Why It’s Crucial to Get Table Payment Right

The story of Frankenstein has been told for generations, yet the lessons from this tale of mad experimentation gone horrifically wrong are still being learned today, sometimes in the unlikeliest of settings, such as full-service restaurants.

No, this isn’t a general commentary on food or menu decisions, but rather the “monsters” that are being built to enable guests to pay at the table. You see, while pay-at-the-table solutions are relatively new to the hospitality marketplace, they have actually been on the minds of restaurant operators for years. Operators have long ideated around the many risks associated with taking a consumer’s credit card from their possession, the convenience that a pay-at-the-table solution could provide for customers, and the efficiency that it would bring to wait staffs. But like Victor Frankenstein learned in Mary Shelley’s famous novel, there’s a risk to tampering with the natural order of things.

Many operators fail to consider the dramatic impact that some pay-at-the-table technologies can have on their guests’ overall restaurant experience. The importance of that final interaction with the customer is often overlooked or undervalued. Yet, it’s the last impressionable segment of the dining experience and the final touch-point that operators have before their customer walks out the door. If the pay-at-the-table process isn’t elegant or secure, or if it fails to complement the actual dining experience, it puts the entire restaurant visit at risk. There is truth to the fact that you never get a second chance to make a last impression, as well as the first.

Despite the risks, a number of full-service restaurant operators have performed experiments with pay-at-the-table technologies that were rushed to market, repurposed from another industry solution, or built on a software platform that is not integrated with their point-of-sale system. To compound the problem, many of these solutions hadn’t met important payment security standards while others looked like they were designed for a middle school science project. While there is no evil hand-wringing, flashes of lightning, or diabolical laughter that accompanies these experiments, often times the dangers of ambition simply turn into obsession, and Frankenstein’s monster is born.

To read the rest of the article check out FSR Magazine.

To learn more about Table Safe check out their website TableSafe.com!

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Image

Latest

Marketplace Inclusion
How TEKsystems Uses Marketplace Inclusion to Drive Equitable AI Adoption
July 16, 2025

As organizations race to integrate AI into every corner of business, an equally urgent conversation is emerging: How do we ensure this adoption doesn’t widen existing equity gaps? AI is both a disruptive force and an opportunity engine, as recent data shows that AI adoption among HR professionals jumped to 72 percent in 2025, up…

Read More
storytelling
The Secret to Brand Loyalty: Why Storytelling Is the Best Way to Be Heard in a Crowded Market
July 16, 2025

In today’s fast-evolving digital marketplace, attention is scarce, and trust even more so. In an era of remote work, AI-driven marketing, and constant digital noise, storytelling has emerged as one of the most powerful tools to cut through the clutter. In fact, research shows that people who used storytelling techniques to remember information recalled seven…

Read More
hospitality career development
Leaders Driving Hospitality Career Development Must Embrace Tech, Inclusion, and Risk
July 16, 2025

The hospitality industry is under mounting pressure to modernize to meet guest expectations for seamless, tech-driven experiences and also develop leaders who can drive that transformation. According to Rackspace Technology, only 28% of travel and hospitality companies qualify as “AI leaders”— those aligning strategy, compliance, and training with real-world deployment. Another 28% remain in…

Read More
HR compliance
Seeing What Others Miss: The Art of Problem Solving in HR Compliance
July 16, 2025

In this episode of Professional Quotient: Conversations that Build Equity, host Jason Winningham sits down with Andrea Kilburn, the HR EEO and Affirmative Action Compliance Manager at EssilorLuxottica. Andrea has built her career on problem-solving, advocacy, and the power of precise thinking. Andrea shares her unique path from mortgage underwriting to HR compliance, and…

Read More