ADVERTISER DISCLOSURE: The Frugal Tourist is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as MileValue.com and Cardratings. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more. All information about the American Express Schwab Platinum has been collected independently by The Frugal Tourist.
EDITORIAL DISCLOSURE: Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
Are you tired of paying top dollar when eating out or when having food delivered?
Have you ever wondered how to stack dining promotions to get free miles/points or cashback after your purchase at restaurants and food delivery apps?
If that’s the case, this article may be just for you.
Millions of people currently use cashback offers to save money on everything from clothes and groceries to travel and electronics.
It’s easy for cash-back providers to offer deals that allow you to cash out at a certain amount (typically around $1 per purchase) because they make their money by taking a cut of the sale before sending you your cash back through PayPal or other means.
In this blog post, I will go over the steps for stacking multiple dining offers to earn miles and cashback from my restaurant bill not twice, not thrice, but four times.
While my data point involves physically dining out in a restaurant, the strategies outlined below can be easily replicated using delivery apps like Doordash or Uber Eats.
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The Original Plan: Stack Twice
On a recent trip to New York, I was surprised by an unexpected 4X dining stack.
I intended to stack a restaurant category bonus using my Chase Sapphire Reserve®, which earns 3X at restaurants, and the Seated app, which gives cashback from select restaurants.
I was craving Filipino food and planned to dine in the East Village at my favorite go-to New York Filipino Restaurant – Mama Fina’s.
It must have been my lucky day because Seated was giving back 18% cash if I booked a table and dined in at Mama Fina’s through the Seated app.
I ordered my usual favorites -fried rice and pork “sisig”.
Dining Stack #1: 3X from the Chase Sapphire Reserve
I earned a total of 79.23 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points or ~$1.2 (each CSR Ultimate Rewards Point is roughly 1.5 cents)
Dining Stack #2: $4 from the Seated App (18% cashback)
Unexpected Third and Fourth Stacks
After paying, I started walking towards the subway station, where I planned to catch the train back to my hotel.
And this was the exact moment when my meal turned more profitable.
Several minutes after stepping out of the restaurant, I received two consecutive emails – one from Dosh and one from United MileagePlus Dining informing me that I had just earned rewards for dining at Mama Fina’s.
Initially, I was thrilled for unintentionally carrying out a successful quadruple dining stack – my first ever.
I’ve done double and triple stacks in the past, but never 4x.
Then, I got worried about chipping away from the restaurant’s revenue because of my stacking tactics.
Especially since my meal was only about $25, I naturally got concerned if I ate up not only their amazing food but also a huge chunk of the profit they generated from me.
At the end of the day, I somehow still felt accomplished after triumphantly pulling off a quadruple stack, even though it was not my intention in the first place.
Without a doubt, those unexpected rewards are the best!
Dining Stack #3: $1.12 from Dosh Cash Back
Dining Stack #4: 66 United Miles From United MileagePlus Dining
Steps On How You Can Do A Quadruple Dining Stack
Here’s how I inadvertently executed a quadruple dining stack and how to replicate it yourself.
Step 1: Make Sure to Keep a Credit Card that Gives a Dining Category Bonus
There are a few credit cards that give dining bonuses. The table below lists some of my favorites.
| Credit Cards that Earn Dining Bonuses | Multiplier |
|---|---|
| American Express Gold® Card | 4x |
| Chase Sapphire Preferred® Credit Card | 3x |
| Chase Freedom Flex® Credit Card | 3x |
| Chase Freedom Unlimited® Credit Card | 3x |
Step 2: Link Your Credit Card to An Airline Dining Program
Airline dining programs are becoming more and more popular with points enthusiasts.
Airlines such as United, American, Delta, and Alaska now offer airline miles for dining at certain restaurants.
This is an excellent way for people who love food to generate travel miles from their dining expenses.
Enrolling in these dining programs is free, but as far as I know, you can only get miles from one airline.
Therefore, double-dipping in multiple airline programs is not yet possible, but it may be in the near future.
Here are a few of the most popular airline dining programs:
United MileagePlus Dining – Earn 3,000 United MileagePlus miles in your first dine
American Airlines AAdvantage Dining – First Time Users: Earn 1,000 bonus miles by spending $25 in your first 30 days
Delta SkyMiles Dining – Earn an extra 3,000 bonus miles in your first 30 days
Alaska Mileage Plan Dining – Earn 1,000 Mileage Plan™ bonus miles
Step 3: Link Your Credit Card to a Cash Back App Like Dosh
The cashback app “DOSH” also offers varying cashback deals for select merchants, including restaurants.
If you do not have DOSH yet, sign up by clicking the button below (referral link).
The strategy is to search for restaurants that are also being simultaneously offered in the other apps featured in this post.
Make sure you link the credit card you plan on using to your Dosh account before making this purchase.
Some data points (DPs) indicate that you would need the card linked about 24 hours before your purchase, but my experience has been quicker.
Step 4: Sign Up For Seated
Seated gives cashback when you book a restaurant through their app.
Normally, Seated gives $15 to new customers, but they have doubled this bonus to $30 if you download the app and save this offer by November 17th. The code (affiliate link) to get $30 is kristdann1.
If you don’t have Seated yet, feel free to read more about this generous dining cash back app by clicking the image below.
Here is how the Seated app works:
- You show up at the restaurant at the preferred time you selected on the Seated app (you can also elect to have your orders picked up or delivered)
- Enjoy your meal
- Pay for the meal using the same credit card as above or any credit card that gives a dining reward
- Take a picture of your receipt
- Upload the receipt on the app
- Seated gives you cashback
- You can redeem your cashback by purchasing gift cards from select retailers, such as Amazon, Target, Starbucks, Lululemon, etc.
Currently, Seated is only available in select cities:
- New York City
- Dallas
- Boston
- Atlanta
- Chicago
- Philadelphia
Sadly, I am from the San Francisco Bay Area, where Seated is currently unavailable.
Yet I still signed up for the app anyway, so I was ready to use it and get cash back when I visited New York, where Seated is virtually offered across the entire city.
In fact, I was able to use it three times, earning me a total of $26 cashback.
Let’s hope that Seated expands to the West Coast and more cities soon.
My Earnings From This Quadruple Stack
| Cashback App/Dining Program (Bill was ~ $26.33) | How Much I Earned |
|---|---|
| Chase Sapphire Reserve | 79 Ultimate Rewards Points |
| Seated App | $4 |
| Dosh | $1.23 |
| United Airlines | 66 Miles |
Final Thoughts
I’ve found that with a little effort and know-how, you can earn hundreds of cash back or airline miles each year without spending more than you would typically spend when eating at your favorite restaurants.
Whether you plan to eat out or have your food delivered, make sure to check out the various apps and dining programs I mentioned in this post.
That said, I am certain that I missed a program or two, as this cashback landscape is constantly expanding.
So, feel free to leave a comment if you come across another cashback app that can potentially make this stack 5X. Or even 6X.
Lastly, I hope this article has helped break down some of the ins and outs of cashback offers so that when it comes time to spend money on something like dining out, you can take advantage of these great opportunities without breaking the bank in return.
Thanks for reading, and good luck with your future dining stacks.
ADVERTISER DISCLOSURE: The Frugal Tourist is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as MileValue.com and Cardratings. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more. All information about the American Express Schwab Platinum has been collected independently by The Frugal Tourist.
EDITORIAL DISCLOSURE: Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
USER-GENERATED CONTENT DISCLOSURE: The comments section below is not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all questions are answered.
