Cash only restaurants

[prasantrin]

While it was very clever of you to point out that a site could give me an idea of what the prices are like, telling me what one of my dishes might cost hardly tells me how much cash I need to come prepared with.  How about apps, desserts, drinks, etc?  What if 8 of the entrees are 35 dollars and one is 14?  How exactly does telling me that the range of prices is $14-$35 help me at all? 

Would it be so hard to estimate? If the range of prices is $14-35, then assume the average is $21. Then assume apps and desserts are 1/2-2/3. Beverages (alcoholic) are maybe 1/3. So if two people are dining, and are ordering 2 entrees, one app, one dessert, and 2 beverages, then assume you need about $80. Up it to $100, and you'll probably be fine for the night. Adjust up or down according to how many apps, desserts, or beverages you usually order.

If you overestimate, great. If you underestimate, at least you'll know you only have $100 (or whatever amount you come up with) to spend, so you can adjust your ordering accordingly.

Regardless, if Mandina's is the same or related to the Mandina's in Baton Rouge, they have a website online with their complete menu.

And if it's so fantastic to pay with cash, maybe we shouldn't have credit cards at all!  Maybe it would make the world better to have a system with cash and cash alone!  Oh wait, that's why credit cards were created in the first place...

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I like paying with cash. I live in Japan, which was pretty much a cash-based society until very recently (when I was here 10 years ago, it was almost impossible to pay with things by credit card). The only reason I use credit cards here is for the points, but I have no problem carrying around several hundreds of dollars (in the yen equivalent, of course), or even more than $1000. Then again, this is Japan, and even if I lost a wallet full of cash, it would probably be returned to me with all the cash intact.

Edited November 17, 2007 by prasantrin (log)

[pterostyrax]

One important thing to keep in mind is that paying with cash eliminates the possibility of someone swiping your credit card number. This scam was cleverly portrayed on the Sopranos, and I have been a victim of it. What I wish is that more restaurants would observe the practice of conducting the transaction at tableside - really no excuse not to do otherwise.

I have been going round and round with American Express for the last three months precisely because of someone using our credit card to the tune of around $15,000. I am thinking long and hard about instituting a cash only policy for restaurant dining.

[Mayhaw Man]

Maybe it's growing up in the rural part of the country in the 70's (I can tell you that finding an ATM in Mer Rouge, LA in 1975 was impossible-the nearest one that I knew about was 30 miles away) and then moving to New Orleans in the early 80's (which was, back then, a seriously cash oriented place-no matter the level of dining), or, maybe, probably, it was my immediate acclimation to corner stores and neighborhood restaurants in the parts of New Orleans where tourists rarely, then or now, go (that was the land of cash only everytime and all of the time)-but I still carry cash and use it pretty frequently.

One thing that is nice about cash is that, regularly, I eat out with a group of people who eat out and write about it for a living. Unless one of us is picking up the check because we can expense it to some publication, generally, we split the check, plus the tip, evenly among us (and I don't drink so it usually is a bit more for me than it would be but I don't care much. I love the company and I hate watching people wrestle with checks more than I hate burning toast-and that's alot) and it's a hell of a lot easier to throw down a few 20's than it is to tell the server to "put 35 on the Visa, 30 on the Mastercard, 30 on the green colored Visa, and 60 on the AMEX." It makes things a ton smoother when everyone, or most, are paying cash. And, for the one person who has to use a card, as occasionally happens, often they use the whole check like a no fee ATM, so everyone is happy.

So, while I am happy with credit cards and restaurants that take them, and completely understand those that need to use them to pay giant tabs, I don't think that moderately priced places that only want to take cash are really that big of a deal. If you figure that a well run place might make only 10-15 percent, if they are making that, the bit that credit card operators take off the top can be the difference between doing well and just making it. It does add up.

[TAPrice]

Maybe it's growing up in the rural part of the country in the 70's (I can tell you that finding an ATM in Mer Rouge, LA in 1975 was impossible-the nearest one that I knew about was 30 miles away) and then moving to New Orleans in the early 80's (which was, back then, a seriously cash oriented place-no matter the level of dining), or, maybe, probably, it was my immediate acclimation to corner stores and neighborhood restaurants in the parts of New Orleans where tourists rarely, then or now, go (that was the land of cash only everytime and all of the time)-but I still carry cash and use it pretty frequently.

Yeah, my grandparents didn't use ATMs either, but that's because they're really old.

Seriously, though, from what I know ATMs were not widely available in the U.S. until the 80s.

One thing that is nice about cash is that, regularly, I eat out with a group of people who eat out and write about it for a living. Unless one of us is picking up the check because we can expense it to some publication, generally, we split the check, plus the tip, evenly among us (and I don't drink so it usually is a bit more for me than it would be but I don't care much. I love the company and I hate watching people wrestle with checks more than I hate burning toast-and that's alot) and it's a hell of a lot easier to throw down a few 20's than it is to tell the server to "put 35 on the Visa, 30 on the Mastercard, 30 on the green colored Visa, and 60 on the AMEX." It makes things a ton smoother when everyone, or most, are paying cash. And, for the one person who has to use a card, as occasionally happens, often they use the whole check like a no fee ATM, so everyone is happy.

Yeah, I agree it's a lot easier to pay with cash. I enjoy using cash, I just think at a certain level credit cards should be an option.

So, while I am happy with credit cards and restaurants that take them, and completely understand those that need to use them to pay giant tabs, I don't think that moderately priced places that only want to take cash are really that big of a deal.

I'm not sure what my cut off between moderately priced and expensive is, but I agree that moderately priced places not taking plastic doesn't bother me. Certainly any place where you might be expected to buy a bottle of wine should accept credit cards.

If you figure that a well run place might make only 10-15 percent, if they are making that, the bit that credit card operators take off the top can be the difference between doing well and just making it. It does add up.

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A 10-15% profit is actually quite healthy, I'd say. For example, here as some statistics on the profit margins of various economic sectors from Yahoo Finance.

I think today accepting credit cards is just basic customer service. Sure, places could save money by not taking credit cards. But there a 100 different ways a restaurant could cut corners and increase their margins. Buy from Sysco instead of making from scratch. Don't supply decent stemware. Not putting tablecloths on the tables. At certain levels of restaurants, it's just expected that some these things won't be done. I do not at all expect Casamento's to set my table with a white tablecloth. I also don't expect them to take credit cards, because I know that this is common practice of New Orleans neighborhood restaurants.

[Dago]

I have a problem with the cash only places. I'm a New Orleans native but now live in Tennessee. I make frequent business trips to New Orleans with coworkers that want a taste of real New Orleans food, and not so much the tourist hot spots.

In order to do so, I take them to Mandina's and Liuzza's and the like, but of course many of my favorites are cash only. This does present a problem as people travelling on business rarely do so with the intention of using cash. Many have company credit cards, etc. It makes these cash only places more difficult.

I do realize they have ATMs, but when you consider people having no other choice but to use company credit cards, then you can appreciate the frustration of not having the credit card option in these circumstances.

[Pebs]

I don't mind cash only as long as it's clearly posted. I think if enough merchants got fed up with credit card fees, the credit card companies would have to rethink their rates.

Another angle this topic is tipping. When you write in the tip amount on your bill, very often that server is getting the full amount you wrote in. Thus the restaurant is subsidizing the servers tip at whatever percentage rate they pay per total amount and the transaction fee. So the cost to the restaurant owner no longer just applies to the food. There is a restaurant in my community that requires that tips be left in cash to avoid this problem. More than one patron has complained bitterly about that, but after they encounter it once, they come prepared. And there is an ATM machine right next door.