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Do you run your own restaurant or food and beverage business? Restaurants are one of the most popular small businesses in the world, with more than 677,000 restaurants in the U.S. alone.¹
If you’re part of the industry employing nearly 12 million people in the U.S.,¹ you’ve probably dealt with a lot in the last few years, with COVID-19 likely shuttering your business temporarily.
Luckily, the restaurant business is one of the most resilient types of businesses, and you’ve probably been seeing a resurgence of consumers eating out, ordering delivery, or getting takeout.
And if you’re a restaurant owner, you should absolutely make sure you’re earning rewards from your credit card purchases. The restaurant business is a notoriously low-margin business, so every single dollar you can get back will make a difference.
Let’s get into it!
What To Look For in a Business Credit Card for Restaurant Owners
The vast majority of your expenses as a restaurant owner will probably be from food distributors or wholesale companies. You might spend a few dollars here and there on gasoline, electronics, or office supplies, but you’re probably going to be allocating almost all of your budget to food distributors and wholesale companies.
Restaurants also spend a ton of money every single month, so you’ll need to look for a card with either a high credit limit or no preset spending limit at all.
Purchase protection and extended warranty probably aren’t all that important for perishable food purchases — but you’ll need to find a suitable credit card where you can make large purchases at companies like Sysco and US Foods for maximum rewards.
Here are our favorites!
The 7 Best Business Cards for Restaurant Owners
There’s an enormous difference between the types of purchases restaurant owners make to buy food at scale versus the types of purchases consumers make when dining out at a restaurant.
For this reason, it doesn’t make sense for a restaurant owner to get a business card that rewards restaurant or grocery spending.
Instead, you’ll need to get cards that offer the best general rewards. Here are our picks:
Earn 50,000 miles once you spend $4,500 on purchases within the first 3 months.
Annual fee of $0 intro for the first year, $95 after that
2x miles on all purchases
No-additional-fee employee cards
Capital One Spark Travel Elite
Earn 250,000 bonus miles in your first 6 months of card membership. You’ll earn 50,000 miles after you spend $10,000 in the first 3 months, and another 200,000 miles once you spend $50,000 in your first 6 months.
1.5x points on eligible purchases in key business categories and on eligible purchases of $5,000 or more everywhere else (up to $2 million per calendar year)
Earn a one-time bonus of 20,000 miles once you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual fee of $0
1.5x miles on all purchases
No-additional-fee employee cards
1. Capital One Spark Miles for Business
The Capital One Spark Miles card is our top-winning business card for restaurant owners. To start off, you’ll enjoy a welcome bonus after meeting a pretty low spending requirement.
The reason why we love this card is that you can earn up to 5x Capital One miles on purchases made on this card:
5x miles on hotel and rental car bookings made through Capital One Travel
2x miles on other purchases
As a restaurant owner, earning 2x miles on all your purchases is a huge deal, and the rewards will add up quickly over time.
Additionally, the Capital One Spark Miles card comes with a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee credit, purchase protection, extended warranty, and more.
Plus, the Capital One Spark Miles card has no foreign transaction fees and no additional annual fees for employee cards.
You can also redeem Capital One miles for Capital One Travel bookings, Amazon.com purchases, gift cards, and statement credits, but you won’t get outsized value with these redemption methods.
2. Capital One Spark Travel Elite
Another great card option is the exclusive Capital One Spark Travel Elite card, which is only available through invitation as an existing Capital One cardholder.
This terrific card earns the same 2x miles on almost all restaurant owner expenses, but it notably offers better benefits at a higher price tag.
Plus, the Capital One Spark Travel Elite card also has no preset spending limit, making it easy for business owners to make large purchases without worrying about their card getting declined.
You can get up to 10x miles on purchases:
10x miles on hotels and car rentals purchased through Capital One Travel
5x miles on flights purchased through Capital One Travel
2x miles on other purchases
So what’s the difference between the Capital One Spark Miles card and the Capital One Spark Travel Elite card if you earn 2x miles on almost all of the purchases that restaurant owners make? The answer is benefits.
