Page 13 - Food Service Magazine March 2019

PAYMENT
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“Over a couple of weeks we ended up recording the time it took staff members to go to the bank multiple times a week, get change, count cash at the end of the day, and I think we figured that even if we absorbed the cost of using card only, we still saved a significant amount of money on staff hours.”
In 2017, Sydney poke
chain Fishbowl also chose to
go cashless to make service smoother. “Operating efficiency is paramount to the success of Fishbowl. Going cashless is just one of the efficiencies we’re able to achieve in terms of service as it streamlines orders and saves us time and effort when it comes
to accounting,” says co-owner Nic Pestalozzi.
BUT WHAT ABOUT FEES?
The average merchant fee is about 1.5 per cent, so if $1.50 out of every $100 goes out the door, that cost can add up. But for a high-turnover business, and those that already trade mostly in card, Pestalozzi says the time saved is worth the extra money, because the it's not just during the lunch rush.
If a business pays one or a handful of staff members for an extra half-hour of work at the end of each day to count the takings; or if the time it takes to visit the bank each day is factored into the manager's salary, those hours add up and cost the business in staff wages.
“Over a couple of weeks we ended up recording the time it took staff members to go to the bank multiple times a week, get change, count cash at the end of the day, and I think we figured that even if we absorbed the cost of using card only, we still saved a significant amount of money on staff hours,” says Reid.
But not every business has queues out the door, and the perks aren't just about saving time. In “the cube” – the temperature-controlled glass room behind the counter at Lune's Fitzroy shop in which all the pastries are shaped – Reid says their cleanliness is almost “to the point of OCD”, so there's