Bitcoin has at the forefront of financial and social news items for a few years now, but despite its popularity, it’s still not widely adopted as a payment method in restaurants and food delivery services.
However, if you run a restaurant and want to be an early adopter of the crypto revolution, you can start taking payments with relative ease.
Can a restaurant accept Bitcoin? Yes, some restaurants can accept Bitcoin, but as of 2022 it’s still not widely adopted globally or in the UK. Restaurant owners can accept Bitcoin and crypto by using an app in-store or a payment processor for e-commerce for online food delivery services.
When a customer wants to pay for food at a restaurant using Bitcoin Cash (BCH), the GBP amount owed is converted to Bitcoin. You will then ask them has to scan a QR code to make the BCH payment.
It sounds simple enough, and it is relatively easy to set-up.
How to accept Bitcoin at my restaurant
A restaurant can accept Bitcoin on the premises in-store, but you will need a Bitcoin wallet for the business first. If you don’t have one, you can set it up by following the instructions on Coinbase.com.
Once your restaurant has a Bitcoin wallet, your restaurant can accept cryptocurrency and Bitcoin cash by using an app loaded onto a smartphone or tablet.
It works in a very similar way to how you can accept credit card payments using a POS machine – but instead the app is designed to take Bitcoin Cash (BCH).
When your customers come to pay for their food, you open the app, enter in what they owe you in GBP, and the app will convert that pound amount to a Bitcoin Cash amount.
The app will generate a QR code for the customer to scan using their smartphone’s Bitcoin wallet app… and that’s it. You should receive the payment into your own Bitcoin wallet within seconds.
Your restaurant has just allowed customers to pay with Bitcoin.
You will need to choose the right app for you so you can accept Bitcoin in your shop or small business. There’s a great list of apps on Bitcoin.com.
But what about food delivery companies that take payments online?
Again, that’s simple.
Your food delivery business will need to have an option to accept Bitcoin at the checkout.
It can be setup with the popular e-commerce providers and involves using a Bitcoin Cash payment gateway so you can accept BCH online as well as the usual credit and debit cards.
Just like the in-restaurant app for accepting customer Bitcoin payments, the checkout system will convert the GBP amount into BCH, then bill the customer that amount instead.
Again, a QR code will be generated, the customer will scan it with their crypto digital wallet app, and the payment will be taken in seconds.
Further FAQs on restaurants and Bitcoin / crypto
Now you know how easy it is to accept Bitcoin payments in your restaurant, you might enjoy this brief history of how the food industry adapted to cryptocurrency and Bitcoin Cash.
Why restaurants have started to accept Bitcoin as payment
On another blog we’ve previously highlighted the advantages and disadvantages of restaurants letting customers pay with cryptocurrencies. If you’re still undecided, here are some reasons why other restaurants started accepting digital blockchain currency.
- Crypto payments are secure.
- Crypto payments currently incur lower fees than traditional card payments.
- Crypto payments offer fast transactions.
- Crypto payments are demanded by some customers.
- Crypto payments might attract a new audience to your restaurant.
- Crypto payments are said to have a lower risk of chargebacks.
What was the first restaurant to accept Bitcoin?
The first ever restaurant to accept a Bitcoin payment from a customer has never been verified, but it is believed to be Room 77 in Germany. According to the Coin Telegraph:
Room 77, located in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin, Germany, was reportedly the first brick-and-mortar location in the world to accept Bitcoin as a form of payment. They claimed to have received the first crypto payment in May 2011 for a pint of beer.
What restaurants take Bitcoin?
Since that first ever payment in Germany, big restaurant chains have now accepted crypto payments for food and drink in the past, as shown below.
- Subway
- Starbucks
- Burger King
- Pizza Hut
- Bitcoin Coffee
- Thelonius Monkfish
- La Sirene
- Safari Comedor
- Quiznos
- Crazy Italians
- Okra Hong Kong
- H-Town Donuts
Please note that this list does not mean every franchise of all the restaurants shown above will accept Bitcoin. It just means that one or more of their outlets around the world have taken a Bitcoin payment in the past.
Conclusion
HMRC says it is important to distinguish between trading and non-trading activity. This distinction will affect the treatment of cryptocurrency in UK tax law and how your restaurant accounts for it when customers pay in Bitcoin.
As with anything related to finance and tax, it’s not as simple as just letting your restarant accept cryptocurrency without knowing the facts, particularly with regards HMRC.
In our guide to small businesses and Bitcoin we explain the basics questions around cryptocurrency from a small business perspective. Please note that we offer no opinion on whether it is right or wrong for your small business to get involved in cryptocurrency.
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Image in header via https://pixabay.com/photos/salad-restaurant-meal-dinner-569156/
Jon has been in business since 1999, and in that time worked with more than 300 small business clients. As well as being an accountant, he is also an early adopter of tech, and has helped small businesses to leverage the power of their computer systems by creating software to automate and simplify accounting tasks.