With the Capital One Spark Travel Elite card, you’ll get complimentary airport lounge access to Capital One Lounges, Plaza Premium Lounges, and Priority Pass lounges, as well as a $300 Capital One Travel credit every anniversary year and an account anniversary bonus of 10,000 miles after every account anniversary year.
There’s also a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee credit, travel insurance, and cell phone protection, too.
You won’t find any foreign transaction fees or additional annual fees for employee cards.
Bottom Line: Capital One miles are earned on every purchase, with extra earnings in bonus categories. Although Capital One miles are not airline miles and cannot be used to book award flights directly, you can use the miles as a statement credit toward previous travel purchases, transfer miles to airline or hotel partners, or book travel directly with Capital One.
3. The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
One of our favorite business cards for restaurant owners is the Amex Business Platinum card, which has an unbeatable list of luxury travel and business benefits.
Let’s start off with the welcome bonus (easily worth more than $2,000) and earning structure:
5x points on flights and prepaid hotels booked through Amex Travel
1.5x pointson eligible purchases in key business categories and on eligible purchases of $5,000 or more (up to $2 million in purchases per calendar year)
1x points on other purchases
If you’re a restaurant owner, you’re probably routinely making large purchases of $5,000 or more, especially when working with distributors. That means you’ll probably earn 1.5x points!
35% airline bonus on eligible flights booked through Amex Travel via Pay With Points
Of course, this card has no preset spending limit, superb travel insurance, QuickBooks integrations, purchase protection, extended warranty, cell phone protection, return protection, and no foreign transaction fees (rates and fees).
Why We Like Earning Amex Membership Rewards Points
The Amex Business Platinum card earns Amex Membership Rewards points, which are worth 2.2 cents each according to our valuations. That makes Amex points the most valuable type of transferrable points available.
If you’re looking for other ways to use your points, you can also redeem Amex points for charity, statement credits, gift cards, and Amex Travel portal bookings. Just remember that you’ll get a majorly reduced redemption value when you use points in these ways.
4. Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card
The Ink Business Unlimited card is our next-best option, and this credit card earns streamlined cash-back rewards with the potential to convert your cash-back to transferrable points.
You can earn 1.5% cash back on all purchases, except for 5% cash back on Lyft purchases through March 31, 2025.
By converting your 1.5% cash-back to 1.5x Ultimate Rewards points, you’ll get a return on spending of 3%.
The Ink Business Unlimited card boasts 0% intro APR on purchases for 12 months; variable 18.24% - 24.24% thereafter, primary rental car insurance, purchase protection, extended warranty, zero liability fraud protection, and fee-free employee cards.
The Capital One Spark Cash Plus card is yet another one of Capital One’s best rewards cards for businesses, especially if you’re running a restaurant.
This card focuses on cash-back instead of points or miles, and you’ll also notice that this product has a welcome bonus, plus no preset spending limit.
You’ll earn up to 5% cash back on purchases:
5% cash-back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
2% cash-back on other purchases
Every year you spend at least $150,000, get your $150 annual fee refunded.
Other benefits include extended warranty, zero fraud liability, roadside dispatch, no foreign transaction fees, and no additional fee employee cards.
6. Ink Business Premier℠ Credit Card
The Ink Business Premier card is actually Chase’s response to the Capital One Spark Cash Plus card. It’s designed to reward those who spend a lot on their business and are looking for uncapped cash-back rewards.
At the moment, there’s a large welcome bonus offered to new cardholders. You’ll earn up to 5% cash-back:
5% cash-back on travel purchased through Ultimate Rewards
2.5% cash-back on every purchase of $5,000 or more
2% cash-back on all other purchases
The Ink Business Premier card takes your cash-back rewards a notch higher when compared to the Capital One Spark Cash Plus card’s 2% cash-back rewards.
