A Tastecard membership gives you 2-4-1 and up to 50% off meals and cinema tickets across the country.
Tastecard, Gourmet Society, Dine Card and Hi-Life Dining are the leading restaurant discount schemes, which often also come with saving at the cinema. Here are the latest offers, as well as more about how the memberships work and whether they are any good.
The bulk of these offers are for digital memberships, which means you access your card via the app on your smartphone. However at times there are a couple of deals which come with a physical card – but do check when you click through.
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Top Tastecard offers
Most Tastecard offers are 2 for 1 or 50% off food. For when there aren’t any free trials of Tastecard, it’s got a £2.99 monthly membership option, which means you can still give it a go without paying for a full year.
Tastecard: Free 90 day trial with Lidl+
If you have the Lidl+ app then you can get a 90 day free trial of Tastecard. You’ll need to click through via the app. This is available until 19 January 2025.
3 months free with O2 Priority, with exclusive offers
If you have O2 or Virgin, you can get access to Tastecard with the Priority Tastecard Club with O2 Priority. You get three months for free and there are exclusive discounts with this membership, including 25% off at Gourmet Burget Kitchen and 2 for 1 at Papa Johns on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
You can use this even if you got three months free before October, too. This offer will run until 14 April 2024.
If you don’t use O2 or Virgin, here’s how you can get access to O2 Priority.
Tastecard: £2.99 per month
If you want to give Tastecard a go without committing to a full year, then you can opt for the monthly membership for £2.99 per month, but remember to cancel it if you don’t use it.
Tastecard: One year for £29.99
Here’s a reduced option for a whole year if you know you’ll want it for a full 12 months. Sometimes there are offers to lower this further.
Tastecard: Free with Totum student card
If you’re a student, or if you’ve ever had a Totum card from NUS or graduated in the last three years, you can buy an NUS Totum card which now comes with a free Tastecard. You’ll also get discounts at Apple, Co-op and more.
Tastecard: Free with Cineworld Unlimited membership
Signup for the Cineworld membership scheme which lets you see as many movies as you like and you’ll also get a free Tastecard membership.
The minimum membership is three months and the price varies depending on your cinema’s location.
Top Gourmet Society offers
On the surface, Gourmet Society looks like a similar offering. But the deals can be different. For a start, it tends to offer 25% off the full bill including drinks, which could work out as a bigger saving for you. So do check the restaurants and deals before deciding which is best for you.
Gourmet Society: 60-days free membership
This free trial will get you 60 days. When the deal ends it will auto-renew at £5.99 a month.
Gourmet Society: Free with Club Lloyds current account
You can get a year of Gourmet Society membership as a ‘Lifestyle Benefit’ via the Club Lloyds bank account. However, you might be better off choosing free cinema tickets or a magazine subscription. More details here on the account and the different benefits.
Other dining club deals
These are similar, if not the same, as Tastecard and might represent better value depending on where you live and places you eat at.
Meerkat Meals: One year for £1(ish)
If you buy a one-day travel insurance product via Compare the Market you get access to both Meerkat Movies and the new Meerkat Meals. It’s more restrictive than Tastecard and Gourmet Soc, but it’s not a bad deal when paired with the movie offer. We’ve written more in detail about what you get and how it compares.
What is Tastecard?
Tastecard restaurant offers
Tastecard is a membership scheme primarily offering money off at restaurants in the UK.
There are thousands of restaurants listed on Tastecard, from your local Indian to chains such as Pizza Express and Prezzo. They offer up to 50% off or 2 for 1 discounts. Do look for exclusions such as weekends or the number of people you can use the membership for on a table.
Your membership can either be digital, which you access via the Tastecard app, or full where you also get a physical card. it doesn’t make a difference to the deals you get whether you have the digital or full membership. You simply show the card in the participating restaurant, normally before you order and certainly before you ask for the bill.
Tastecard + cheap movie rentals
A recent addition to Tastecard is the ability to get £1 off e-vouchers to use on movie rental site Rakuten.
Tastecard + cinema deals
You can also sometimes get Tastecard+ and Gourmet Society + included. Most of the savings here can be found elsewhere, but the cinema deals are worth a look. You can get cheaper tickets at Showcase, Odeon, Vue, Empire, Picturehouse and The Light. Though do always compare the discounted price with the box office price – it’s not always cheaper!
