Why Full-Service Restaurants Will Be The Last To Bite On Mobile Payments And EMV

By Joe Snell, Co-Founder and CEO, TableSafe

If there’s one thing that’s true about full-service restaurant operators — it’s that they like their technology investments fully baked before biting in. For those not familiar with the full-service restaurant business, it’s a game of managing razor-thin margins, and owners are notoriously frugal when it comes to making major investments in technology. So, when the world of payments inevitably collided with the meteor that is mobile technology — and a new galaxy of digital payment options were born — it was full-service restaurant operators who were the first to see a new constellation of dollar signs.

Since the realignment of the payment stars, restaurants are facing the hard facts that an irreversible shift has occurred and that it’s no longer palatable for them to accept only cash or credit.  Restaurant guests now want to use Apple Pay, PayPal, BitCoin, and any number of other digital payment solutions.

According to the Federal Reserve’s recent Consumers and Mobile Financial Services study, 39 percent of all mobile payment users with smartphones had made a point-of-sale payment using their mobile phone within the last year. 

And as if this disruption wasn’t enough, the major card issuers — Europay, MasterCard and Visa — have also initiated an EMV card revolution.  

But what do the preparation of fabulous cuisine and secure, push-button payments have in common? The answer is nothing — which is the primary reason why most full-service restaurants are taking a wait-and-see approach to upgrading their point of sale (POS) systems. 

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