TCN Good Food gift cards are merchant category restricted gift cards that can be used at restaurants and drinking places. The TCN Good Food gift card is not to be confused with the now discontinued Good Food gift card produced by TCN rival Blackhawk Network.
Summary
You can:
- Use TCN Good Food gift cards at almost any restaurant or eating place
- Often buy TCN Good Food gift cards during a promotion
- Convert physical TCN Good Food gift cards into digital gift cards
You cannot:
- Use TCN Good Food gift cards at fast food restaurants
Supported merchant categories
TCN Good Food gift cards can be used at any business classified under of the following merchant category codes:
- 5812: Eating Places, Restaurants
- 5813: Bars, Cocktail Lounges, Discotheques, Nightclubs, and Taverns: Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages)
Unofficially, TCN Good Food gift cards reportedly also support:
- 5811: Caterers
- 7011: Lodging: Hotels, Motels, Resorts: not elsewhere classified
Note that the merchant category code 5814: Fast Food Restaurants is not supported by the TCN Good Food gift card so you won’t be able to use it at places like McDonald’s.
Whilst the website for the TCN Good Food gift card suggests that it can only be used at specific restaurants that they have partnered with, the terms and conditions make it clear that it’s just a merchant category gift card:
[Physical TCN Good Food gift card] is a restricted access network gift card that can be used for electronic transactions, to purchase goods and services at selected merchants that have the designated merchant category code ‘Eating Places’ or ‘Drinking Places’. The card is not valid at will not work at venues outside of these merchant category codes. Specifically the card is not valid at venues that are designated by their merchant category code as Fast food or quick service restaurants.
…
[Digital TCN Good Food gift card] is a Mastercard prepaid card that can be used at venues that have designated the merchant category code Eating Places, Restaurants or Drinking Places.
Additionally, there is a tacit admission of this fact in the TCN Good Food gift card FAQ which states that “there may be some instances” where the gift card “works outside of the list shown on this website”.
How to use TCN Good Food gift cards
If you have a physical TCN Good Food gift card, simply swipe it in the payment terminal, select Savings and then enter the card’s PIN when prompted. You don’t have to tell them that you’re paying with a gift card as you pay just like you would with a normal credit or debit card.
With digital TCN Good Food gift cards, you just tap your phone or device to pay via Apple Pay, Google Pay or Samsung Pay. The balance for digital TCN Good Food gift cards can be tracked via the TCN app.
If you don’t have enough of a balance on the gift card to cover the entire purchase, just ask if you can pay $X.XX on one card and the remainder on another. Also, if the business surcharges card payments, make sure you factor that in.
In late 2024 it became possible to convert physical TCN Good Food gift cards into digital ones via the gift card’s website. Converting your physical cards into digital ones is a good idea as they’re more convenient and can help you avoid the restrictions that some payment terminals (e.g. Square) place on physical Eftpos gift cards.
Promotions
Promotions on TCN Good Food gift cards are quite common. You rarely have to wait more than a month or two for stores like Coles or Woolworths to run another 10% off or 20x rewards points offer. The best discount would be Coles’ 15% off promotion on various TCN gift cards that runs every November.
It’s worth mentioning that many offers on TCN Good Food gift cards include other restaurant-themed merchant category cards like the TCN Pub & Bar and TCN Restaurant. These other cards are usually preferred as they often support additional merchant categories.
