Restaurant chain decides dealing with cash isn’t worth the bother
Cold, hard cash won’t get you hot, tasty noodles at this Vancouver restaurant. While cash-only restaurants are a common sight around town, one restaurateur is going cash-free instead.
Two Marutama Ramen locations have already switched to accept credit, debit and Apple Pay transactions only, while its original West End spot will follow suit beginning Feb. 1.
“I don’t use cash, I use credit card or Apple Pay, and 95 per cent of our customers use cards or smartphone (payment),” said Tatsushi Koizumi, co-owner and general manager of the Japanese ramen chain. “So I thought it’s about time to switch to the next generation.”
Weekday noon-hour crowds aren’t unexpected at restaurants, particularly for those located near offices and in Vancouver’s business district. It makes sense then to turn to cash-free transactions as a way to speed up the lunch-hour turnover — especially at eateries like Marutama Ramen, where ingredients also require more time to prep.
Koizumi spoke to Postmedia News recently at the West End location of Marutama Ramen, where kitchen staff were preparing for a weekday opening. The noodles and toripai tan (chicken broth) are made fresh daily in-house.
“We take more labour and time for the creation (of ingredients) and then we found that we use so much time to go to the bank and make change or count it every night at the end of the day,” said Koizumi. “So I wanted to cut that labour and prioritize creation.”
Not to mention, it does away with the possibility of accounting errors and security concerns around handling cash.
The chain’s Main Street location adopted cash-free transactions as soon as it opened last fall. When that was well-received among customers, Koizumi implemented the same policy at their Robson Street location, and will soon introduce it at their Bidwell restaurant as well. There is signage at each restaurant alerting customers to the new transaction policy and if anyone isn’t happy with it, Koizumi said it’s “customer’s choice” and that he understands if they’d rather head elsewhere.
Koizumi said he has seen many cash-only restaurants around town, but hasn’t yet heard of other cash-free restaurants, which suggests Marutama Ramen is among the early adopters in Vancouver to use a cash-free approach.
Tips can be added on when customers pay by card or tap, and are still divided among staff the way traditional cash tips would be. If a customer’s card is declined, but they’re able to pay by cash, Koizumi said the restaurant will make exceptions and take cash, but that no change will be given.
And if there’s a tech glitch or if payment systems go down? If that ever happens, Koizumi said meals would be on the house — but he’s skeptical it will come to that.
“Internet is strong and stable enough for me to decide on a cash-free system,” said Koizumi. “I haven’t experienced an internet shutdown in four years.”
Ian Tostenson, president of the B.C. Restaurant and Food Services Association, said he’s not heard of other restaurants going cash-free, but said “it makes complete sense” considering how diners’ habits have changed. He noted some restaurants have started allowing their customers to pay by phone or by app instead of waiting for a bill during busy periods.
“I can’t even remember the last time I was with anybody or anywhere that someone pulled out cash to pay for anything in a restaurant,” he said. “It’s not a dealbreaker in my opinion and I think the industry would be quite happy to get rid of cash.”
According to a 2017 report from Payments Canada, the number of cash transactions have trended downward since 2011 while credit-card and debit payments have gone up.
Cash transactions accounted for 31.2 per cent of all 2016 transactions, down 10.6 per cent from 2011. Meanwhile, debit accounted for 25.6 per cent of all transactions in 2016, up 5.2 per cent from 2011, and credit cards represented 22.5 per cent of 2016 transactions, up 5.6 per cent from 2011.
Contactless or tap transactions — such as cards with chips and Apple Pay — are also on the rise. In 2016, tap payments increased by 81 per cent over the previous year, with a reported 2,089,000 tap transactions recorded across Canada.
The report notes that chip-andpin transactions accounted for 21 per cent of all point-of-sale card payments in 2016, more than double the seven per cent recorded in 2014.
The Bank of Canada notes there’s no legal requirement for a business to accept cash, only that both parties must agree on the payment method.
We found that we use so much time to go to the bank and make change or count it every night at the end of the day.