The restaurant industry works off slim margins, so any little things you can do to boost your bottom line become really helpful in the long run. The smart folks over at
Buzztime Buisness have put together
a brief video detailing six costs you can try to minimize or avoid at your establishment. They are talking specifically about bars and pubs, but their insights apply to restaurants small and large. Some of them may seem obvious, but when you get into the details of each cost, it can be alarming how much room there is for improvement. Today we are going to focus on just one point from the video, one that we think can be really important for smaller business owners. Check out the link to the full video after the break for the five remaining tips from Buzztime Business.
Buzztime Business notes that you should start by shopping around for a credit-merchant processor. The rates for respective credit cards do fluctuate from processor to processor, so taking a look around should be worthwhile. Most companies are very eager for your business, and will probably be happy to explain everything in detail over the phone.
If you are willing to make some technical changes to your operations, you could go with a company such as
Square Payments,
Paypal Here, or
Intuit GoPayment. "Square" began as an easy way for small businesses and those who travel to take credit card payments with an accessory that works with iPhones, iPads and Android phones. In the last few years, Paypal and Intuit have followed up with their own proprietary mobile payment services. These options are fantastic for individuals and small businesses, as they provides a very clean and simple solution to the problem of clunky credit card and POS machines (pun intended). In the last few years, some companies have started making
tablet specific accessories to help set up an iPad or Android tablet as your main point of sale. This is an easy, simply way to add some 21st century technology to your bar, restaurant or café, and chances are the tablet will be useful outside of taking credit payments as well. The software available for this purpose is really incredible, so much so that you'll probably find it much easier than a typical cash register and credit processor. In addition to managing your credit transactions, the applications also built in CRM features.
Square was the first company do to provide a mobile solution of this kind, but it is not alone anymore. Now that financial giants
Paypall and
Intuit each offer their own, similar type of credit card processing, the competition for your business is really heating up. Each of the three solutions has its own hardware for credit card swiping, as well as software. They also each offer distinct differences in how much they will cost you, though this is where things get complicated. Each company offers slightly different pricing models, so you will need to do the math to see which, if any, of the three is the best bet for your company. A great overview of the pricing schemes offered has already been done by others, so we will defer to Digitaltrends.com for this one. They've put together a great
introductory comparison between Square,
Paypal Here, and
Intuit GoPayment.
Source:
Buzztime Business on Youtube,
Digitaltrends.com Comparison
Tablebases.com
