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Many U.S. restaurants have hesitated to implement pay-at-table technology. However, many restaurants in Europe and Latin America made the leap years ago.
At restaurants in non-U.S. markets where debit and chip-and-PIN transactions are common, pay-at-table terminals often available so that diners may key in their personal identification numbers.
"Restaurants that had to meet chip-and-PIN requirements had no choice but to develop terminals they could bring to customers' tables," says Tony Hayes, a partner with U.S.-based consultancy Oliver Wyman. He asserts that pay-at-table devices are increasingly common in certain European and Latin American markets.
A variety of terminal makers supply European and Latin American restaurants with pay-at-table devices, including France-based Groupe Ingenico and U.S.-based Hypercom Corp. Hypercom says most terminals it sells to restaurants outside the U.S. communicate directly with banks and are not integrated into restaurants' data systems.
In some markets, chip-and-PIN systems have helped to reduce card-skimming, Hayes says. "The U.S. does not yet have the card-fraud levels seen in other countries, and there is no sign the U.S. will mandate chip-and-PIN systems," he says, adding that pay-at-table devices may be useful if U.S. card-fraud increases.
The U.S. custom of adding a tip separately from the price of a meal was another stumbling block in adopting pay-at-table systems there, Hayes says. Equipment manufacturers have configured U.S. pay-at-table terminals to simplify the tip-adding process.
"In most other countries, the tip is included in the final price, but in the U.S. there is a two-step process. Old habits die hard, and integrating the tip custom into pay-at-table technology has been challenging for restaurants in the U.S.," Hayes says. "In most other countries, the diner's meal price includes the gratuity, so it simplifies steps in the payment process."
