store posters. You won’t see it in your Flybuys app but that’s normal as no activation is required.
Check the Merchant Database on GCDB for a list of places where the Restaurant Choice gift card has been tested and found to work. If you’ve used them somewhere that isn’t listed, let us know and we’ll add it to the list.
For the Luxury Escapes gift cards, you can only redeem up to $1,500 in gift cards per booking. There is apparently a workaround where you use them to book and then cancel refundable accomodation so that the gift card is returned as account credit but it’s unclear if this still works.
Luxury Escapes gift cards also can’t be used to book standalone airfares. The only airfares you can pay for with gift cards are those that are included as part of an accomodation package.
The Event Cinemas and Village Cinemas gift cards are best avoided as we often see more generous promotions on them as well as the more versatile TCN Cinema gift card.
Points calculator
More information
If you’re new to these offers, check out our step-by-step guide on how to earn points by buying gift cards.
If you want to know how frequently certain gift cards are included in these offers, see our Gift Card Offer History tool.
To be kept informed about future gift card promotions, follow us on Facebook and Instagram or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
31 Responses
Does the restaurant choice work at maccas and kfc
It does.
I am having more n more reject of these cards at cafe. Noticed those Ipad type terminal are most likely reject. Anyone has similar experience for restaurant cards?
Do you mean those eftpos terminal like Square and Lightspeed? Mine works fine with them but I guess it depends on what they register their company as? Though I find this problem persists on Good Food & TCN restaurant gift card as they have stricter rule for the merchant codes.
Yes. Is the Restaurant choice different from TCN restaurant gift card?
It’s produced by a different company to the TCN Restaurant gift card but it’s functionally very similar since both can be used at restaurants (5812), fast food restaurants (5814), bakeries (5462), drinking places (5813) and so on.
Friends don’t let friends buy high value giftcards at Coles.
Good luck chasing points with corporate when $1000 worth of LE or Apple cards don’t credit. Woolworths tells you upfront before purchase how many Everyday Rewards points you’re getting back.
I’ve bought several hundred gift cards at Coles and like 98% of of the time the bonus points credit within 1-3 days. Occasionally there are problems but that usually just means that you do nothing for a few weeks while they fix it and then the points arrive.
Can you add Restaurant choice to Apple Pay ?
Yes.
Possible to buy these with Coles Mastercard gift card?
That should work, although if you’re using self-checkouts then you will have to do it one transaction at a time since split card payments aren’t allowed when buying gift cards at Coles.
How do you use the restaurant card at Maccas / gyg etc
At my local the 15 year olds just say we don’t accept gift cards, as soon as o get it out.
Can I just swipe and use pin to pay?
You can
With merchant category gift cards like the Restaurant Choice you never have to tell them that you’re paying with a gift card because it should just work. Treat it like you would any other credit or debit card.
If they say it won’t work, just tell them you’ve used one there before. You can also add it to your mobile wallet and tap your phone to pay if that makes it easier.
Thank you! 🙏
Your information is great. Love it!
For the restaurant card do you select savings or credit?
Credit. You’re not likely to find any for sale these days but there was an older version of Restaurant Choice gift card (the one without a Visa logo) that required you to press Savings.
In any case, on the back of these gift card there are instructions on how to use them.
Thank you, appreciate the reply. Great help. 😊
Has anyone used the restaurant card in the subway app? Do you just add it in the ‘one off payment’ section or credit card?
For luxury escapes: “you can only redeem up to $1,500 in gift cards per booking” -> can I bypass this if I have make multiple bookings?
So lets say I have 1 booking worth $1000 and another one for $1500 (from the same account)
I’m guessing that would still work?
Thanks in advance. 🙂
How do you use up small amounts left on these cards? Can you combine them somehow?
You can’t combine the gift cards but most restaurants are usually happy to let you pay using two cards. Sometimes they won’t but it never hurts to ask.
There are some hacks for using up small balances in this article and the Merchant Database lists the split payment policies for a lot of chain restaurants and cafes.
For restaurants gift card, I’d usually ask (nicely and politely) my local pub/ El Jannah / KFC if they could split the payments, and they are usually happy to do that. I’ve used up multiple cards with the odd few cents balances that way.
My preference is to do that at stores that do not add additional surcharge for card payments, as there will be less mental maths effort required.
Bought the restaurant choice card $100. The normal points came through, but no bonus yet! Does it usually take a day or two later?
Nothing to worry about:
Do I need to register the restaurant choice card on their website before adding it to my wallet? I’m having issues registering it, it kept on saying there’s an error for all the cards.
You don’t need to register it. Use the details on the physical card to add it to your mobile wallet.
Thank you
I’m also struggling to add the Restaurant Choice cards to Apple wallet. Keep getting error message. There are no instructions on the physical card or packaging. No QR code either. Do you have a link that works for Apple Wallet please?
Issue resolved. I had scratched the security panel on the back of the cards to reveal the PIN. I’ve just realised you need to scratch the whole panel – this also reveals a CVV2 number. This was the missing number. All loaded into Apple Wallet now.