Restaurants run on 5% margins. Every 1% of processing markup costs 20% of your profit.

A restaurant on Payzium at typical volumes.

• $325/mo

  $30,000 monthly volume. About $2,783 a year less than Square Canada.

• $805/mo

  $75,000 monthly volume. About $7,047 a year less than Square Canada.

• $1,559/mo

  $150,000 monthly volume. About $14,695 a year less than Square Canada.

• $3,114/mo

  $300,000 monthly volume. About $29,450 a year less than Square Canada.

Math is for 25% Interac, 15% Visa and Mastercard debit, 60% credit, at $50 average ticket, 100% card-present. The calculator runs it on your numbers.

Four cost mechanisms every restaurant pays for.

1. 01

   Tip-handling surcharges

   Tip-handling structures vary by processor and POS. Some processors charge a separate per-tip line item on tipped transactions, especially on closed bundles. Others wrap the tip into the standard rate but charge the merchant the full processing fee on the tip portion of every ticket, including tips the merchant does not keep. Either way, the math is the same: you pay processing on income the stylist or server takes home, not the restaurant. Our base rate is 0.30% on swiped cards. We do not surcharge tipped transactions.

2. 02

   Debit and Interac markup

   Canadian debit transactions split between two networks. Visa Debit and Mastercard Debit run on the credit card rails, with interchange typically 0.20 to 0.50 percent depending on transaction type. Interac runs as a separate domestic debit network at flat per-transaction fees, typically 5 cents through Payzium plus our 0.30% margin on the credit slice (Interac itself carries no Payzium margin). A flat-rate processor like Square Canada charges 2.5% on credit and 0.75% + 7 cents on Interac in person. On a $50 Interac transaction, that is about 45 cents in processing on Square Canada vs roughly 10 cents on Payzium. Across a year of restaurant Interac volume, the gap is meaningful. We pass debit interchange and Interac fees through at cost. The 0.30% margin sits on credit volume. No tier inflation.

3. 03

   AmEx OptBlue routing

   Restaurants index high on AmEx volume. AmEx runs through the OptBlue program in Canada, where Visa and Mastercard acquirers process AmEx transactions. Most processors mark up OptBlue rates differently than Visa and Mastercard, often without telling the merchant the spread. We disclose our AmEx OptBlue markup. It is 0.30%, the same as Visa and Mastercard. No hidden spread.

4. 04

   Hidden terminal-lease terms

   Pay-at-table terminals are typically leased on 48-month, non-cancellable contracts with per-terminal insurance, and the leases are not rent-to-own. The lease company is legally separate from the processor, so closing your merchant account does not close the lease. The terms are real and binding; the problem is when they are not disclosed up front. We disclose ours: rental terms on /hardware, processing rates on /pricing.

Three restaurants. Three switches.

• Toronto, ON
  Full-service restaurant
  $95,000 per month

  On Square Canada at roughly 1.86%. Paying $1,763 per month on processing.

  On Payzium at 0.30% plus interchange. Paying $1,056 per month.

  $8,487

  Lower annually
• Calgary, AB
  Quick-service breakfast cafe
  $42,000 per month

  On Square Canada at roughly 1.86%. Paying $780 per month on processing.

  On Payzium at 0.30% plus interchange. Paying $470 per month.

  $3,719

  Lower annually
• Phoenix, AZ
  Casual dining, 2 locations
  $135,000 per month

  On Square at roughly 1.86%. Paying $2,506 per month on processing.

  On Payzium at 0.30% plus interchange. Paying $1,458 per month.

  $12,571

  Lower annually

Illustrative composite. Numbers reflect Payzium's published rates and typical restaurants card mix at the stated volumes. Not a real customer case.

Related verticals.

• Retail
  Brick and mortar

  Card-present majority, debit-heavy mix, terminal leases.

• Auto
  Auto repair

  Large average tickets, monthly minimums, and PCI compliance line items.