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re: Jones Creek Cafe
Posted on 3/5/09 at 2:38 pm to Martini
Posted on 3/5/09 at 2:38 pm to Martini
I have a hotel statement (small hotel in comparison) that I am looking at for the month of January ...
$69K in credit/debit card transactions
In fees, they have to pay back $750 + in Interchange Charges, plus $1100 + in service charges and $16.00 in "fees."
You have to give in order to make I suppose.
$69K in credit/debit card transactions
In fees, they have to pay back $750 + in Interchange Charges, plus $1100 + in service charges and $16.00 in "fees."
You have to give in order to make I suppose.
1
Posted on 3/5/09 at 2:40 pm to Martini
that is exactly what i would do if i ran a restaurant ..
Posted on 3/5/09 at 2:41 pm to Will Cover
that's basically 2.7% which makes sense with fees and AMEX blended in ..
eta: and if you are a business that takes cards and don't add 3% to your margin to accomodate the cost of cards, you are an idiot, imo ..
eta: and if you are a business that takes cards and don't add 3% to your margin to accomodate the cost of cards, you are an idiot, imo ..
This post was edited on 3/5/09 at 2:43 pm
Posted on 3/5/09 at 2:57 pm to TigahRag
This is what I was sent by email ...
Their start rate is 1.86% for Credit Card vs. ours of 1.54% and their start rate for Debit Cards is 1.54% vs. ours of 1.36 % and our Interchange Surcharges would be about 30% less than what they are currently being charged.
Their start rate is 1.86% for Credit Card vs. ours of 1.54% and their start rate for Debit Cards is 1.54% vs. ours of 1.36 % and our Interchange Surcharges would be about 30% less than what they are currently being charged.
Posted on 3/5/09 at 3:01 pm to Will Cover
you guys have some seriously good rates ... want kind of lease charges and contract lengths do you have on equipment ?
Posted on 3/5/09 at 3:30 pm to TigahRag
quote:
you guys have some seriously good rates ... want kind of lease charges and contract lengths do you have on equipment ?
Sorry for not responding, got caught up with wife and her vehicle ... this hasn't been a very productive day for me ...
I don't know the answer to this. I did email my contact and I will reply back in this thread with the answer for you.
I sell benefits, human resources, payroll, COBRA administration, etc. We decided to partner with a credit card processing company only because it was another avenue to get in the door with business owners, plus because of the amount of money we move on a daily basis with payroll (payroll and floating of the taxes), we have been able to negotiate a better rate for our potential clients.
Makes sense to me, as it has helped me on my end.
I'll let you know.
Posted on 3/5/09 at 3:35 pm to Will Cover
yeah, that is not a bad side business to explore relative to what you guys do .. from what i understand, anyone can throw out and beat the next guy's VISA swipe rate by .0001 ... but in that biz, what talks is -- what is your non-qualified rate and what is your equipment leasing program ...
Posted on 3/5/09 at 3:44 pm to TigahRag
Rags, here is his response ... they're very quick about responding ...
We don’t Lease Equipment. We help our customers find the best price on the Equip they need. It has gotten so inexpensive to buy now. You can get great high speed DSL Terminals for around $200, dial up for $150. We could do a rent to own for $10/mth for 24mths if they can’t afford the $150-$200 up front. We are in the transaction business, we don’t see the need to mark up and try to make money selling the Terminals.
We don’t Lease Equipment. We help our customers find the best price on the Equip they need. It has gotten so inexpensive to buy now. You can get great high speed DSL Terminals for around $200, dial up for $150. We could do a rent to own for $10/mth for 24mths if they can’t afford the $150-$200 up front. We are in the transaction business, we don’t see the need to mark up and try to make money selling the Terminals.
Posted on 3/5/09 at 5:08 pm to Will Cover
that makes sense, man .. you would definitely want to outright buy at that price .. that is the one upside to the explosion in competition in the credit card processing market ... actually, you'll be dangerous on the streets with those percentages as well as prices allowing merchants to buy equipment outright rather than get tied up into five-year, iron clad leases ..
Posted on 3/5/09 at 9:07 pm to TigahRag
Dad, whatever all of this stuff, I'll still go there 
Posted on 3/5/09 at 9:30 pm to LSUfanatic
I quit taking credit cards in Mandeville after Gustave and Ike...we didn't have telephone or internet service for about a month, but got the restaurant back open in about two weeks after the storms.
I won't go back in Mandeville. We have been there in Mandeville for 11 years and we have a very steady, loyal customer base. The fees were costing me about 3k a month, and I would need to do an additional 75k in sales to make that back...so we stayed cash/checks after we got the internet back up and running. It's not about cheating on sales taxes because if you are audited by the state or parish, they will look at your purchases of goods for resale, then assume a level of sales. It is about the dollar, and the cost of processing. There is also a fear of the credit card companies coming back at you for a breach...we saw this at the Tallahassee Another Broken Egg...the owner there had to pay back about 30k to the credit card company for the breach of security.
We researched an ATM company that had very low fees, and we don't see a cut of that money. I want to keep it very clean from that perspective. We also haven't lost ANY sales because of only taking cash...yes, some guest may have stopped coming, but the others that are waiting for a table have stepped right in and kept the place full. We haven't seen a decrease in sales over the last three years.
Now...I can't do this in Baton Rouge because we have only been there on Old Hammond for a little over a year...but in another 10 years, maybe then I can save a little money from going out the bank accounts to the processors.
