FAST food lovers have to spend as much as £50 to get free loyalty perks, The Sun can reveal.
Schemes from chains such as McDonald’s, Subway and Pizza Hut promise customers with freebies – but are they worth it?
GettyWe share how rewards schemes can help you secure free food items[/caption]We have compared how much you have to spend to get the cheapest perk and how much that freebie is worth to reveal the best and worst fast food chain loyalty schemes.
We have crunched the numbers, so take a look below.
Pizza Hut Delivery – £50 to get item worth £4.99
The pizza giant lets customers claim free food through its Hut Rewards app.
Customers can earn slices for every £10 they spend on qualifying orders when they shop online.
So if you spent £15 on your order you would still only get one slice, but if you added extras and brought it up to £20 then you would get two slices.
These slices can then be converted into free menu items.
Here is what you can get:
For 5 Slices you can redeem a free side classic or premium (excluding drinks and deserts). For 7 Slices you can redeem a free medium pizza. For 10 Slices you can redeem a free large pizzaThe cheapest item on the menu is a 500ml Tango Orange at £1.49.
You would have buy 34 bottles of the drink costing £50.66, to earn 5 Slices and redeem a free side. The cheapest side is a portion of wedges costing £4.99.
If you had your sites set on a free large Margherita pizza worth at least £20.49 you would have to buy 68 bottles of the fizzy drink.
This would cost you £101.32.
Harvester – £44.37 to get item worth £14.79
Harvester also has a rewards scheme that can help people earn money off a meal or free food.
Customers can download the app onto their smart phone, and then scan a QR from their device every time they dine in store.
You collect a free stamp every time you buy a main adult meal, which can cost just shy of £15 to over £20.
On your first stamp you will earn a mystery prize and on your third you will earn a free adult main.
Then on your fifth stamp you will get 30% off your meal.
One of the cheapest adult mains on the menu is the Chicken, Bacon & Waffle for £14.79.
You would need to buy three of those for £44.37 to get your free adult main of your choice.
You would then need to buy five adult mains at £14.79 for £72.75 to qualify for your 30% off.
McDonald’s – spend £15.84 to get free hot drink worth 99p
The nuggets giant launched its MyMcDonald’s Rewards almost three years ago.
You get one point for each 1p spent, so 1,500 points equals a free menu item worth £1.50.
You need to download the McDonald’s app on your smart phone through the Google Play store or the Apple Store.
You can earn points when you order through the app for delivery or pick up in store and also when your order at a McDonald’s kiosk or at the Drive Thru.
Here is a list of everything you could get:
1,500 points – Small Fries, Medium Salad, Regular McCafé, Mini McFlurry, Hash Brown, Regular Drink 2,500 points -Vegetable Deluxe, Bacon Mayo Chicken, Cheesy Bacon Flatbread, Medium Fries, Double Cheeseburger, Apple Pie 4,000 points -Crispy Chicken Salad, 6 Chicken McNuggets, McChicken Sandwich, McPlant, Filet-O-Fish 5,500 points – McSpicy, Mighty McMuffin, McCrispy, Double Quarter Pounder with CheeseOne of the cheapest menu items at McDonald’s is a cup of tea for 99p.
You would have to spend £15.84 on 16 cups of tea to have enough points to get another McCafe tea worth 99p.
You would then need to buy five adult mains at £14.79 for £72.75 to qualify for your 30% off.
Subway – £15 to get item worth 79p
Subway can also earn free food through spending money in store.
Again you can download this app for free on to your smart device.
Customers earn 10 points for every £1 they spend in Subway, that can include items such as subs and salads.
Every 150 points you earn is redeemable for £1 of Subway Cash.
One of the cheapest menu items is a packet of walkers crisps for 79p.
You would earn eight points if you bought this item, according to the Subway rewards app.
With this in mind, you would need to buy 19 packets of Walkers crisps for £15.01 to get a free packet for 79p.
You would have a few points left over, as the value is less than a quid but it would not be enough to get you anything else.
When customers spend more money in store, the amount of points they earn per £1 increases.
For example, if you spend £150 a year on Subway you will then earn 11 points per £1 spent or if you spend £350 or more per year you will earn 12 points.
That means it will take you less amount of time to earn a free item.
Gregg‘s – £10.80 to get free item worth £1.20
The cut-price bakery also has an app which lets customers earn stamps for free food.
Simply download the Greggs app on your smart device and you can begin.
On the app there is a QR code which you can scan at the till and earn a stamp per item.
There are nine different categories which customers can earn points on which include:
Savouries & Bakes Drinks & Snacks Sandwiches & Salads Sweet Treats Hot Food Breakfast itemsWhen you earn nine stamps across each category you can then get a free item.
For example, if you bought nine items from the savouries and bakes section, your 10th would be free.
Currently, one of the cheapest menu items is a jam doughnut for £1.20.
But bear, in mind you will need to buy nine items from the sweet treats menu to secure the free item.
Nine £1.20 jam doughnuts would cost you £10.80, so that is the minimum you would have to pay to get your Greggs freebie.
How to save money on your takeaway
TAKEAWAYS taste great but they can hit you hard on your wallet. Here are some tips on how to save on your delivery:
Cashback websites– TopCashback and Quidco will pay you to order your takeaway through them. They’re paid by retailers for every click that comes to their website from the cashback site, which eventually trickles down to you. So you’ll get cashback on orders placed through them.
Discount codes – Check sites like VoucherCodes for any discount codes you can use to get money off your order.
Buy it from the shops – Okay, it might not taste exactly the same but you’ll save the most money by picking up your favourite dish from your local supermarket.
Student discounts – If you’re in full-time education or a member of the National Students Union then you may be able to get a discount of up to 15 per cent off the bill. It’s always worth asking before you place your order.
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