TCN Pub & Bar gift cards are merchant category restricted gift cards produced by The Card Network (TCN).
Summary
You can:
- Use TCN Pub & Bar gift cards at almost any drinking or eating place excluding fast food
- Convert your physical gift card into a digital gift card that can be added to your mobile wallet
You cannot:
- Use TCN Pub & Bar gift cards at fast food restaurants or liquor stores and bottle shops
Supported merchant categories
TCN Pub & Bar gift cards are not just limited to use at specific businesses; you can use them at any eating or drinking place that uses one of the following merchant category codes (MCCs):
- 5812: Eating Places, Restaurants
- 5813: Bars, Cocktail Lounges, Discotheques, Nightclubs, and Taverns: Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages)
- 7997: Clubs: Country Clubs, Membership (Athletic, Recreation, Sports), Private Golf Courses
Note that the MCCs 5814: Fast Food Restaurants and 5921: Package Stores, Beer, Wine, and Liquor are not supported so you won’t be able to use the Pub & Bar gift card at places like McDonald’s or Dan Murphy’s.
How to use TCN Pub & Bar gift cards
You can use a physical TCN Pub & Bar gift card simply by swiping it at a payment terminal, selecting Savings and then entering your card’s four digit PIN. You don’t have to ask the restaurant or drinking place if they accept your gift card because it should just work.
However, some payment readers (e.g. Square) won’t accept physical TCN Pub & Bar cards because they don’t have a chip. That’s why you should convert your physical card into a digital one via the Choice.Gift website (if it won’t convert, register your card and try again).
Digital TCN Pub & Bar gift cards are more convenient as you can track your balance in the TCN app, add your cards to a mobile wallet (e.g. Apple Pay, Google Pay) and reveal the card number, expiry and CVV for online purchases.
To use a digital TCN Pub & Bar gift card for an in-person transaction, you can simply add it to your mobile wallet and then tap your phone to pay like you would with any other credit or debit card.
If you don’t have enough money left on the gift card to cover your purchase, you’ll have to ask if you can pay $X.XX on one card and the remainder on another. A lot of restaurants and drinking places will be happy to oblige but some may not allow it.
You can also use the digital TCN Pub & Bar card online by either entering the card number, expiry and CVV in the credit/debit card field or by paying with Apple Pay or Google Pay if they’re supported. However, split card payments are rarely possible for online purchases.
Denominations
The physical version of the Pub & Bar gift card has been seen for sale in $50 and $100 denominations only. The digital version, on the other hand, can be loaded with as little as $5 or as much as $500 at the time of purchase.
Promotions
TCN Pub & Bar gift cards are regularly included in promotions. Approximately every month or two there are 20x points (or equivalent) offers on TCN Pub & Bar gift cards at Coles or Woolworths where you’re essentially getting $10 worth of points for every $100 you spend (or 1,000 frequent flyer points).
TCN also sometimes offer discounts on the Pub & Bar card via Card.Gift, their online gift card store.
If you’re just looking for a gift card to spend at any restaurant, it’s also worth keeping an eye out for promotions on the TCN Restaurant card as well as the competing Restaurant Choice and Cafe Choice gift cards as they work in a similar way.
