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River Café: A Traditional Restaurant with Modern Payment

Unzer provides versatile card terminals for a restaurant, bar, café, and gourmet food store

02/24/2022
5 minutes
River Café

Food services

Industry

European cuisine

Product

Card terminals

Solution

A sign behind the bar saying “Cash only” is enough to make some potential guests turn their back on a restaurant or café. A recent survey showed that as many as 18 percent of respondents avoid locations that do not offer cashless payment options.¹ This is a trend that the owners of River Café recognised early. Since 2010, guests have been able to pay how they want using Unzer card terminals.

Cashless Payment: Catering to the Younger Generations

River Café offers modern European cuisine in a traditional setting. Since founding the business in 2010, Oliver Antes has placed emphasis on high-quality ingredients from carefully selected suppliers. “I am a qualified chef, so I understand the importance of the quality when it comes to our ingredients,” explains co-owner Oliver Antes. “Whether it’s buffalo mozzarella form Italy, chorizo from Spain, or white wine from the nearby Pfalz region, I source our products carefully.”

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88.6% of 18 to 29-year-olds say that cashless payment is important in bars, cafés, and restaurants.²

River Café isn’t Oliver’s only business. He also runs three other companies in Heidelberg, a town well known for its historic buildings and large student population. “Before River Café, my business partner and I founded Bar Centrale, just around the corner from here,” says Oliver. “We now have a pizzeria and a gourmet food shop, too.” All four of these businesses are in the district of Neuenheim, just a stone’s throw away from Heidelberg University. For this reason, its especially important to cater to the payment preferences of younger people.

For everything to do with cashless payments, we work together with Unzer – in all four of our businesses.

Oliver Antes, Co-owner of River Café

Kontaktloses Bezahlen am POS-Terminal in einem Café
Contactless payment is not only quicker, but also more hygienic.

Wireless Card Terminals – Versatile, Customer-Friendly, and Easy to Use

By partnering with Unzer, Oliver added NFC-enabled card terminals to all four of his businesses. The wireless terminals are easy to use and can be brought over to the guest’s table when it’s time to settle the bill. With a single partner for payment, the restaurant owner benefits from simple processes and reliable, local support when it’s needed.

The partnership with Unzer is smooth, straightforward, and very pleasant.

Oliver Antes, Co-owner of River Café

Oliver’s customers, young and old alike, can pay the way they want to. Whether having an evening meal at River Café, a round of drinks at Bar Centrale, or picking up a pizza from Pizzeria Schulzi, customers can settle the bill with just a tap of their card, smartphone, or smartwatch. This makes for faster, more hygienic, and customer-friendly payment at all four locations.

Sources:
  • https://www.it-finanzmagazin.de/unzer-umfrage-faellt-die-bargeld-hochburg-deutschland-133083/
  • https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/1074859/umfrage/umfrage-zum-bargeldlosen-bezahlen-in-der-gastronomie-in-deutschland-nach-alter/

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