I won't go back in Mandeville. We have been there in Mandeville for 11 years and we have a very steady, loyal customer base. The fees were costing me about 3k a month, and I would need to do an additional 75k in sales to make that back...so we stayed cash/checks after we got the internet back up and running. It's not about cheating on sales taxes because if you are audited by the state or parish, they will look at your purchases of goods for resale, then assume a level of sales. It is about the dollar, and the cost of processing. There is also a fear of the credit card companies coming back at you for a breach...we saw this at the Tallahassee Another Broken Egg...the owner there had to pay back about 30k to the credit card company for the breach of security.
We researched an ATM company that had very low fees, and we don't see a cut of that money. I want to keep it very clean from that perspective. We also haven't lost ANY sales because of only taking cash...yes, some guest may have stopped coming, but the others that are waiting for a table have stepped right in and kept the place full. We haven't seen a decrease in sales over the last three years.
Now...I can't do this in Baton Rouge because we have only been there on Old Hammond for a little over a year...but in another 10 years, maybe then I can save a little money from going out the bank accounts to the processors.
Posted on 3/6/09 at 7:36 am to Broken Egg
quote:
the owner there had to pay back about 30k to the credit card company for the breach of security.
i can see having to do that if the processor can prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that the breach was an inside job, but if it someone hacking THEIR equipment, that should be on them ... a lot of these processors are just chicken shite with this ...
the only thing i don't understand about your statement BE .. is why would you have to do $75K in sales to make up the $3K in processing fees ?? your average swipe on a VISA or MC is about 1.68% .. even on the liberal side all of your fees including AMEX sales are going to run you about 3% a month, so that means you are doing about $100K a month in credit card sales on average or $1.2 million a year gross at the mandeville store, which is pretty damn good .. just don't see where you'd have to almost double your monthly sales to recoup a measly 3% ... let's face it, in the restaurant biz, you guys are constantly raising your prices ... i would be highly surprised if you didn't already have that percentage factored into your profit margin .. if not, shame on you, dude ... a 4% price increase would pretty much cover everything ... so a dish you retail for $8.99 would go to around $9.50 (once again, assuming you hadn't already done this) ... a "loyal" customer base would hardly notice this with every other price around them in everyday life going up ... then, the folks paying with cash .. bonus, you pick up an extra 4% on that ticket .. over time, this will cover a lot of other expenses ... also, a lot of these VISA cards that people are pulling out are debit cards .. with a PIN, you are only paying a .29 or so transaction fee and that is it ... find a way for your customers to use their PIN .. and once again, you pick up an extra percentage on sales ... dude, with this in mind i can't understand your $75K math ...
also, come on with "reporting" everything when you go to all cash sales .. you and i both know that the department of revenue and taxation doesn't come into your kitchen, do inventories and then put a microscope to your payables ... they don't have the manpower to do this .. as long as you are consistent and pay on time, you'll never see them ... but if you are doing over $1 million a year in CC sales, dunno why you would wanna mess with that business .. jones creek is taking a hit as we speak ..
This post was edited on 3/6/09 at 7:41 am
Posted on 3/6/09 at 7:53 am to Broken Egg
also, why do you think mcdonald's accepts credit cards ? if anyone could get away with being a cash only business, it would be them ... they realized a healthy increase in business in their first full fiscal year of accepting credit cards ... they just realized that consumer habits have just changed over time ... i'd say mickey d's is a pretty well-run company ... you really are kidding yourself if you think you can make it cash only for a long period of time ... just go around town and talk to other retailers in different sectors and ask them what percentage of their sales are credit and debit cards and your eyes would pop out of your head ... people just don't carry around a lot of cash anymore .. this is an electronic world ..
Posted on 3/6/09 at 8:20 am to TigahRag
quote:
it is hard to patronize a place that just takes cash ...
Hell no its not............
quote:
i hardly ever have a lot of cash on me, use my debit card for everything,
There are just as many people that are just the opposite, including myself. Call ma na old-timer or whatever, but I have never completely trusted using Debit or Credit Cards and mostly use CC's for reservations and traveling.
If I was an owner of a Restaurant and had to pay extra for people to use them, I would be exactly like Pokey and say no way Jose!!!!!!
Posted on 3/6/09 at 8:53 am to TreeDawg
Average margin after everything is paid in the restaurant biz is 3-5%. We make a nickle off of every dollar spent.
I already get critizied for having high prices in the "breakfast" business, so I am very cautious about price increases.
We haven't lost any sales because of cash only...and it's been six months.
I have been audited by St. Tammany, and we were inline with our sales to purchases...maybe the state doesn't have the man power, but St. Tammany does.
I am not debating that it is a "electronic" world, maybe mc don needed the business...there average unit volume has decreased since the $1 specials, but they are doing increased customer counts...paying the 3% for accepting cc and increasing your sales because of it might be a good idea...but for me, I am not going to increase my sales enough to cover the in
increase in expense due to the discount rate.
I already get critizied for having high prices in the "breakfast" business, so I am very cautious about price increases.
We haven't lost any sales because of cash only...and it's been six months.
I have been audited by St. Tammany, and we were inline with our sales to purchases...maybe the state doesn't have the man power, but St. Tammany does.
I am not debating that it is a "electronic" world, maybe mc don needed the business...there average unit volume has decreased since the $1 specials, but they are doing increased customer counts...paying the 3% for accepting cc and increasing your sales because of it might be a good idea...but for me, I am not going to increase my sales enough to cover the in
increase in expense due to the discount rate.
This post was edited on 3/6/09 at 9:01 am
Posted on 3/6/09 at 8:59 am to TigahRag
quote:
go around town and talk to other retailers in different sectors and ask them what percentage of their sales are credit and debit cards and your eyes would pop out of your head
Agreed...mine in Mandeville was 85% of our sales were paid for by some sort of credit card...now it is 0% and I haven't lost business in six months. I don't think everyone can do this, but the restaurant owners I am talking to are looking at it as a way to decrease their cost. More places than you think are starting to think this way.
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