What is a taco worth? How does taco value work?
Tacos don't have a fixed dollar value — that's intentional. The value of a taco is whatever your team decides it is, based on how you price your rewards.
How taco value is determined
As an admin, you set the taco cost for each reward in your Taco Shop. The relationship between taco cost and reward value is entirely up to you.
A common starting point: price rewards at roughly 4 tacos per $1 of value. That means a $25 gift card would cost 100 tacos. With a default daily limit of 5 tacos, it takes most people about 20 days of consistent giving to earn a $25 reward — which feels meaningful without being out of reach.
Calculating taco value
To figure out how much each taco is "worth" in your setup: divide the dollar value of a reward by its taco cost.
- Example: a $10 gift card priced at 50 tacos = $0.20 per taco.
Use our Taco Value Calculator to help with this math as you're building your reward catalog. You can find that here: https://heytaco.com/tools/taco-value-calculator
Tips for pricing
- Start simple — a few rewards at a consistent price point is easier to manage than a complex catalog.
- Consider your team's daily limit. With 5 tacos per day, what's a realistic earning rate?
- Mix reward types — a $10 gift card, a team experience, and a fun perk at different taco costs gives everyone something to work toward.
- See How should I price and budget for rewards? for more detailed guidance.