By switching the supplier of his card reader to Handepay, Ian Ritchie made savings of over £1,000 per year as well as improving the day to day running of his business.
Ian took over a tea shop in Weston-Super-Mare five years ago, transforming it into Muffins Tea Rooms and Restaurant. He has expanded the business, and the café now also operates as a restaurant, takeaway and corporate catering facility.
Ian used the savings he made on card reader costs to improve his company’s payment process:
“We had two card readers, and both were in use every day for café and restaurant guests, takeaway and corporate catering sales. We took card payments over the phone when people ordered food for delivery. Each payment took quite a long time, and some customers weren’t too keen on giving out their card details over the phone.
When my Handepay advisor visited, I was surprised to discover that I could save 31% by switching. I also realised that with Handepay, we could afford an extra mobile card reader and still save money! This has made it much easier for us to run the business, as our customers can now pay on their doorstep when their food is delivered.
Most of our transactions are under £30, so we’ve seen a huge increase in contactless payments over the past few years. People seem to prefer contactless transactions, and are keen to use their cards and smartphones to pay. It makes our payment process quicker, meaning we can serve customers more efficiently.
Our old card readers produced a customer receipt with every card payment made. However, many of our customers paying using contactless aren’t interested in taking away a receipt for a small purchase, so we ended up throwing lots of them away.
Our new Handepay card readers give us the option to only print a merchant receipt on contactless transactions. We’re now able to ask our customers if they’d like a receipt, and choose not to print if necessary. We’re saving lots of paper, and it speeds up the transaction times even more!
I’m really thrilled that my advisor called into the tea room, I probably wouldn’t have thought to shop around for card reader savings if he hadn’t. As a business, it’s easy to stick with a supplier if things seem to be running smoothly. I’m so glad that I switched to Handepay, not only have I made amazing savings on our card readers but it’s improved the day to day running of my business!”
