Selling Restaurant Gift Cards

I'm working with a bunch of concepts now who are pushing their gift card systems very hard. It's a good time of year to do this, but I'm wondering how effective we actually are at selling gift cards and whether we could do a whole lot better.

Food for thought (*disclaimer: I'm not making a case for or against gift cards; I just want to take a closer look at some things that seem contradictory in consumer behavior):
- Do you like to RECEIVE gift cards for food? Honestly. Do you like someone choosing the restaurant for you? Is it awkward to know how much they spent on you?

- Who gives you these cards and for how much? Assuming you're an adult, are these cards given to you by your kids (in the amount of $5? $10? $20?)? Are they from your boss? From a vendor or a client?

- Do you prefer to receive a card for a specific place, or do you like chains / groups of restaurants better?

- Do you GIVE gift cards from the heart, or because they're pretty cool to get and because they're unisex? Do you CHOOSE a card for someone special, or do you purchase a bunch and hand them out to those on your list?

- When giving food cards do you purchase a couple of $20 cards, or a bunch of $10 cards?

- Who purchases (multiple) $20 gift cards? Salespeople, purchasing for clients? Pharm reps? Real Estate agents? Essentially, what is our target audience for higher ticket cards?

I suppose it depends on the type of restaurant, they uniqueness of the food, and the type of clientele (lunch, dinner, High Schoolers?), but there seem to be multiple reasons to purchase these things, yet we push them in a one size fits all manner.

I'd love to know your thoughts, it's this type of input that makes new programs work and old ones work better.