PayPal and TouchBistro team up, enable café and restaurant check-in and payments

PayPal Canada today announced an agreement with innovative Canadian restaurant technology provider TouchBistro. This new collaboration will allow customers to use their smartphone to check-in and pay with PayPal at cafés and restaurants at the point of sale. PayPal’s check-in functionality integrated with TouchBistro’s point of sale (POS) technology will make it easy for restaurants to accept mobile payments and interact with their customers in new and exciting ways.

PayPal is now piloting their cloud-based check-in technology with TouchBistro at select locations in Toronto. Using the PayPal mobile app, customers can check-in to these cafés or restaurants and pay using their PayPal account.  When a customer checks-in with the PayPal mobile app, their name and profile picture shows up at the point of sale – making it easy for restaurant staff to identify customers, greet them by name and process their payment a lot faster than accepting cash or cards.

“We’re collaborating globally with existing POS providers so that businesses don’t have to rip or install new hardware to deliver unique and useful mobile payment experiences for their customers. We’re thrilled to work with TouchBistro, an innovative Canadian POS provider, to build the best-in-class payment experiences for our five million active PayPal users in Canada in the restaurant and food services industry vertical,” said Darrell MacMullin, Managing Director, PayPal Canada.

PayPal’s integration with TouchBistro is a quick and all-in-one solution for cafés, food trucks and restaurants to accept cloud-based mobile payments and deliver exciting new services with PayPal over the counter or tableside. Advanced applications of TouchBistro’s technology with PayPal’s check-in functionality will allow restaurant staff to visually identify customers who check-in with PayPal for food delivery and bill payment even if the person changes their seat at a restaurant.

“Small businesses in Canada are eager to accept mobile payments but they’ve been wary of investing in new and expensive hardware at the point of sale. Our collaboration with PayPal makes it easy for Canadian restaurants to step into the future and start accepting mobile payments, today. All a restaurant needs is a PayPal business account and TouchBistro’s innovative POS solution to deliver a simple and fantastic mobile payment experience to their customers,” said Alex Barrotti, CEO, TouchBistro.

Jimmy’s Coffee, a popular Toronto coffee shop in the King West neighbourhood that previously accepted only cash and debit card payments, is one of the first restaurants to accept PayPal mobile payments at their TouchBistro iPad POS. At peak hours, Jimmy’s Coffee staff finds that people who pay with PayPal help to keep the lines moving faster as they don’t have to take out their wallet, look for cash or punch-in their debit card details.

“We believe our success stems from the great taste of our coffee and our commitment to excellent customer service,” said Penny Vine, Store Manager, Jimmy’s Coffee. “If a customer checks-in with the PayPal mobile app, their photograph shows up at our TouchBistro iPad POS and we greet them by name or have a conversation about their profile pic. It’s driving a whole new level of service, loyalty and convenience. Our customers can now check-in with the PayPal mobile app before they enter the store and walk away with their coffee and snack – completely wallet-free.”