You might think of mobile payments as being at the top of the payment technology pyramid for merchants. At the base, nearly every merchant with a physical store accepts cash; one level up, you’ve got plastic payment cards; and then at the top are mobile payments. Only the most adventurous retailers, you might figure, bother with QR codes and unique scanners.
But one Boston merchant has skipped a step. It’s a relatively small operation: Chef Gregg Gale owns and operates Boston Super Dog, a food truck that’s won numerous accolades from the local press for the quality of its sausage-based offerings.
We’d love to be your preferred source for news.
Please add us to your preferred sources list so our news, data and interviews show up in your feed. Thanks!
For a long time, Gale ran a cash-only operation — until recently, when he started accepting payment from LevelUp, a mobile phone application that links a user’s credit card to a QR code. But if you try to pay with a card, you’ll be turned down.
Why accept mobile payments but not credit cards? “LevelUp was nice enough to come by,” Gale says, noting that every credit card processor who’s ever approached him has been lacking in courtesy, so to speak. (The chef himself described the treatment he’s gotten from credit card companies in terms more appropriate for an Anthony Bourdain book than for PYMNTS.com.)
Gale’s not opposed to accepting cards at some point, despite the fact that he’ll be paying a small percentage of his revenues to the processing company. All he’s waiting for is a handshake and a smile.
Add as Preferred Source