The “One Vendor Switch” That Unlocked 14 Free Flights
A Midwest restaurant group turned $150K supplier bills into 14 business class flights to Hawaii - all by switching to a points-earning card. With smart payment moves, they earned points for a leadership retreat that boosted morale and creativity. What’s your biggest missed travel opportunity?
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A three-location restaurant group in the Midwest discovered that their routine supplier payments were a hidden opportunity for massive travel rewards. For years, they had been paying $150,000 a month to food and beverage vendors via ACH, earning zero points. A conversation with a regular customer - a corporate travel manager - prompted them to test paying those invoices with a high-earning, transferable-points business card. Even after factoring in a 2.5% processing fee, the math showed a clear win: over $50,000 in net annual travel value from supplier spend alone.
Eight months after making the switch, the restaurant had accumulated 3.6 million points - enough to fly their 14-person leadership team in business class to Hawaii and cover a week at a beachfront hotel entirely on points. Taxes and fees for the flights totaled just $120 per person. The trip doubled as a leadership retreat, with mornings dedicated to menu development and afternoons spent exploring local farms, markets, and culinary culture. The experience strengthened team collaboration, boosted morale, and even sparked menu innovations that increased check averages.
The success didn’t stop at supplier invoices. Once they saw the returns, the owners extended the strategy to other large expenses like insurance premiums, marketing spend, and equipment purchases, adding another 1.2 million points per year. They adopted an “ROI mindset” for every bill - if the value of the rewards outweighed the processing cost, the payment went on a points-earning card. This shift turned expenses into a strategic tool for funding travel and team development.
For SMB owners, the lesson is simple: high-volume, predictable expenses can be leveraged for significant rewards when paired with the right payment method. Testing merchant coding, negotiating fees, and focusing on transferable points can yield outsized returns - especially for businesses with regular large invoices. In this case, one small operational change transformed routine vendor payments into an all-expenses-covered Hawaii trip and a stronger, more connected leadership team.
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A Business Built on Thin Margins
In the restaurant world, you learn quickly that the “profit” on the plate is thinner than the parchment paper your burger sits on. Food costs, labor costs, utilities, insurance - they all carve away at the numbers before they ever reach the bottom line.
The owners of a small but growing restaurant group in the Midwest had built their success on execution. Three locations, each with its own loyal following. Menus designed for flavor and speed. A kitchen culture that prized consistency.
What they didn’t have? Time.
Like most SMB owners, their attention was a perpetual juggling act between guest experience, staff management, vendor negotiations, and the occasional sleepless night over a refrigerator breakdown. The “finance” side was handled largely by their controller, who made sure invoices were paid on time and payroll went out every two weeks.
There was no “points strategy.” In fact, the words barely came up in conversation.
The Habit That Was Costing Them Tens of Thousands
Every month, like clockwork, two large food and beverage suppliers sent invoices. Each one reflected the lifeblood of the business: proteins, produce, dry goods, beverages, specialty items, even cleaning supplies.
Total? About $150,000 a month in supplier spend.
The payment method was simple: ACH transfer from the business bank account. No fees. No complications. The vendor got their money, the restaurant got their goods, and everyone went back to work.
The owners assumed that was the smart way to do it - keep processing fees off the books and avoid credit card charges.
They didn’t realize they were walking past a six-figure opportunity every single year.
The Conversation That Sparked the Change
The turning point didn’t come from a consultant’s pitch or a glossy brochure. It came from a conversation in the dining room.
One of their regular customers happened to be a corporate travel manager. She knew about optimizing business spend for travel the way chefs know about knife sharpening - it was just part of the craft.
She mentioned, almost casually, that if the owners ran their supplier payments through the right credit card, they could earn enough rewards for entire team trips without touching cash reserves.
The owners’ reaction was the same one most SMB owners have: skepticism.
Processing fees were the immediate sticking point. “Why would we pay 2–3% extra just to get points?”
Running the Math
The travel manager didn’t argue. She just suggested they run the numbers.
Here’s what they found when they did:
- Monthly spend: $150,000
- Card category bonus: 3x on dining and restaurant-related spend (supplier coded as restaurant/food service merchant)
- Points earned per month: 450,000
- Average redemption value: 1.8¢ per point (based on actual business-class and hotel award pricing, not inflated “blog value”)
- Travel value per month: $8,100
- Processing fee at 2.5%: $3,750
- Net value per month: $4,350
That’s $52,200 in net travel value a year from one category of spend - more than enough to cover a luxury group trip every year.
It flipped the conversation from “We can’t afford to pay fees” to “We can’t afford to leave this on the table.”
The First Test
They didn’t go all-in immediately. The owners decided to run a single month of supplier invoices through the card as a test.
Two things happened:
The merchant code checked out - it did trigger the 3x bonus.
The points hit their account faster than expected, and seeing 450,000 points in one month was a shock.
The fee posted, but so did the value. At that point, the decision was easy.
