If you have restaurant gift cards that you purchased at Costco, it’s time to find them, because you may have to use them or lose them before January 31, 2026.
Synergy, a gift card company headquartered in San Diego, recently posted a note on their website stating that they’re planning to soon file for bankruptcy, giving gift card holders very little notice that the cards they purchased at Costco will no longer work.
Sound fishy? Yeah, lots of people agree. “They discounted them almost 50% the last couple months…,” said one Costco member on Reddit in a thread about the situation. “This should be illegal.”
‘We Are in the Process of Winding Down…’
Synergy is a multi-restaurant gift card program that began in 1995, according to local San Diego publisher Sandiegoville. You could purchase one gift card, and then use it at any of the restaurants in Synergy’s network, which was made up of local, independent restaurants. (If you have gift cards to big chain restaurants that you purchased at Costco, like to Olive Garden or Cracker Barrel, for instance, those are not affected by this bankruptcy.)
Most of the restaurants you could use the gift cards at were located in California, Texas, Florida, Colorado, and Arizona, according to a map on the Synergy website. Synergy’s gift cards were sold at Costco at some locations across the country, especially in regions where there are many participating restaurants.
Recently, Synergy posted a notice on their website alerting customers that they are going out of business. “We are in the process of winding down and anticipating filing for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Protection, a process that will take several months,” the statement reads.
“The Synergy Restaurant Gift Card Program will officially conclude January 31st, 2026, after which all Synergy Restaurant Gift Cards (plastic cards and e Gift) will no longer be redeemable,” it continues.
From what we can tell, this notice has only been up on the Synergy website for a couple of days or less. That means the company is giving people who spent their hard earned money only a few days to use their remaining gift card balances.
Costco Is Taking Care of Its Members — Like Always
Understandably, people are pissed. “I have 3 days to use $363 in gift cards,” said one gift card holder sarcastically on Reddit. “Fun.”
“I’m so irritated!,” said another gift card holder. “At least one place (The Butcher Shop) has already stopped taking them! I have $100 to use and my parents have several cards.”
Many others online are reporting that some restaurants have already stopped accepting the Synergy gift cards, and it’s hard to blame them. If they do accept them now, what’s to guarantee that they’ll get their reimbursement for it from Synergy?
Luckily, it appears that Costco is coming through in a bad situation. Many members are now reporting that Costco is reimbursing customers for any Synergy restaurant gift cards they purchased.
“Just returned my unused $100 in gift cards to Costco,” explained one Redditor. “No problem thankfully. Nice job Costco. I asked what they would do with partially used cards and she said only unused cards (2 $50 cards per sale unit) would be refunded. However I didn’t see her do anything that verified that my cards were unused but I may have missed something.”
Another member chimed in. “I just returned 2-sets (4 cards) for full refund in San Diego, MV location, and the employee mentioned that they all were briefed how to process refunds,” they confirmed.
So if you’re stuck with Synergy restaurant gift cards, you can either attempt to use them at restaurants that are still accepting them before January 31 — or you can simply return them to your local Costco and get your money back instead. That proves once again: “Costco reigns supreme.”