This card is a “Pay in Full card,” which translates to a charge card.
Hot Tip: The rewards earned on the Ink Business Premier card cannot be converted to Ultimate Rewards points, which is unfortunate, but not unexpected.
Other crucial benefits offered to Ink Business Premier cardholders are travel insurance (including baggage insurance and primary rental car insurance), purchase protection, extended warranty, cell phone insurance, roadside dispatch, and fraud protection.
Fee-free employee cards are available, and there are no foreign transaction fees associated with using this card.
7. Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business
The Capital One Spark Miles Select card is the final card we’ll be discussing. This card has no annual fee but still earns worthwhile rewards to consider if you want to keep your costs as low as possible.
You can expect to earn according to the following structure:
5x miles on hotels and rental cars booked via Capital One Travel
1.5x miles on other purchases
The Capital One Spark Miles Select card has extended warranty, no foreign transaction fees, employee cards for no additional annual fees, and roadside dispatch.
Final Thoughts
There you have it! The best cards for restaurant owners are probably not what you expected.
You might have expected to use credit cards that are best for restaurant purchases or groceries, but in reality, most of the vendors that restaurant owners use, like Sysco and US Foods, operate on a B2B basis.
And because these companies don’t code as restaurants or groceries, you’ll need to look for a card that offers outsized rewards on all business purchases. That’s where the recommendations in this guide come into play.
The Capital One Spark Miles card and Capital One Spark Travel Elite card both lead the pack by offering 2x miles, which are worth a return on spending of 3.6%.
The Amex Business Platinum card can earn up to 1.5x points on certain purchases for restaurant owners, which is valued at around 3.3%, but the luxury benefits offered to these cardholders absolutely cannot be ignored.
The Ink Business Unlimited card, Ink Business Premier card, and Capital One Spark Cash Plus card all offer great cash-back rewards, as well.
Lastly, if you’re looking for absolutely no annual fees but want to be able to transfer your points to travel partners, consider the Capital One Spark Miles Select card.
For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the above benefits are provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply.
For the extended warranty and purchase protection benefit of The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company. For the cell phone protection benefit of The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by New Hampshire Insurance Company, an AIG Company. For the return protection benefit of The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details.
The information regarding the Capital One Spark Travel Elite was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
The information regarding the Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer. The information regarding the Capital One Spark Cash Plus Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
Information regarding the Capital One Spark Miles for Business was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer. For rates and fees of The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, click here.
Featured Image Credit: Jason Leung via Unsplash
Frequently Asked Questions
If you’re a restaurant owner, you will need to get a card that rewards general purchases more than restaurant purchases because your food distributor vendors will almost certainly not fall into the “restaurants” category.
The best cards are the Capital One Spark Miles card, Capital One Spark Travel Elite card, Amex Business Platinum card, Ink Business Unlimited card, Capital One Spark Cash Plus card, Ink Business Premier card, and Capital One Spark Miles Select card.
It’s probably not a good idea. You should probably get a business credit card in the name of your business so you can properly separate business and personal expenses for accounting and bookkeeping.
It’s pretty simple to do so; first, determine the legal structure of your business, whether it’s an LLC or corporation. Then, compile key information surrounding your business, including annual revenue numbers and your EIN. After that, use all of that information to apply for your business credit card.
You technically don’t need a business credit card as a restaurant — you can conduct all of your business through bank account transfers and wire transfers. But you’d seriously be missing out on hundreds of thousands of dollars in the long run, so why wouldn’t you start using a business credit card?
Stephen is an established voice in the credit card space, with over 70 to his name. His work has been in publications like The Washington Post, and his Au Points and Awards Consulting Services is used by hundreds of clients.
Disclaimer: Any comments listed below are not from the bank advertiser, nor have they been reviewed or approved by them. No responsibility will be taken by the bank advertiser for these comments.
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