![Lindner Hall, home of the Carl H. Lindner College of Business at the University of Cincinnati.](https://www.uc.edu/news/articles/2020/12/n20970564/jcr:content/image.img.cq5dam.thumbnail.500.500.jpg/1607963550036.jpg)
Dispatch: Ohio restaurants push gift cards to pay the bills
UC economics professor Michael Jones discusses gift cards as survival strategy for small businesses
Ohio restaurants and bars have taken a beating because of the coronavirus pandemic, but selling gift cards during the holiday season may be just what the doctor ordered to keep them afloat.
In a Columbus Dispatch trend piece, reporter Patrick Cooley takes a look at how restaurants and bars are offering discounts on gift cards to get the cash infusion they need to survive until the country moves past the pandemic. Cooley turns to Michael Jones, assistant professor of economics at the University of Cincinnati, for his thoughts on this strategy and its advantages for businesses.
Jones, who is also executive director of the Kautz-Uible Economics Institute at UC's Carl H. Lindner College of Business, told Cooley gift cards are essentially short-term loans for restaurants and other small businesses.
“Given the precariousness of finances right now, a restaurant gets an immediate cash infusion with the expense coming later,” Jones told the Dispatch.
Jones noted that a small portion of gift card recipients never use them, giving the businesses what essentially amounts to free money.
Related Stories
How to keep birds from flying into your windows
![Yahoo! News icon](/content/dam/refresh/uc-news/news-icons/dark/yahoo.png)
July 3, 2024
UC College of Arts and Sciences professor Ron Canterbury tells the Indianapolis Star that simple steps can prevent birds from strike windows around your home or business. Yahoo! News shares the story.
Get to know CCM’s newest faculty and staff members
July 3, 2024
UC’s College-Conservatory of Music will welcome a variety of new faculty and staff members to its roster of distinguished performing and media arts experts, researchers and educators this fall.
UC study: Brain organ plays key role in adult neurogenesis
July 2, 2024
The University of Cincinnati has published research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that found the choroid plexus and cerebrospinal fluid play a key role in maintaining a pool of newly born neurons to repair the adult brain after injury.