Restaurant Card Processing Fees Explained
What are card processing fees?
Every time a customer pays by card, the restaurant pays a fee. It's usually a percentage of the transaction, sometimes with a fixed few pence added on top.
That applies to every debit and credit card payment, whether it's taken at the counter, on a card machine at the table, at a kiosk or through online ordering.
How card processing fees are structured
Most restaurant payment providers price in one of three ways:
| Model | How it works | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| Interchange++ | You pay the card scheme's wholesale rate plus a small markup | Higher-volume operators who want to see every cost |
| Blended rate | One flat percentage for every card | Lower volumes, or anyone who wants a simple bill |
| Fixed monthly fee + transactions | A monthly subscription plus a fee per transaction | Larger operators who want predictable costs |
What's inside the rate
Three separate charges make up what you pay:
- Interchange fee, set by the card schemes (Visa, Mastercard). It changes with the card type, the country where the card was issued and how the payment is taken.
- Scheme fee, which Visa or Mastercard charge for using their network.
- Acquirer margin. This is the payment processor's own markup on top of the other two.
When a provider quotes something like "1.7% + 10p", all three are rolled into that one number.
Typical card processing rates for UK restaurants
Rates vary by provider and volume. Rough blended figures:
- Debit cards: 0.2–0.4% plus a fixed fee
- Consumer credit cards: 0.7–1.5%
- Commercial and corporate credit cards: 1.5–3%
- Cards issued outside the EU: 2–4%
A restaurant where most people pay with UK debit cards will pay less on average than one full of business lunches on corporate cards and tourists paying with foreign cards.
These figures are illustrative. Your actual rates depend on your contract, your monthly volume and your card mix.
What affects how much you pay
Card mix is the big one. Interchange on UK debit cards is regulated, so they cost less than premium credit cards or business cards. If a lot of your customers pay on corporate cards, your effective rate goes up.
Volume matters too. The more you process each month, the more room you have to negotiate, and many providers drop the rate once you pass certain thresholds.
Then there's how the card is taken. Chip and PIN in person is cheaper than online or phone orders, where the card isn't physically there to check.
Long contracts with equipment rental bundled in make it hard to see what you're actually paying per transaction. That's often the point.
Hidden costs to watch for
The headline rate isn't the whole bill. Look for:
- Monthly or annual account fees
- PCI compliance fees, charged for keeping you within card security standards
- Terminal rental, if you rent the hardware instead of owning it
- Chargeback fees when a customer disputes a payment
- Early termination fees, which can run to thousands of pounds
Work out the total annual cost of each option. Comparing processing rates alone will mislead you.
Card processing and your POS system
A lot of restaurants still have a card terminal that isn't connected to the POS. Staff key the amount into the terminal by hand, which adds a step to every payment and gives someone the chance to type the wrong number. At the end of the night the card total and the POS total don't match, and someone has to find out why.
When payments run through your restaurant POS, the amount goes to the terminal automatically and card totals match POS totals without anyone checking them line by line. The till moves faster too.
Flipdish does payments alongside its POS, online ordering and kiosk products. A restaurant on Flipdish takes in-person, online and kiosk payments through one system, so there's one reconciliation, one dashboard and one provider to call when something goes wrong.
How to reduce your card processing costs
- Negotiate on volume. If you can show steady monthly turnover, most providers will move on rate.
- Look at interchange++. Blended rates are simple, but if most of your customers pay by debit card you're probably paying extra for that simplicity.
- Put all your payment channels with one provider. Running in-person, online and kiosk payments together cuts overhead and gives you one bigger volume figure to negotiate with.
- Check your card mix. If a handful of corporate card payments are what's pushing your blended rate up, model what you'd pay on interchange++.
- Switch. If you're past the minimum term, get other quotes. Providers compete hard for restaurant business.
Questions to ask any payment provider
- What's my effective rate on my current card mix?
- Is that rate blended or interchange++?
- What fees do I pay on top of the processing rate?
- What's the minimum contract term, and what does it cost to leave early?
- Does the terminal connect directly to my POS?
- How do you handle chargebacks?
Terminal rental, PCI fees, monthly charges and contract length all end up in what you pay, so the processing rate on the quote is only a starting point.
Flipdish runs restaurant POS and payments on one platform built for restaurants. If you want to see how it compares with what you pay now, request a demo.