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 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. Additionally, the content on this page is accurate as of the posting date; however, some of the offers mentioned may have expired.
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?
Well, if that’s the case then this article may be just for you.
Millions of people are currently using 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 on how I was able to stack multiple dining offers to earn miles and cashback from my restaurant bill not twice, not thrice, but four times.
While my datapoint involves physically dining out in a restaurant, the strategies outlined below can be easily replicated when using delivery apps like Doordash or Uber Eats.
The Original Plan: Stack Twice
On a recent trip to New York, I had an unexpected 4X dining stack that actually caught me by surprise.
My intention was to stack a restaurant category bonus using my Chase Sapphire Reserve® Credit Card, which earns 3X at restaurants, and the Seated app, which was giving cashback from select restaurants.
I was craving Filipino food and planned to dine out at my favorite go-to New York Filipino Restaurant – Mama Fina’s – located in the East Village.
It must have been my lucky day because Seated was giving back 18% cashback then if I book a table and dine in at Mama Fina’s through the Seated app.
I ordered my usual favorites -fried rice and pork “sisig” -and settled my bill immediately afterwards.
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 Yourself
Here’s how I inadvertently executed a quadruple dining stack and how you can 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. Here are some of my favorites:
American Express Gold® Credit Card – 4X at Restaurants
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Credit Card – 3X at Restaurants
Chase Freedom Flex® Credit Card – 3X at Restaurants
Chase Freedom Unlimited® Credit Card – 3x at Restaurants
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 give airline miles from dining at certain restaurants. This is an excellent way for people who love food to generate travel miles earned from their dining expenses.
It is free to enroll in these dining programs, but you can only get miles from one airline, as far as I know. Therefore, double-dipping in multiple airline programs is not yet possible, but maybe it would 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” is also currently offering varying cashback deals for select merchants, including restaurants.
If you do not have DOSH yet, feel free to 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
- 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 not available.
Yet I still signed up for the app anyway, so I was ready to use it and get cashback 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 bit of effort and know-how, it is possible to 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.
With that said, I am certain that I had 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.
EDITORIAL DISCLOSURE – Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. The content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
