I recently tried to pay a restaurant check with a credit card but was told they only accepted cash. And it was a nice place. What gives?
--Plastic Man
Dear Plastic Man:
It's one thing for a sandwich shop or food truck to accept cash only, but when a place is charging $15 or more for entrees and offering wine by the bottle, not taking credit cards seems downright inhospitable. (And hospitality should be the guiding principle of any restaurant.) So why all the plastic hate? Well, first of all, smaller, independent restaurants--the kind people like me love to support--prefer cash for the same reason we all do: It's money in your pocket. Second, credit cards charge a merchant fee for every transaction, anywhere from 1.5 to 3 percent. And for a small business, every penny counts. If a place decides to take credit cards, the customers will likely pay the fee via higher menu prices. Restaurateurs have to decide whether they want to please themselves or their customers. To make sure you won't have to dine and dash next time, ask the restaurant what its policy is when you reserve.
Read More http://www.bonappetit.com/blogsandforums/blogs/bafoodist/2011/06/the-foodist-addresses-the-cash.html#ixzz1QFhBEsgc
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