Eight Months Later
By month eight, the restaurant group’s account held 3.6 million transferable points. Enough to:
- Fly 14 people (the leadership team from all three locations) in business class from Chicago to Honolulu.
- Book seven nights at a beachfront Marriott property - all on points, with resort fees waived.
Cash outlay was limited to taxes and fees for the flights - about $120 per person - and incidentals on the ground.
The leadership team packed their bags for Hawaii.
The Booking Play-by-Play
The flights were the biggest win. Here’s how they booked:
- Points program: Transferable currency moved to an airline partner at 1:1 ratio.
- Route: Nonstop Chicago–Honolulu in business class.
- Points cost: 255,000 per ticket round-trip.
- Cash taxes/fees: $120 per ticket.
For the hotel, they used a combination of points and annual free night certificates from one of their business credit cards. The points bookings waived resort fees entirely - a savings of $50+ per night per room.
Why This Worked So Well
Category bonus windfall - many supplier payments don’t qualify for category bonuses. In this case, their primary vendors coded as “restaurant/food service,” unlocking 3x earnings.
Consolidated, predictable spend - large, regular invoices meant consistent point accumulation without guesswork.
Transferable flexibility - they didn’t lock into one airline or hotel program. The points sat in a flexible account until the trip details were set.
Strategic timing - early May meant better award availability and lower seasonal demand.
The Retreat That Wasn’t Just a Vacation
For the leadership team, Hawaii wasn’t a pure vacation - it was a cultural investment.
Mornings were spent in informal roundtables discussing menu development, seasonal sourcing, and ways to reduce waste. Afternoons were for exploring - visiting local farms, sampling regional dishes, and meeting other chefs.
Evenings turned into group dinners where everyone could enjoy being served rather than serving. The conversations were different outside the four walls of the restaurants. Walls between locations broke down. People traded ideas freely.
By the time they returned, the owners noticed measurable changes:
Collaboration between locations increased.
Employee turnover in leadership dropped.
Menu creativity spiked, leading to higher check averages.
The Before and After
Before the switch:
- Annual supplier spend: $1.8M
- Annual points earned from supplier spend: 0
- Annual travel value from supplier spend: $0
After the switch:
- Annual supplier spend: $1.8M
- Annual points earned: 5.4M
- Annual travel value (net of fees): ~$97,200
The processing fees were a rounding error compared to the return.
Beyond Suppliers
The supplier payments were just the start. Once they saw the results, the owners looked at every major expense category.
Insurance premiums - now paid with a flat-earnings card that delivered strong returns on non-bonus spend.
Marketing spend - shifted to a card offering 4x points on advertising.
Equipment purchases - moved to a program offering 5x points on office/equipment supply.
In total, they added another 1.2 million points annually without changing vendors, menus, or prices.
The “ROI Mindset” Shift
Perhaps the biggest change wasn’t in their bank balance or points balance - it was in their decision-making.
Before, expenses were judged purely on cost: How much, and when is it due?
Now, every expense is evaluated for points yield. If they can route a payment through a method that earns at a high rate and the fee is outweighed by the redemption value, it’s a green light.
This doesn’t mean they pay every bill on a card. But it does mean they think about payments strategically, the same way they think about food sourcing or labor scheduling.
The Quiet Role of Expert Guidance
While this wasn’t a hard sell, they did get casual guidance on how to set this up - including which cards to test, how to verify merchant coding, and how to negotiate processing fees.
They didn’t need a months-long consulting engagement; they needed the right insight at the right moment. And because that insight came from someone who’d done it with other SMBs, the learning curve was short.
This is where many small business owners miss out: the idea that travel rewards optimization is just a consumer game. In reality, SMBs can out-earn and out-redeem individual travelers by a factor of ten - if they know where to look.
The Ripple Effect
The Hawaii trip didn’t just bond the leadership team - it set a precedent. Now, staff at all levels know that loyalty and performance could lead to similar opportunities.
The owners use the story as part of recruitment: “Last year we took our leadership team to Hawaii for a week - all on points we earned by running the business.”
It’s a competitive advantage in an industry where turnover is high and hiring is constant.
The Takeaways for Any SMB Owner
Audit your biggest expenses. Look at where your largest payments go each month. That’s your starting point for points optimization.
Test merchant coding. Don’t assume how a vendor codes - run a small charge and check.
Negotiate fees. Processing fees are often flexible with volume commitments.
Aim for transferable points. They give you options when travel plans shift.
Book off-peak. Even high-value points go further outside peak travel dates.
A Simple Change, a Lasting Impact
This wasn’t a complete business overhaul. It was one operational change - paying a bill differently - that compounded into tangible value.
Every month, the same invoices get paid. Every month, the points balance grows. And once a year, the leadership team gets to trade their aprons and order pads for palm trees and ocean views.
It’s not magic. It’s math. And for the restaurant group, that math now works in their favor.
