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Amex’s 10% dining discount returns in January – here’s how it works behind the scenes

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I was on LinkedIn last week when a post appeared asking if I owned a restaurant – and if I did, was I interested in joining the Amex Dining 10% cashback programme?

I clicked the link and it took me to this page of the amexdining.com website which has some interesting news and insights into how the programme works.

The good news is that, according to the application website, Amex Dining will relaunch on 7th January and run until 31st March.

Amex Dining

This is virtually back-to-back with the current iteration, which launched on 3rd September and runs to 31st December.

It’s a simple programme. Once cardholders have registered, they receive 10% cashback (sometimes boosted to 20%) when they dine at any restaurant listed on amexdining.com. This covers a very wide range from fast food places to fine dining, and taking in most of the UK.

The page of the Amex Dining website aimed at restaurants, click here, has some interesting information on how it works:

  • over 1 million UK Amex cardholders opt-in to the dining discount programme
  • it is easy for restaurants to join, assuming they already accept Amex – all they do is fill in the online form and they are added to the Amex Dining website directory. The registration deadline is 5-6 weeks before the launch of each campaign.
  • restaurants must offer the cashback 24/7 – they cannot opt out on specific dates or service times
  • Amex handles the payment of the 10% cashback to cardmembers
  • restaurants get access to an online dashboard which shows recent transactions
  • every two weeks, the cashback – plus a 5% administration fee for Krowd, which administers the programme – is reclaimed by direct debit from the restaurant. There are no other fees for the restaurant, so no customers = no fee.
  • at the end of each 3-month campaign, restaurants receive a report which breaks out their customers into new vs lapsed vs existing, based on previous spend history on the same card 
  • restaurants can leave the programme with 30 days notice, which is why restaurants often mysteriously disappear from the list

What isn’t clear is what happens during periods when the cashback is boosted to 20%. I suspect that American Express funds the additional 10% itself.

Keep an eye on Amex Offers from 7th January to ensure that you opt in again for the new cycle of discounts. It is always worth registering, because sometimes you will accidentally trigger cashback by eating or drinking somewhere which you didn’t even know was taking part!

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Comments (78)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • The Savage Squirrel says:
    22 Dec22 December 08:39

    A 10% discount really doesn’t shift the dial on impulse purchase behaviour (you won’t be excited by a 10% off offer when you hit the Boxing Day sales will you…) so a lot of people will sign up then forget about it and be happy if they accidentally generate some cash back. The restaurant is then giving away 10% (a huge proportion of their profit margin!) to a proportion of its customers for no benefit. Wonder if places figure this out then leave as a result?

    I suppose it may be a strong incentive if you’re wining and dining large groups of clients for your business but are not using a company card to pay the bill; but outside of some well defined hotspot areas (City of London etc) that’s maybe a bit more niche?

    • mradey says:
      22 Dec22 December 09:15

      This is me. I recently received notification of 20% refund from Wolseley City having no idea I had registered nor which restaurants were participating. (I assume it’s the same Amex offer).

    • No longer Entitled says:
      22 Dec22 December 09:56

      My thoughts exactly.

    • Rob says:
      22 Dec22 December 10:22

      Totally agree.

  • Paul says:
    22 Dec22 December 08:40

    If the registration deadline is 4-5 weeks before the 7/1/25 why was it being advertised on line last week?

    • Rob says:
      22 Dec22 December 10:21

      The ad was for the whole concept, not next quarter. The next cut off will presumably be late February and it would take 2 months for a restaurant to make a decision.

  • JimBurgessHill says:
    22 Dec22 December 09:21

    I saved the 20% “Amex Dining – get 20% back every time” offer some time ago, expires 31st December.

    Isn’t this new one just a devaluation of what we had until now?

    • TGLoyalty says:
      22 Dec22 December 09:51

      It’s literally mentioned in the article … It’s usually 10% it’s sometimes 20%.

      • JimBurgessHill says:
        22 Dec22 December 11:33

        Apols, missed that. Have to say though I’ve yet to come across anyone who only had 10%, we’ve all been on 20% since Sept. An excellent offer IMHO but won’t be inclined to use it post Jan if it’s halved.

  • Manya says:
    22 Dec22 December 09:40

    Any news on shop small? Is that no longer run by Amex?

    • Rob says:
      22 Dec22 December 10:18

      Shop Small has been cancelled.

      • Nick says:
        22 Dec22 December 10:45

        Is there a particular reason, or has it just run its course?

        • Rob says:
          22 Dec22 December 11:05

          Latter I think. Offers have been getting weaker (so cheaper for Amex) for years.

          Also less point. Amex has deals with SumUp etc. Any small trader using a terminal like that has to take Amex. Merchant has no option. No need to have Shop Small to persuade shops to sign up.

  • Stephen Ornadel says:
    22 Dec22 December 09:42

    This was really interesting. Does anyone know the terms of the Platinum card deal? Does the restaurant fully fund that too? That’s hard to believe!

    • Lumma says:
      22 Dec22 December 14:12

      I’d guess that the platinum credit is shared between the restaurant and Amex

  • Tiberius says:
    22 Dec22 December 10:11

    This offer is plays a big part in me keeping the Gold card as I will often earn the annual fee back in relatively short order. Pleasant surprise last night when I got an email that I had triggered this at Gordon Ramsay Bread Street Kitchen, followed swiftly by an alert from the Avios app that my in-shop card spend had tracked (assuming that is new?! I never used to get alerts from Avios like that)

    • Rob says:
      22 Dec22 December 10:17

      Didn’t get one in Harvey Nichols last week but the points are showing as pending.

      • Speedbird676 says:
        22 Dec22 December 15:57

        I used my £50 Platinum HN credit last weekend. It also triggered the 20% cash back and the avios. Winner!

  • L Allen says:
    22 Dec22 December 10:19

    It’s such a shame the amex dining website is so poor (the platinum dining one is also terrible). It’s really hard to search. I stopped going out of my way to look for restaurants on the list and just see it as an incidental bonus if I dine somewhere that’s is taking part.

    • Kevin C says:
      22 Dec22 December 10:25

      The map (while also being pretty bad) is probably the easiest way to search an area.

  • Nick says:
    22 Dec22 December 10:50

    Not sure the restaurant paying 15% for the customer getting 10 is a particularly attractive deal, would be better for Amex to pay the top up.

    Particularly because it’s driving more revenue for Amex than the restaurant… Knowing this offer is running but not remembering who’s participating, I tend to pay with Amex in all restaurants just in case it triggers somewhere. If the offer weren’t in the background I’d likely use Barclaycard instead.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      22 Dec22 December 11:56

      It’s written like it’s the later but the “pie” chart suggests it’s the former but it may not be to scale.

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