Buying a restaurant gift voucher in Cork

To buy a restaurant gift voucher in Cork, choose a place the person will genuinely enjoy and can easily get to, pick an amount that covers the meal they would actually have there, and send it. On Mosey you pick the place and the amount, name the person, and the voucher reaches them in the app straight away, to spend over one visit or several.

The buying is the easy part. Most vouchers that go unused fail at the choosing, so that is where this guide starts.

How do you choose the right place for a voucher?

A voucher for a specific place is a better present than a generic gift card, but only if the place suits the person rather than you.

• Think about how they eat, not how you do. A long tasting menu is a treat for some people and an ordeal for others. A relaxed lunch spot may be the better gift.
• Make it easy to get to. A place near their home or work gets used. One across the city gets saved for an occasion that never comes.
• Check dietary needs. If they are vegetarian, coeliac or avoid something, look at the menu before you buy, and ask the place if you are unsure.
• Look at real ratings and photographs. Ratings on Mosey come from people who ate there, with their own photos of the food. You can see what the dishes actually look like, not a styled shot.
• Consider the occasion. A café voucher suits a thank-you or a new neighbour. A dinner voucher suits a birthday, an anniversary or a new baby, when what people want most is a night out.

The Cork hub is a good place to browse, and the guides to lesser-known places worth finding in Cork and standout dishes across Cork will help you find somewhere with a reputation worth giving.

How much should a restaurant voucher be?

Enough to cover the meal the voucher is for. A voucher that leaves someone noticeably short at the end of the night turns a present into a bill.

• For a café, think in mornings: enough for a few coffees and something to eat, used over a few visits.
• For lunch, enough for one person's main course and a drink, or two people sharing.
• For dinner, look at the menu prices and cover two people for a main course each, plus something to drink. If it is for a couple, it should be dinner for two.

If your budget does not stretch to dinner, a lunch or café voucher at a well-loved place is a better gift than a dinner voucher that only covers half a meal.

How do you buy and send a voucher on Mosey?

1. Find the place on Mosey and check that it sells vouchers. Not every place does.
2. Choose the amount from the options the place offers.
3. Keep it or name the recipient. If it is a gift, it reaches them in the app straight away. There is nothing to post and nothing to lose in a drawer.
4. Pay. A small processing fee is shown before you pay, and there is no charge for sending a voucher as a gift.

The vouchers and gifts page covers the details.

What is bonus credit?

Some places give more credit than you pay for. They choose whether to offer it and how much, so it is not always available, but when it is, it is the best value you will find for that place.

It is not a trick. A place that sells credit today gets money now for meals it serves later, which is genuinely useful to a small business with bills to pay. Bonus credit passes some of that value back to you.

How are vouchers spent?

In person, at the place. Staff apply the voucher and the balance comes down by what was spent, so it does not all have to go on one meal. A café voucher can cover a fortnight of mornings; a dinner voucher, one good evening.

Whether a voucher has an expiry date is up to the place, and the terms are shown before you buy. Read them, and tell the person roughly how long they have, so the present does not quietly run out.

Can you change your mind?

Yes, within limits. If you buy a voucher and think better of it, you have 14 days to withdraw and get your money back automatically, as long as none of it has been spent, and as long as the person has not yet been told about the gift. Once it has reached them, taking it back is no longer automatic, and it becomes a matter for the place.

Some places ask you at checkout to give up that 14-day right in exchange for immediate access. If you see that box, ticking it is your choice. If you are not shown one, you keep the right.

Gift etiquette that makes the voucher work

• Tell them it is coming. A quick message saying you have sent them dinner somewhere lovely makes the moment.
• Add a suggestion. "Get the dish everyone talks about" turns credit into a plan.
• Do not choose your own favourite unless you know they share your taste.
• Offer to go with them, if the gift is partly about spending time together.
• For a group gift, collect from everyone first, then buy one larger voucher rather than several small ones. It covers a proper meal.

Find a Cork place they will love on Mosey, choose an amount that covers a real meal, and send it to their phone.