I know, you are sitting there thinking – “Why?!!?” Most people in the restaurant industry hate credit cards. It’s just an extra fee that you pay out of your pocket so someone else doesn’t have to carry cash.
Let’s look at it a different way however. You KNEW that there were going to be fees. Right? You had to go find a processor, sign up and get everything setup with your point of sale system etc. Maybe you didn’t know exactly much but a little research should have told you 3-4% effective rate would not be out of the question.
“Yes, but. . .” – I can hear it now! You only take credit cards because stupid consumers are carrying that instead of cash! Whey can’t they just carry cash! Our answer to that is generally “Get over it”. Consumers are NOT going back to just carrying cash no matter how much we wish for it.
So what do you do? Try EMBRACING it! Let’s look at some of the positive facts on credit cads.. . .
Sales Increase – Your average dollar per ticket is higher when someone pays with a credit card. Every study out there shows that people spend more with credit cards than cash. Use effective, intelligent up sells to encourage customers to add to their orders. Intelligent is the key word here – maybe it’s something small like extra cheese, an extra shot of espresso or flavor. Maybe it’s a more custom choice like suggesting what goes well with the whatever food item the customer chose. It doesn’t take much to pick 2-3 items to up sell and keep it near the register.
Tips Increase – If your staff relies on tipping as a form of income, they want customers to use a credit card. It’s a lot more likely to result in a higher tip for the employee. It’s far easier to hit 20% than to figure it out and leave it in cash.
Less Work – You don’t have to run to the bank to deposit those credit cards. They automatically go into your bank account! HOW COOL IS THAT?! OK, but seriously, it does save you some time. Also, the accounting end is a little easier as those are electronically deposited. The less cash and change that you have to count, the better.
Less Theft – Employees have a much harder time stealing when it’s a credit card transaction than when cash is involved. Credit cards are accounted for better than cash. Less opportunities means less trouble.
Less Mistakes – Employees are lousy at math on the fly. Every single restaurant owner tells me how “kids today can’t count change”. Credit cards eliminate that for the most part. That means less pricing mistakes, less opportunity to cheat the store or the customer by incorrect counting of change.
Speed – It is definitely getting faster to pay with a card or even phone than with cash or, god forbid, check. If you don’t have an EMV reader that allows for Apple, Samsung or Google Pay, get one! People are starting to use that method of payment more and more.
Let us know what you think!