Security experts have long considered restaurants a happy hunting ground for credit card skimmers and payment system hackers. Meanwhile, diners have become understandably reluctant to let a waiter take their credit card away from the table when settling their bill.
With its Jan. 5 unveiling of an at-the-table digital payment terminal called the Rail, Viableware joined other technology companies that for the past couple of years have been trying to eliminate the standard restaurant bill-payment methods.
Credit card data breaches at restaurants often do not make headlines, though a large breach reported last month involving Subway restaurants illustrates the need to keep card data out of restaurant payment systems.
Rail differs from other devices. It looks like the traditional bill folder and, when opened, displays a digital touchscreen that summarizes the bill and provides payment options, says Joe Snell, Viableware's chief executive.
Users have the option of paying by cash or payment card, and the card never leaves the table, Snell says. The device will alert waiters a payment is ready, says Bob McBreen, vice president of product development at Viableware.
Neither the merchant nor Viableware stores any card data, though Viableware creates a 24-character algorithm to identify a customer and stores that information on its cloud-based virtual data center if a restaurant wants to establish loyalty programs, McBreen says. "The merchant does not store any card data, which cuts down on the Payment Card Industry compliance scoping," he adds, referring to the PCI data-security standards.
Viableware, of Kirkland, Wash., intends to sell the Rail directly to some restaurant chains, but mostly will use a value-added reseller system in which point of sale manufacturers would include the Rail in an overall system sale, Snell says.
The Rail accepts magnetic stripe debit and credit cards, and it has a near-field communication device so it can accept mobile NFC and contactless chip card payments, says Viable's president, Steve Stoddard. Viableware continues to develop software applications to accept mobile wallet payments, but the Rail was "premade" to insert readers to accept EMV chip cards when that payment method takes hold in the U.S., he says.
The Rail "sounds like a great innovation and good news for the restaurant industry," says Julie Conroy McNelley, senior analyst and fraud expert with Aite Group.
Criminals eventually figure out a way to hack most security devices over time, McNelley says. But if a waiter tried to tamper with a Rail or process a credit card payment away from the table, restaurant management likely would notice a change in the established payment procedure, she says.
Restaurant patrons are likely to see various other pay-at-the-table devices. Last summer, ATX Innovation Inc. rolled out Tabbedout software for smartphones. It allows the user to open a tab at a restaurant on his phone and pay through a phone application when leaving the restaurant.
And last spring VeriFone Systems Inc. continued its development of pay-at-the-table technologies at restaurants with its partnership with Micros Systems Inc. to support NFC technology so smartphone users may pay tabs without providing a physical credit card.
