Restaurant.com's Fifth Annual Feed It Forward Program Offers Guilt-Free Gifting

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill., Dec. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- In the spirit of giving, Restaurant.com kicks off the company's fifth annual Feed It Forward free giving program.  The program allows consumers to "gift" everyone on their holiday list, avoiding gift-giving guilt.

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According to the 2012 Restaurant.com Annual Spirit of Giving Survey, 85 percent of consumers stated they feel guilty if they exclude someone from their holiday shopping list. Feed It Forward solves this problem allowing participants to give away up to 100 free $10 Restaurant.com eGift Cards daily now through January 1, 2013.

"Restaurant.com is thrilled to bring back, by popular demand, Feed It Forward and we are happy to help consumers give to everyone on their gift list—be it friends, neighbors, teachers, mail carriers and acquaintances," said Christopher Krohn, President and CMO of Restaurant.com. "The Feed it Forward program is a way to continue to give throughout the season without exhausting holiday budgets that may be overextended by Black Friday or Cyber Monday."

Spirit of Giving Survey Findings

To take the pulse of the nation's giving spirit Restaurant.com recently conducted their annual Spirit of Giving survey of more than 1,800 consumers nationwide.  Following are the 2012 key findings:

• Give or Receive? – When it comes to holiday gifting, nearly nine out of ten (88 percent) survey respondents prefer giving gifts more than receiving them.
• Happiness Effect – All this giving has a feel-good effect since 91 percent of those surveyed feel happier when they give instead of receive. Exactly half (50 percent) of consumers try to give gifts to as many people as possible.
• Gifting Guilt – Eighty-five percent of consumers confirmed feeling guilty excluding someone from the holiday shopping list and nine out of ten (92 percent) would give more gifts if they could afford to do so.
• Rewards and Recognition – Nearly seven out of ten (68 percent) of those surveyed said they give gifts because of the rewarding feeling it brings and 30 percent give gifts to recognize the recipient.
• Wishful Gifting – Survey respondents like to be very giving. Following are those they would like to bestow a gift to if they had the means to do so: close friends (75 percent), extended family members (71 percent), teachers (30 percent), mail carrier (44 percent), neighbors (47 percent), co-workers (48 percent), boss (29 percent), paper delivery person (23 percent), party hostess (14 percent), babysitter (11 percent) and dry cleaner (7 percent).
• Holidays Hit Hard – The economy still has a hold on holiday giving. Eight out of ten (82 percent) of respondents said they cannot afford to be as giving as they'd like to be this year.
• Making Ends Meet – In order to make ends meet during the season, three-quarters of consumers cut down on spending throughout the year and over half (57 percent) said they would sacrifice by working extra hours to give gifts to everyone on their holiday list.

"Restaurant.com makes gift-giving affordable with gift cards for dining out that never expire and can be used at thousands of eateries across the country," added Krohn. "Feed It Forward participants can give the gift of gathering of friends, family, and acquaintances all season."

How to Feed It Forward

To date, 1.5 million people have fed it forward with Restaurant.com. Those in the giving spirit this holiday season should visit FeedItForward.Restaurant.com and can log in with a Restaurant.com or Facebook account. To give, participants access their Facebook, Gmail or Yahoo! contacts to select recipients or manually enter email addresses to spread the holiday cheer. Recipients will redeem their gifts through the Feed It Forward site. The gifted Restaurant.com eGift Cards never expire and can be redeemed for any $10 Gift Certificate to a participating Restaurant.com restaurant.

About Restaurant.com

Restaurant.com is the trusted and valued source connecting restaurants and diners nationwide. The company offers savings at more than 18,000 restaurants nationwide with more than 45,000 gift certificate options. Restaurant.com brings people together to enjoy well-prepared and served meals at affordable prices. To date, Restaurant.com customers have saved more than $1 billion through the gift certificate program. Restaurant.com has operated since 1999 and is based in Arlington Heights, Ill.

Editor's Note:

The 2012 Restaurant.com Annual Spirit of Giving Survey was conducted online by Restaurant.com® using Survey Monkey from October 25 through November 5, 2012 with 1,877 consumers participating.

SOURCE Restaurant.com