Whataburger adds contactless payment option

Whataburger adds contactless payment option
Tags: Burger/Steak/BBQ, Credit/Cashless
August 26, 2009 - Christa Hoyland

Whataburger restaurants will begin accepting MasterCard PayPass contactless payments at more than 500 locations across the southern United States. Customers will be able to use their MasterCard PayPass card or device to simply Tap & Go to pay for menu items at the counter and at the drive-thru, enabling them to make purchases quickly and conveniently.

Whataburger operates locations in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. The locations will be equipped to accept MasterCard PayPass by September 2009.

To enable PayPass acceptance, Whataburger restaurants are being deployed with Vivotech 4500M and DTc readers, integrated devices designed to accept PayPass contactless payments, as well as traditional, magnetic stripe payment cards at the counter and at the drive-thru.

Customers simply tap their PayPass-enabled MasterCard card or device on the reader to make a purchase, eliminating the need to hand their card over to a cashier or fumble for cash. MasterCard PayPass also does not require customers to sign receipts for purchases under $25, further speeding up the transaction.

"Busy, quick-service restaurants like Whataburger are the ideal environment for MasterCard PayPass because the benefit of faster transactions at the point of sale translates directly to busy customers who are often on the go," said Cathleen Conforti, senior vice president, Global PayPass, MasterCard Worldwide, in a news release. "By accepting MasterCard PayPass, Whataburger is taking an innovative step to enhance customer service by increasing throughput at the register and in the drive-thru."

Growing usage and acceptance of contactless payments, including in small-ticket environments that are typically dominated by cash, reflect the growing consumer preference for electronic payments over cash for everyday purchases. According to MasterCard research, about 94 percent of PayPass-using respondents to a 2008 MasterCard PayPass Benchmark Study were satisfied with their experience, and 77 percent of consumers that have a PayPass-enabled card use it as their primary form of payment.

A number of quick-service chaings have added PayPass devices, including McDonald's, Dairy Queen, Taco Bueno and Jack in the Box, but contactless payment still has a lot of room to grow with U.S. consumers.