Gourmet Society and other schemes
Gourmet Society, High Life and Meerkat Meals are all run by the same company as Tastecard, and have a lot of similar deals. But each offers a slightly different discount and a few different restaurants, so it’s worth comparing them all to see which is best for you. I’ve compared the main schemes in this article.
Are dining membership cards worth the money?
At full price (£79) I don’t think a Tastecard is worth the money, but around £30 isn’t a bad price as you’ll be even after a couple of meals out. Then the savings start. I’d definitely try a trial offer first just to see whether you’re likely to use it.
Before buying, check the Tastecard site to see what restaurants are included near you. If that looks good, take advantage of the offers below and go grab it!
If Tastecard+ is included, even better. However, I’d only use it for the cinema discounts. I don’t rate the theatre and hotel offers as you can get the same or better elsewhere.
For more details check out my comparison of all the different restaurant cards.
Cancelling your Tastecard
In the past, there have been issues with people forgetting to cancel before their free trial or annual membership ends.
Tastecard auto-renews your membership and you need to call up or go online to stop that happening. To be safe, do it more than four days before your renewal date. We have more on how to cancel or you can watch the video below.
Totum NUS is 3 months free not 12 months membership. Can you update info as your website does not have the latest offer.
If you purchase a membership with Totum, you will receive Tastecard as part of this for the life of the membership. Starts £15/annum. Thanks.
I just tried the one month membership free trial without payment details b ing entered. Only ,my mobile number – I am guessing there is no automatic renewal with this ?
Thanks
Yeah I guess so! That’s good. You might want to double check with them just in case…
If you go for 90day free trail, does your membership start from trail date?
Good question. I’d have thought the 12 months starts from when the 90 day period ends. But check the terms and conditions before you sign up just to make sure
Write your cancellation date on your wall calendar like you do your doctor and dentist appointments . Its not Andys fault if you forget to cancel. Its YOURS.
Just bought the 120 day Tastecard+ for £1. In the order confirmation it informs you it’s a digital Tastecard rather than a physical one. This wasn’t mentioned on this site or during the ordering process. Not a lot of use without a smartphone!!!
Right, thanks Clive, I’ll add that to the information here, but it’s worth getting in touch with Tastecard and seeing if they can do anything – especially if they don’t mention it at all.
Hi, I’m trying to apply for one month free taste card but it’s not recognising my application, can you help please, I’d like to use it on 18 September, I’d be able to use it if I had confirmation email from taste card.
Many thanks
Hmm, have you contacted Tastecard? I think that’s probably your best bet. Let me know if you have any luck
I ordered a trial card for my son his email was [email protected] it never arrived so please cancel
Hi there, I’m afraid you’ll need to contact Tastecard directly via its website – I simply hunt for the best offer so I’m sadly not able to help. Do make sure you do this before the 30 days is due to expire so you don’t get charged the full amount.
the ‘trial card’ is digital (or mine was anyway) and i got an email with a membership number for the app on my phone. no physical card.
I have had Tastecard before and I love it. So I tried to take up your offer to join quidco to buy a Tastecard for £29.99 with a £15 cash back. Firstly when i click through the Tastecard price is £39.99 and the quidco cash back is £3.95. I correctly connected via your link. Please help!
Thanks Gary, I’ll take a look. Tastecard have been known to switch the offers on their links all the time! As for Quidco, there’s a £15 bonus on top, so that’ll actually make it £18.95 cashback!
I had a free taste card will they bill me for full member ship when trial ends
Yes they will Susan, so you need to cancel four or five days before the trial ends. It’s actually really easy to do nowadays.
Be certain that you get the cancellation in writing; if you cancel by phone, they’ll deny all knowledge of it. Contact your bank to block the payment as well.
Is this what happened to you?
I did mine on phone they cancelled it as i thought then charge me ,when i rang them they said they could see i had cancelled it and apologised,money went back in bank and also gave. Me a year free membership,result, now i ring up and ask for confirmation by email
What cinemas can I use with my 30 day trail taste card
hi just to let you know I saw your post about getting an NUS card without being a student & clicked onto their website. By putting ecareers in as my place of study it let me buy a card & have it sent to my home address for £1 extra but I didn’t even bother buying an ecareers course! So just wanted to let other readers know that you don’t even have to purchase anything from ecareers. Just pay £12.00 plus the £1 postage for the NUS card 🙂
That’s great Billy. Have you received the card in the post ok?
Just ordered this today and link still working!