Merchant Resources

As a consumer in your own right, you may already be reveling in the phenomenon of leaving your bulky wallet at home in favor of paying with a single credit card or even by using your mobile phone and its built-in digital wallet feature. Now, switch from being a buyer back into your role as a restaurateur. Think about how embracing the cashless revolution could end up being a big win for your eating establishment. It just might be one of the smartest and most forward-thinking moves you will ever make.

The restaurant business can be tough. The fact is that even the hardest-working, most financially savvy and innovative restaurant owners often fail. In this era of vicious competition and multimedia marketing, it is obvious that there is a lot more to running an eatery than just showing up. One of your best strategies is to learn about some of the common mistakes that other food establishment owners have made so that you can avoid a similar fate.

When you run a small business, it’s easy to get the feeling that you are a first responder who is constantly on the front lines. There may even be times when it may seem as though one fire is barely under control before another conflagration starts. In the midst of all of this craziness, however, it is vital that you also assume the role of your company’s primary care physician who regularly assesses the financial well-being of your operation.

With costs constantly rising and restaurants popping up seemingly on every corner, owning an eatery is an uphill climb even at the best of times. In addition to providing stellar customer service and offering foods and beverages that can’t be beaten, one of your biggest challenges will continue to be how to consistently make a profit. Fortunately, there are a number of concrete actions that you can take to raise your financial prospects and distinguish you from the competition.

What is it that makes one restaurant flourish while another is one of the estimated 60% of all eateries that fail? Sure, factors such as location and food quality are vitally important, but they do not make up the entire picture. Without truly effective marketing strategies, even the most promising food destinations are almost sure to fade away.

So, you’re preparing to launch the business that you have poured your heart and soul into and you want to dive in head-first. However, there are too many unknowns and you just can’t take a leap of faith that might land you — and your fledgling company — in the poorhouse. Fortunately, there are ways that you can have your cake and eat it, too.

These days, accepting your customers’ credit cards is a must. In fact, refusing to take plastic can quickly put you out of business since most people don’t carry large amounts of cash or checkbooks with them anymore.

As with any truly important aspiration, achieving good business credit does not happen overnight. However, hard work can go a long way toward giving you the results you desire.

When you think about credit card crime, big companies like Target and Equifax probably come to mind. As a small restaurateur, the potential that your business could be the next victim may be less than a blip on your radar. Sadly, eateries are extremely vulnerable to fraud and data breaches, and it is in your best interest to learn how to minimize the chances that you will be harmed.

Knowing that you want to accept credit, debit card, and even contactless payments is just the first step towards offering your customers as many convenient payment options as possible. Your bigger challenge is coming to an understanding of how payments work, the types of hardware available, and the best way to obtain it.

So, you’ve finally bitten the bullet and decided to accept credit cards in your small business. Before you become overwhelmed by the sheer scope of the choices and options available to you, it would behoove you to take a few minutes to learn some payments terminology.

Today’s quick-service restaurant customers want delicious food fast and they want their experience to be excellent at the same time. So how do restaurateurs meet the demands of these customers? As so often happens, technology is coming to the rescue in the form of something known as self-checkout.

If you’re like most entrepreneurs, you make a valiant effort to juggle numerous responsibilities. No matter how great you are at multitasking, there are some tasks that are best delegated to others. By taking this step, you can actually spend more of your financial resources on growing your business while simultaneously freeing up valuable time.

Credit card transactions, particularly those that take place over the internet, have long been vulnerable to hacking by criminals and fraudsters. Today’s EMV chip cards have made strides in deterring fraud, but data breaches are still occurring at an alarming frequency.

Often known as “millennials”, the generation born between roughly 1980 and 1998 are now coming into their own. Millennials are completing their education, finding careers, and making money. As they take their place in the front ranks of U.S. consumers, it is important to recognize the effects that mobile payments are having (and not having) on this important demographic.