Can you imagine a world without physical money? There are countries that no longer do it. Denmark has been the first country to start disappearing cash. Since the beginning of this year, clothing stores, gas stations and restaurants can reject cash payments.
Experts say that by 2020, most countries in the world will have stopped handling physical money.
Why can’t your restaurant get ahead of itself?
Imagine that your restaurant, no matter if it is small or large, stops working with cash. You wouldn’t need to have a box, or square it at the end of the day. The problems with exchange, cash management and the risk of receiving counterfeit bills would end.
Uber doesn’t handle money
It is possible not to handle money, for example, the well-known American company Uber, which has recently returned to operating in Spain, asks customers for their credit card details when they sign up. In this way, its drivers do not handle cash, reducing the risks of theft and making the commercial transaction of each of its services much more agile.
The Taxi Reservations company known as Hailo, It also operates in this way in its app, where once downloaded when you register as a user, you register a credit card and every time you book or use a “race”, it is automatically charged to your account , and the taxi driver, simply validates the operation when taking you to your destination, that if always under your supervision.
Key: allow payment in advance and at the restaurant
The key to being able to eliminate cash in your restaurant is to allow payment from the first contact with your restaurant at the time of a reservation, and of course, that any mobile payment method is accepted in the restaurant itself, and motivate the use of the devices to pay.
We already wrote in this same section about applications to allow online reservations, it is key to do so, publish the menu with a price and allow orders to be placed in the reservation. In any case, we will need an electronic payment system in the restaurant, because, even if the food is chosen in advance and paid for, there can always be additional consumptions that should be paid by card or using a smartphone.
Three options to support mobile payments in your restaurant
There are many options, unfortunately not all are operational in Spain, either because Spanish law is very restrictive, as happened to Uber itself, or because they have not yet planned their foray into the Spanish market.
We present the three best options that currently exist in our country.
- Sum Up
One of the best apps that allow mobile payment in Spain, and at a very affordable price. It allows payment with cards and mobiles, although its weak point is the detail of your invoices and reports. Accepts Visa and Mastercard.
Among its characteristics and prices, we detail that the cost of the reader is € 79, they charge 1,5% for each transaction and you need a minimum of € 20 to be able to reimburse the money charged with their service, taking between 3 to 6 days, the one that is made effective in your bank account.
It is available for iOS 5.0 onwards and Android 2.3 onwards.
- iZettle
It works the same as the previous one, although its costs are higher. The advantage it offers over the previous one is that the more transactions you have, the lower the cost per operation.
Has a basic reader the Lite which is free for business and other advanced Pro Contactless that in addition to using a bluetooth connection instead of cable, allows payment with contactless cards and payment with mobile NFC.
Among its characteristics, we highlight the cost of the PRO card reader, which is € 89 and its commissions range from 0,99% to 1,99% per operation.
It is available for the mobile iOS and Android operating systems.
- Zapper
The best of all without a doubt, is Zapper, since its product is very well focused for hospitality establishments, bars, restaurants and cafes.
A QR code is printed on each invoice issued by the establishment, and customers with the application downloaded on their smartphone, simply by scanning that code, can pay without having to wait for the waiter to arrive.
You can apply discounts and offers automatically, and it allows dividing the account if the table is a group of friends or if you want to pay independently for each of the diners.
The great virtue, apart from the convenience, is that Zapper has a CRM included to provide a better service, and thus be able to use it as a loyalty tool for your customers.
It supports Visa, Mastercard and PayPal.
Why is accepting mobile payments such a good idea?
You may wonder, as a restaurant owner, why it is such a good idea to accept payment with mobile applications when cash still exists, although it is doomed to disappear, and its use is still in the majority compared to payments with devices. .
Read these statistics, and think again about your restaurant reservations:
- From 2009 to 2010 the number of smartphones increased 72%. It is estimated that in 2016, up to 400%.
- 87% of those who have smartphone they use it daily in their daily activities.
- 51% of mobile phone owners would prefer to go to a restaurant that accepts mobile payments over another that does not.
- 80% of people with mobile phones, look for restaurant reviews on their mobile, and it is believed that a bad reference costs 30 customers to the establishment …