SHOW ME THE MONEY

There’s no reason your loyal patrons should have to leave the bar to get more cash. On-site ATMs can help make sure they don’t.

EXCERPT:

Kurt Duhn, general manager of ATM Network in Minneapolis, Minnesota, says his company has done close to 5,000 ATM installations in all 50 states. “We sell them the machine, we provide transactional processing, we provide signage to promote the machine on-premise, and we also provide options for service and support, technical training, etc.,” he says. “We’re available 24-7 in order to provide support in the event there’s a problem with the machine. It’s really soup-to-nuts.”

ATM Network has a handful of models that work best in a bar or club environment and include options Duhn would suggest to bar owners, like high-speed Internet connection. “You’ll have three-second transactions instead of 30-second transactions,” he says. “You’re turning-and-burning more overall transactions.”

In addition to the benefits of customer retention, ATMs allow for other business improvements on the bar floor.

“It allows the bar owner to decide whether he or she wants to take credit cards,” says Duhn. “Many merchants continue to take credit cards with an ATM on-premise. Even in that scenario, you’re still going to reduce your credit card fees by 25 to 40 percent (and those fees always seem to be going up, making for an expensive operating cost). Another benefit of not having or reducing credit card transactions is that, on those busy weekend nights, it’s a lot easier for your bartender to take cash than it is to swipe all those cards and wait for the transactions. Again, you're going to turn-and-burn more transactions overall.”

List of articles | Next article | Download pdf of entire article