Cape Breton restaurant mulls going cash-only to fight rising costs

A restaurant owner in North Sydney, N.S., is considering an unusual step to try to keep costs down.

Mike Black, owner of the Black Spoon, says he's thinking of running the restaurant as a cash-only business because of the cost of accepting debit and credit cards.

"Just our little restaurant alone, we [spent] almost $16,000 last year just to take people's money, which is pretty crazy I think," said Black.

Black told Information Morning Cape Breton he does not want to raise the prices for his customers and using cash would keep costs down.  

He said that extra money could go toward wages or the cost of takeout supplies that has almost doubled during the pandemic.

A recent internet outage meant the business couldn't process any cards — debit or credit. This is what made Black wonder if now is the time to switch to cash-only.

Facebook followers weigh in

Black was not sure if his customers would agree. He asked for opinions on Facebook.

Most people who commented said they would support the business no matter what. At least one suggested requiring card users to pay the extra fee.

Black said he is concerned cash-only could be too inconvenient for some customers.

"Most people don't carry cash," he said. "I'm scared but I want to do it at the same time, so it's hard to determine."

The Restaurant Association of Nova Scotia says restaurants are struggling as much now, if not more, than at any point in the last few years.

Gordon Stewart, the executive director of the Restaurant Association of Nova Scotia, said some other restaurants only accept cash.

He said there is no single answer to saving money when you run a restaurant. "There's over a thousand input costs for a restaurant and every one of those has an increase to it," he said.

Insurance costs, labour woes

He said insurance prices are another hidden cost that has skyrocketed. Restaurants also need to cut costs to deal with a labour shortage that has forced some to curtail hours of operation.

Stewart said rising costs, including food costs, will not be slowing down any time soon. "We're predicting somewhere between a seven and eight per cent increase in food costs for restaurants again this year."