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3 Ways Bars and Restaurants Can Save Money on Credit Card Processing

July 9th, 2018

The bar and restaurant industry is a tough one! Over 50% are out of business in a few years. Profit margins are thin! Turnover is high! Saving money in any way is necessary to keeping the doors open. In the credit card processing world, owners and managers get calls all of the time from processing companies all promising the same thing. “We can save you money on your processing rates or guarantee to beat your rates.” In most cases, you as an owner or manager are just going to hang up the phone. You get those calls all the time. How do you know they are different. They probably aren’t.

We’ve got 3 tips that are better than “beat your rates” that will actually put money back in your pocket! First, if you only use a stand alone terminal to process your credit cards, you are behind the curve. It’s not like 10 years ago where unless you were a big box chain such as Chili’s or Olive Garden, you didn’t have need for a POS or could afford. There are not only many POS solutions, there are tablet based software solutions that are really cost effective that can not only process your cards, but can handle employees, inventory, reports and so much more. Depending on the size of your business, this can save you hundreds if not thousands a month getting your business organized and efficient. Don’t worry, there is even a processing company that Rocky Mountain Credit Card works with that offers a free POS up front, saving thousands!

Turning tables over in a restaurant and bar is key to making more money and keep the customers happy and wait lines low. One of the slowest and uncomfortable processes is the payment portion. Many times, servers or bartenders hand the ticket over too quickly when the customer wants another drink or food and other times the customer is trying to track down their server when they are ready to go. Then the customer still has to look over the bill, get their credit card ready for payment then wait for their server to come back and go back to the POS or terminal when they get a moment to finish the process. This on average takes over 10 minutes! If you haven’t looked into a pay at the table system, the time to do that is now! There are apps your business can have where your customers pay at the table through their phone. There are POS such as Poynt that are mobile and WIFI enabled where the server can bring the system to the table to pay right then and there! Poynt can also connect to many POS systems such as Aloha as well! By implementing this system, it can help your business turn tables over quicker, making more money and making your processing experience much better!

In most cases bars and restaurants are busy doing many things at once. Credit card processing is usually not on the top of things to do unless there is a processing issue or you realize you are paying too much on your processing. Once a year, make sure to take the time to contact a trusted processing company to do a review of your services. This can help find glaring fees that you have missed or clean up your process. In the end, this can save money on your processing!

Use these 3 tips and in no time, you bar or resturant will be saving money!