Restaurant Merchant Accounts

Food is one of the cornerstones of how we plan our days and how we interact with others. “Let’s meet after lunch”, or “You can go out after dinner” are part of our daily personal and professional vocabularies. Ah, food. We need it to survive. We love it. We love to get creative with it. As consumers, we enjoy the ritual of eating. As restaurateurs, much of the enjoyment by patrons is clouded by the ever-confusing, ever-escalating costs of accepting credit and debit cards.

The True Cost of Restaurant Merchant Accounts

Merchant account companies that provide restaurant merchant accounts have roughly 130 different transaction fees that can be billed to those utilizing their services. A whopping 30 of those defined fees apply to restaurant patrons that are not charged to other businesses. Not to mention that these fees have nothing to do with the fees MasterCard, Visa, American Express and Discover already charge.

Why is that? The answer is because they can.

Credit card associations charge a percentage of the transaction total as an interchange fee. Visa uses a sliding scale for what it charges, so costs per unit falls as transaction volume increases. MasterCard and Discover use similar equations to determine fees. American Express has historically charged higher interchange rates than other issuers, and consequently is not accepted at many food establishments. Some restaurant owners take the time to explore each of the credit card association’s published interchange rates, but that takes time away from the focus needed on running their establishment.

Taking a Deeper Look into the Restaurant Industry

Patrons utilize credit and debit cards for their purchases at restaurants more than any other kind of establishment. Owners and managers of eating establishments feel the need to accept credit, debit, and pre-paid cards in order to compete in the ever-competitive restaurant industry. The numbers don’t lie. In 2012, a full 81% of all full-service restaurants in the U.S. used plastic for those purchases; up 7% from 2004. This trend is expected to continue with percentages reaching up to 90% by the year 2016. 92% of restaurants accept debit, credit, and pre-paid cards as a form of payment, and that number is also expected to increase.

Restaurateurs are so busy running their establishment that they simply cannot devote the necessary time and research to understand all of the fees they are being charged. Most simply assume it to be a cost of doing business, choosing to not even question any of the charges. Their focus is on the staff and the food being served, not on the intricacies of a confusing and difficult to read monthly statement.

The True Cost of Restaurant Merchant Accounts

Transparent Merchant Accounting is an established firm offering restaurant merchant accounts that are simplified, up-front, and with no hidden fees. Users pay a monthly fee, a small per transaction fee, and the credit card association’s published interchange rates. That’s it.

No extra “processing fees” or “fees because you wore blue”. Okay, only the first of those is common, but the redundancy and ridiculousness of some of these fees charged come so close to the second example that it wouldn’t surprise us to see those wrenches thrown in the gears.

That’s not the only good news. When you try Transparent restaurant merchant accounts you do not have to sign a long-term contract, so you are free to come and go as you like. We do this because we are confident that once you partner with us, you will not be going anywhere else for your merchant account. You’ll know exactly what you’re paying with a simplified and streamlined service.

How to get a merchant account? Getting started is simple; simply visit us at www.trytransparent.com or give us a call for a risk-free short consultation at 1-855-41-Try-US. You will learn about our easy to read statements, our small monthly fee, minimal transaction fee, and next day deposits to your bank account. The experts at Transparent can not only save you time and hard-earned money, but save your sanity over swiping “plastic”. That should leave a good taste in your mouth.

So, what are you waiting for? You are just a call or click away from savings and a simpler life.