How to take payments in your restaurant

Whether you are a budding entrepreneur who wants to open a restaurant or you already have a restaurant that you’d like to turn into a more modern and convenient place for your patrons, accepting payments is a critical aspect of creating the ideal experience for your customers.

If you haven’t given it much thought yet, perhaps now is the time because the landscape of payments is changing quickly and you want to stay ahead of all the payment developments. The reason behind this is that patron payments are the lifeblood of your restaurant business and ensuring a smoother payments experience can help you earn more and contribute to your bottom line.

With this in mind, in this blog post, you’ll find out about the importance of taking seamless payments at your restaurant using a card machine, how you can do so, and a few options to consider regarding payment acceptance. Let’s get started.

Why are payments important in your restaurant?

Before we get to the juicy part, it’s important that you consider the relevance of convenient payments in your restaurant. Ultimately, you want to give your customers a wonderful experience so that they keep coming back. It has been shown that most businesses’ customer base comprises repeat and loyal customers. And the same is true for restaurants. Therefore, if you offer convenient payments, you can help improve your customer experience at your restaurant.

In addition to boosting the customer experience through greater levels of convenience, you can help speed up the checkout process. This means turning more tables and earning more revenue, ultimately helping you to boost the bottom line.

But what about large tables, split bills, or tips for your waiters? The answer is simple. Convenient payments ensure that there are no uncomfortable situations related to the end of a meal and that your patrons can easily split their bill for a large table and order, and even leave a fair tip for your staff. 

Overall, payments that are convenient for your customers will:

• Boost customer loyalty and retention;
• Speed up your checkout process;
• Create a more convenient experience; and
• Boost your bottom line.

Let restaurant guests pay when and where it’s convenient

When it comes to letting guests pay when and where it’s convenient for them, you need the right tools and technology to make this happen. Studies have shown that there is an ever-growing number of customers – both for restaurants and otherwise – who prefer to pay by card.

This means that whether it’s a contactless payment, an online or QR code payment, a Chip & PIN transaction or a magnetic stripe swipe, you should be prepared for all of these options so that you give your customers more choice. 

The greater the choice in making payments, the greater the convenience for your patrons, the higher the chances that they will return to your restaurant and ultimately, the better for your bottom line in terms of revenue earned.

As such, you want to ensure that your restaurant offers the right technology at the right place (including making payments available at your patrons’ tables) for a much smoother experience.

Restaurant payment processing

Having mentioned contactless, Chip & PIN, magnetic stripe and online payments, you may now be wondering which payment device is best suited to your restaurant’s needs. We’re here to offer a few top suggestions both in terms of ease and convenience and affordability. Take a look at three of our payment/point-of-sale (POS) terminals to see what benefits they can provide you with.

myPOS Go 2

We kick off our restaurant payment processing guide with the myPOS Go 2. This is a completely autonomous device that doesn’t require you to connect it to a phone in order to start accepting payments. 

And speaking of payments, the myPOS Go 2 handles every kind of payment with ease including contactless, Chip & PIN and nagstripe payments. But what’s more, is that it issues digital receipts that you can send through email or SMS. This device is ideal for restaurants because you can both track individual staff performance and split tips hassle-free.

The device has a long-lasting battery life and it comes with a tactile keyboard. It also offers connectivity through a 3G/4G data SIM card, which means that you no longer need to ask your patrons to come to your checkout. Instead, you can bring the device to their table and let them pay easily and conveniently.

myPOS Pro

Also a part of our portfolio of POS devices for restaurants, you can avail of all the advantages of the myPOS Pro. This is a shock-resistant device that comes with a high-pressure thermal printer for paper receipts. In addition to this, it has a cloud-based cash register and it offers 3G/4G connectivity through a free data SIM, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. 

Powered by Android 10.0, it is one of the devices that also offers convenience with tipping. With a range of other functionalities such as Top-Up, Payment Request, Pre-Authorization, custom receipts and Private Label GiftCards, it’s truly a versatile POS device that you can use to enrich your payment-taking experience for both you and your customers.

What do each of these three devices have in common?

So, what do each of these devices have in common? Apart from the fact that they are each stand-alone payment terminals, enabling you to take payments in your restaurant or on the go, you also get:

• A free DATA SIM card for full Internet connectivity
• Accept all types of payments including contactless, Chip & PIN and magstripe
• 1-year free warranty with an option to extend it
• Instant settlement of your received funds (it takes less than 3 seconds for the money to arrive in your account)
• A free business card for instant access to your accepted funds
• A mobile app that helps you keep track of all incoming payments and outgoing expenses
• A free myPOS merchant account with a dedicated IBAN in 14 currencies.

In conclusion

When you are thinking of setting up or modernising your restaurant, you need to carefully consider your options when it comes to payment acceptance. This is because customer payments are what make your business thrive and offering easy and convenient payments will boost client retention and loyalty and ultimately help improve your restaurant’s bottom line.

Whether you choose the myPOS Go 2 or the myPOS Pro each of these devices comes with a big set of advantages for your restaurant. Not only do you get to offer all types of contactless card payments, but you also bring ease and convenience directly to your patrons’ tables. And the convenience of instant settlement of funds for your restaurant business cannot be overstated. The instant availability of funds means you can run your business in a smoother and more efficient manner.

Meanwhile, offering this seamless option to pay, add tips and split bills means your customers will have a more enjoyable experience and are more likely to return to your restaurant. The more loyal and happy customers you have, the better for your restaurant business and its bottom line.