Going out to eat should be an enjoyable experience, but the average American household still spends about 10% of their budget on dining out. While dining out is a great way to treat yourself and your family, it can also become expensive if you don’t plan carefully or choose some of the more expensive restaurants in your area.
Luckily for you, we’ve done our research and found 5 of the best apps to help you find some of the best restaurant deals available. Whether you’re looking for a restaurant in your area or traveling abroad, these apps will make sure that you can find an affordable meal no matter where you are.
Read on to learn more about these awesome apps!
Best Apps For Restaurant Deals
Everyone loves food, but everyone loves free food even more. While cooking at home is the most economical way to cut down on food costs, you should eat out every once in a while and enjoy yourself–and we don’t mean just ordering delivery!
When you decide to make a night of it and find fantastic meals for you and your family, try to find a coupon or deal to help you save a few bucks. Some apps can help you find deals on food–and these are some of the best.
The Best Apps To Find Restaurant Deals And Get Free Food
Before you decide to just pay full price for some grub, search for a deal on one of these apps.
Restaurant.com
The Restaurant.com app has a lot going for it. Not only do you often find coupons for as much as 50% off, but you can redeem all coupons directly from your phone–no need to print anything out ahead of time. This makes it the ultimate last-minute way to save cash when you’re dining out somewhere.
Restaurant.com also offers the Dining Discount Pass, a $25 value that provides free items and other coupons at dozens of national chains. If you love eating out at restaurants and you only want a single deals app, this is the one.
Groupon
Groupon is one of the most popular deals apps anywhere. At any given time, you can find more than 100,000 deals on the site. Best of all, you can narrow the deals down by your area, as well as sign up to receive relevant deals straight in your inbox. Whether it’s a few dollars off or savings of more than $50, you can find plenty of restaurant deals at Groupon.
Dairy Queen
Dairy Queen is the perfect place to stop on a hot summer day. With the warm months just around the corner, download the Dairy Queen app to stay on top of all of the deals, such as buy one, get one Blizzards.
Dunkin Donuts
Dunkin Donuts has a high return rate on rewards. You’ll get a free drink when you download the app, and then you get 5 points for every dollar you spend. At 200 points, you get another free drink. That’s one drink per $40 spent.
Living Social
Living Social is a lot like Groupon in that it provides discounts on local attractions and food. In fact, deals often overlap from both sites. Living Social tends to offer better discounts on group purchases, which makes it a great option for dining out as soon as it’s safe to.
Chili’s
If you love Chili’s cajun pasta as much as the rest of the world, you should download the app. You’ll get either free chips and salsa or a free drink every time you go, and; you also get a coupon for a free dessert on your birthday.
Buffalo Wild Wings
One day soon, you’ll be able to return to your favorite sports bar and watch the game. When that day comes, you’ll want to save money–and the Buffalo Wild Wings app is a great way to do so. You’ll receive 10 points on check-in and 100 points for every $10 spent. You can use these points to get free food.
Chick-Fil-A
Chick-Fil-A offers free food perks periodically, often for no real reason. You can also earn free food by making purchases through the app. If you purchase one of their themed “Cow Calendars” in-store, you will receive another free food item each month.
McDonald’s
McDonald’s isn’t just one of the most popular fast food stops in the world, but it’s also one of the best apps for coupons and rewards. For example, every Friday you can get a free medium fry with any purchase, and you can rack up free McCafe drinks if you regularly order coffee.
Panera Bread
Panera Bread not only has excellent soup and coffee, but it’s a fantastic place to spend an afternoon working. If you’re the type of person that enjoys sitting in restaurants to get your tasks finished, download the Panera Bread app to receive a free pastry and earn points on every purchase.
Chipotle
Chipotle offers one of the best reward points apps for free food out there. You’ll earn 10 points for every dollar spent, and after you get 1,250 points you receive a free entree. You can also earn rewards like free appetizers and discounts on your meals.
Wendy’s
Wendy’s is known for its discounts; after all, the $2 keychain the restaurant sells that gives a free Frosty throughout the year is fantastic. The app is no exception. You’ll find discounts on meals as well as coupons for free menu items. Download the app and you can redeem coupons as soon as you open it up.
Applebee’s
The Applebee’s app offers users free food coupons, as well as discounts on entrees. You can also receive a free entree on your birthday each year. It doesn’t have the best rewards program, but even a few dollars here and there is better than nothing.
