Almost everyone likes gift cards…assuming that the gift cards work when you try to use them to buy something. And that seems to be the problem here.
If you recently picked up discounted restaurant gift cards at Costco, you might want to take a closer look at what’s in your wallet. The wholesale giant has issued a recall on certain restaurant gift cards sold in its warehouses and online, not because of a safety issue, but due to the sudden shutdown of the third-party company that issued them.
Here’s What Happened, And What You Should Look For
The affected cards are Synergy Restaurant Gift Cards, which were sold at Costco between October 27th, 2025 and January 26th, 2026. These cards were popular because they offered discount value for meals at participating restaurants and were seen as a great way to stretch a food budget. However, the company behind the gift card program, Synergy World (also known as the Synergy Gift Card Network), recently filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and ceased operations, effectively rendering its gift cards unusable as of January 31st, 2026.
Once Synergy World shut down its program, the cards lost their ability to be redeemed at the partner restaurants. That’s because these cards were third-party products: they were sold through Costco and usable at participating eateries, but they were not issued by Costco or by the restaurants themselves. When Synergy’s system went dark, the cards simply stopped working.
Normally Gift Cards Are Final Sale And Non-Refundable, But…
Costco has decided to make an exception in this case…