In the room, the payment is part of the meal. It is the last thing a customer experiences and the moment your money starts a two-day journey. This topic is the mechanics of that: how the card is read, how the tip attaches, when the money lands, and what happens when the internet does not.
📲 How the card gets read, and why it matters
- Chip inserted. The card proves it is genuine. Slower than tapping, and cheap and safe from your point of view.
- Contactless tap, whether a card, a phone or a watch. Same protection as the chip, faster, and increasingly what people expect. If your terminal does not accept taps, that is a reason to replace it.
- Magnetic stripe. The old way. Accept it when nothing else works, and understand that fraud on a swiped transaction is more likely to end up being yours — see topic 5.
- Keyed by hand. The most expensive and the riskiest. Reserve it for genuine exceptions and know that it is a card-not-present transaction even though the customer is standing there.
The practical consequence: every tap or dip instead of a swipe or a key-in is a small saving and a large reduction in the fraud you can be held responsible for.
🍽️ Where the payment happens
Three arrangements, and the trade-off is service, not price:
| Arrangement | What it gives you | What it costs you |
| Card taken to the counter | Nothing extra to buy | The card leaves the customer's sight — increasingly disliked, and the classic setting for skimming |
| Handheld at the table | Faster turns, card never leaves the table, tip prompt on screen | Devices to buy, charge and replace |
| QR code on the check | The customer pays and leaves when they want, no hardware | Not everyone will do it, and it usually prices as card-not-present |
Whatever you choose, the tip question is decided here. A prompt on a screen at the table generally produces different results from a printed line on paper, and the number of preset options and where they start is a decision you are making whether or not you think about it. Choose it deliberately, and revisit it if guests start commenting.
💸 Tips, batches and when the money arrives
The sequence that runs every night, and the two places it breaks:
- Authorization at the table for the amount of the check.
- Tip adjustment, if tips are written on a paper slip. The final amount is added afterwards, and it must be entered before the batch closes. Tips adjusted after the batch are a mess to correct, and staff notice quickly when their money is wrong.
- Batch close, ideally automatic, at a fixed hour after service. Everything captured that day gets sent for settlement.
- Funding, typically one to two business days later. Weekends and holidays do not count, which is why Friday and Saturday sales often land together on Tuesday.
Two checks worth building into the routine. First, confirm the batch closed — most systems will show it, and someone should look. Second, reconcile the deposit against the day: what the bank sent should equal your card sales minus fees, and if your processor deducts fees monthly instead of daily, know which it is before you start worrying.
🌐 No internet, and other awkward situations
- Offline mode. Some terminals store transactions and send them when the connection returns. It keeps you trading, and any transaction that would have been declined is one you may have to absorb. Know your terminal's limit and treat large amounts carefully.
- A backup path. A terminal on mobile data, or a second processor's reader in a drawer, turns an outage into an inconvenience. This pairs with the paper plan from the previous course.
- Never write the card number down to key in later. Same rule as the last course, and here it is also a rule with a fine attached.
- Surcharges and cash discounts. Adding a fee for paying by card is regulated: rules differ by state, the card networks impose their own conditions, debit is generally treated differently from credit, and disclosure at the entrance and on the receipt is required. If you want to do it, confirm the current rules for your state and your card brands first, and put it in writing to your processor. Done casually it produces complaints, chargebacks and fines.
- Cash still exists. If you plan to go cardless, check your local rules first — several places require businesses to accept cash.