Burger King Is Installing High-Speed Terminals for Card Acceptance

Following its agreement earlier this year with Chase Merchant Services L.L.C. for transaction-processing services, Burger King Corp. announced today it is deploying high-speed-capable card terminals in its restaurants across the country. In the past four months, it has installed VeriFone Omni 3750 devices in some 2,000 of its restaurants in the U.S., including all 600 company-owned and another 1,400 franchised stores. Burger King has 7,900 U.S. outlets. The Omni terminal is capable of both dial-up and Internet Protocol (IP) connections, with the IP option capable of 4-second transaction speeds. Jeff Miles, director of business development at Santa Clara, Calif.-based VeriFone Inc., says the terminal's IP connection shaves a minimum of 10 seconds off dial-up transaction times. The dual capability, he says, was important to Miami-based Burger King, since speed of throughput is critical in quick-service stores. The Burger King deal is one of the largest VeriFone will do this year, Miles says, though he declines to say how much it is worth to the terminal company. The Omni 3750 with dual communications capability lists on the Internet for about $400, though observers point out Burger King is probably paying much less under its processing agreement. Each restaurant is installing two to three devices. VeriFone's agreement is with Burger King but it is marketing the terminal through Chase Merchant Services. The Burger King agreement also carries strategic significance, Miles says, since it represents a major breakthrough for VeriFone in the quick-service category, a segment Miles focuses on. “QSR is one of the last industries that has not adopted [electronic] payment en masse,” he says. All of the top-10 fast-food chains, he says, are either in the process of implementing card acceptance or are in the process of making a decision on the matter, he adds. McDonald's Corp. and Wendy's International Inc., the number-one and number-three chains in the category, have both announced programs in the past seven months in which they will install card acceptance in their stores nationwide. Chase Merchant Services said in February it had struck a deal with Burger King to provide credit card and signature-based debit card processing to company-owned and franchised stores. At the time, some 2,100 stores were accepting cards, most of which have converted to the Chase/VeriFone program. The new devices are capable of supporting loyalty programs, as well, according to today's announcement, including those attached to gift cards and other stored-value cards.