The charge of the credit-card brigade: Cash in on sales by accepting more plastic

Nation's Restaurant News, Feb 12, 2001

NRN'S EDITORIAL BOARD

Editorial Page Editor:

Robin Lee Allen

Alan Gould

Mitch Irsfeld

Ellen Koteff

Richard Martin

Elissa Elan

Alan Liddle

Richard L. Papiernik

Paul Frumkin

Ron Ruggless

If restaurants covet more of my business, they could learn something from supermarkets, dry cleaners and dentists.

Money burns a hole in my pocket. In fact, it's usually not there long enough to build up even a good charge of static electricity.

That's why when friends and family once heard I was the victim of a purse-snatching, they knew the thief could never retire to a remote island on the slim pickings gained at my expense. I keep a minimum amount of cash in my handbag for a variety of reasons: It keeps me on a budget; it makes me think twice about impulse buying; and it keeps me from ever losing or being swindled out of hundreds of dollars.

Another catalyst and perhaps the real driving force behind my spending habits: You don't earn airline miles if you use cash.

I lose sleep trying to figure out new and inventive ways to earn miles without ever leaving home. Flying 35,000 feet above the ground is my least favorite way of racking up those points. Let's face it; it's a lot less stressful earning miles while dining in a top-notch French bistro.

As a result of my quest, I charge everything to various credit cards that are linked to frequent-flying programs. Groceries, dry cleaning, even root canals and U.S. stamps are charged in an effort to maximize my mileage tallies.

That brings me to my long-standing relationship with credit cards. I love them. Ever since various credit card companies started wooing me in college, I've been hooked. From the get-go credit cards made me feel like a big shot, and that's saying something when you attend a college with a student enrollment that is north of 25,000.

Sure, at one time I let my credit card debt get out of hand, but that was in the beginning when I still got an adrenaline rush from pulling out the plastic. As maturity and common sense took hold, I learned how to get the upper hand in the situation. Credit cards didn't rule me. I was in control.

Now, my frequent-flyer-linked credit cards -- which are legion -- and I are an unbeatable team. You don't get one without the other.

So let's cut to the chase. Any restaurant or retail establishment that I choose to patronize must accept credit cards, or I take my business elsewhere. And as of late, that is happening all too frequently. Just last week two full-service restaurants that I wandered into were missing the little credit card symbols in the front windows. Not believing my eyes, I asked the maitres d', and each informed me the policy was cash only.

Having enough cash on me to accommodate only the price of a beverage, dining in either one of those places was out of the question. Earlier in the same week, I was out to dinner with a colleague, and we already were ordering entrees when we inquired about which credit cards were accepted. The response was short but not sweet: "None."

Stunned, we looked at one other and quickly rechecked the price of the bottle of wine we already had started consuming. Trying to be discreet, we both dug for our wallets as unobtrusively as possible. Realizing that the $26 bottle of wine could not be renegotiated, we opted for the least expensive entrees on the menu and no dessert.

Between the two of us, we barely came up with enough cash to cover the bill and tip. In the end I had to write a check to the friend to cover my portion of the tab. Having to ante up cash in a restaurant makes me feel inadequate because I always come up short.

In this age of expense account dining it doesn't make sense for a restaurant not to accept credit cards. Many business organizations accept credit card receipts only for reimbursement of anything more than $25. While I understand operators are charged for accepting credit, I think that is the cost of doing business today.

The foodservice industry has a responsibility for making dining out as easy and enjoyable as possible for customers. Restaurants that don't accept any credit cards are losing out on a whole segment of the dining-out public: those that think plastic is one of the seven wonders of the world.

So now in my travels -- whether they are business or personal -- when it comes to choosing a restaurant, I am on the lookout for my favorite enticement: All major credit cards accepted. And the final seduction is the promise of those all-too-elusive frequent-flyer miles.