Next time you go out for food, whether it’s at a sit-down place or fast food drive-thru, take the time to look for coupons on one of these apps for free food and meal deals. There’s no need to pay full price if you don’t have to.
app for dining discounts
Most budgeting advice centers on dining out less and cooking more. But if you live to try out new restaurants, travel frequently or are too busy to cook, there are plenty of apps that let you save on meals out – or earn rewards that you can cash in for future purchases. Dining and rewards apps tend to all handle deals a bit differently. Some let you buy vouchers at a discount, some let you earn rewards points on restaurant purchases and still others give you free food and drinks. Some partner with national chains, while others partner with local and high-end establishments. Choose the one that’s right for you, or install all of them to maximize your saving potential.
Here are seven of the best apps to help you save on the cost of dining out:
- Groupon
- Hooch
- LivingSocial
- OpenTable
- Restaurant.com
- Seated
- Yelp
[ READ: Restaurants Where Kids Eat Free in 2019. ] - Groupon
Renowned by deal hunters as the way to save on practically everything, Groupon’s app offers plenty of deals for diners. In addition to offering its fixed-price discounts, where you pay in advance and receive a wine tasting, specific food item or credit toward your bill, Groupon also offers cash back offers. To get cash back, you’ll link a debit or credit card to your Groupon account, claim an offer (for example, 30% off at a local Thai restaurant) and use that card at the restaurant. At no point do you need to present a voucher. Your cash back will be refunded back to your card. Cash back offers are limited to a certain number of takers, so if you see a restaurant you’ve been meaning to try offering a generous amount of cash back, jump on it. - Hooch
This app is aimed at frequent diners and frequent fliers. It rewards you for various lifestyle purchases with partner companies, including restaurants and bars. Simply dine at an affiliate restaurant and pay with a card you’ve linked to the app. Your rewards can be redeemed toward retailer gift cards, experiences, hotel rooms and future food and drinks at restaurants. In addition to its free membership level, Hooch offers paid membership levels, including Hooch Plus ($9.99 per month), which gets you a free drink every day at partner venues.
[ READ: 12 Stores That Give Free Birthday Gifts ]
- LivingSocial
LivingSocial’s app uses the prepay model for restaurant discounts. Pay a certain amount to get credit toward your meal at various partner restaurants. The value of the voucher you get will generally be 40% to 50% higher than the amount you paid. If you enjoy meal kits, such as Blue Apron and EveryPlate, know that LivingSocial offers significant prepaid discounts on these services as well. - OpenTable
OpenTable is known as a reservations app. However, when you book (and show up for) a restaurant reservation, you can collect dining points, too. Points can be redeemed toward future meals at restaurants that partner with OpenTable, hotel stays via Kayak or Amazon gift cards. The number of points you earn per reservation varies by restaurant and timing of your reservation. If you book bonus point reservations, you’ll earn extra points. If you’d like to use your rewards toward a future meal, you can redeem them via the app and receive a voucher to show on your phone screen to your server. - Restaurant.com
Get discounted vouchers for restaurants near you instantly with the Restaurant.com app. All deals on the app can be redeemed from your phone, no printed coupons necessary. Restaurant.com sells pay-in-advance vouchers. You’ll purchase a digital certificate, often for more than 50% less than face value. For example, you may purchase a $25 certificate to a local barbecue joint for $10.
Restaurant.com also offers a Dining Discount Pass. Valid for six months, it generally costs $25 and offers freebies and discounts at more than 100 national chains (think: McDonald’s and Domino’s Pizza). Consider it the digital version of a coupon book. Past examples of dining deals available with the pass have included a free side with purchase and $5 off meals at various chains.
- Seated
This app, available in select major cities, rewards you for making restaurant reservations. Book a reservation at a participating restaurant via the app, dine out, reach the minimum spending requirement and receive up to 30% of your check total in the form of a rewards code. That code can be used in the Seated rewards portal for retailer gift cards and ride-share credits. Seated’s partner restaurants tend to be a bit upscale. So earning a gift card or discount on your next ride can help you justify the splurge.
[ READ: 15 National Food Holidays That Offer Free Meals and Treats. ]
- Yelp
In addition to helping you scout out the best restaurants, the Yelp app helps you earn a kickback on your spending. Select restaurants offer cash back when you link a debit or credit card to your Yelp account and then dine with them. Filter your search results by “Cash Back” to see which restaurants are currently offering deals. Activate your deal, pay with the linked card when you dine and receive your cash back as a refund to your card.
Companies and products mentioned in this article may be promoted on www.offers.com.
Conclusion
Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
Check out other publications to gain access to more digital resources if you are just starting out with Flux Resource.
Also contact us today to optimize your business(s)/Brand(s) for Search Engines