In most quick-serve restaurants, and almost any other place of business, customers can pay for their goods or services with a plastic card. One expert in these types of payment systems now works as a consultant for medium- to large-sized franchises who need help figuring out how their card payment system should work. Ian Drysdale, is chief operating officer for the Franchise Payments Network (FPN), which was founded in January 2006.

Drysdale, who has extensive experience in the payment industry, says that the lack of a ubiquitous card payment operation is one of the biggest problems for small and medium sized quick-serves. He defines a smaller chain as a network of 10 to 250 locations. The difference between a properly streamlined card payment system and a fragmented one can make or break future sales and customer satisfaction, he says. If smaller chains do not know what they are doing with card payments, they can turn a promising positive business operation into a liability.

Smaller franchises often make several mistakes: accepting different card types at different locations, overpaying for a card system that is not intended for a quick-serve and not sticking with a uniform POS system, among other issues.

Another common misstep Drysdale sees are small chains that end up with no customization and no standards. They accept different card types at different locations and training for fraud and other issues is all over the place or non-existent. There’s just no strength to the program, Drysdale says. “If you look at the majors, they accept the same card types everywhere and understand what card types bring in terms of value,” he says. “If a burger chain got meat from all different sources and all different recipes and ingredients, it would be a failure.”

While some of the major chains and a larger percentage of the small to mid-sized chains view card payments and the associated fees to be cost-prohibitive, Drysdale argues that allowing customers to pay quickly with a credit or debit card can be a huge boon to a business.

He explains that some of the problems that smaller franchises associate with using cards are self-fulfilling ones. “They are not advertising the use of cards, and they have little in way of a POS that shows that they take cards. It is just an expense for them. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy in that they expect it to be expensive and that’s what they end up with,” he says. “With the right kind of advice you can drastically increase sales.”

Another issue that smaller-sized quick-serve operators face is a lack of understanding about the different types of systems they can purchase. Sometimes, an ignorant chain can purchase a solution that is geared for a retail operation. They might pay higher rates than they need to or force their customers to sign their receipt when it should be unnecessary.