UK restaurants to adopt mobile payments
MasterCard has announced that the three UK restaurant chains, ASK Italian, Zizzi and Carluccio have adopted Qkr!, MasterCard's mobile payment solution. This allows diners to pay for their food bills via Qkr!, using the MasterPass app quickly and conveniently on their smartphones. The Qkr! with MasterPass app, is now available for iOS and Android users. Qkr! will be rolled out to all the three chains before the end of 2015.  MasterCard has partnered with pan-Asian casual restaurant chain, Wagamama, earlier this year to launch Qkr! with MasterPass in the UK. It is to be noted that, it was the first restaurant chain to offer this new innovation in payments from MasterCard and it has been a success story for Wagamama.



The brands will join Wagamana in signing up to Mastercard’s Qkr! With Masterpass app – which allows users to share and pay restaurant bills - by the end of 2015.

Mastercard is also set to launch a new mobile ordering option for the app enabling diners to browse menus on their phone.

It is the latest in the surge of mobile payment options appearing in restaurants nationwide. London-based app Cake – which is live in more than 20 venues including The Rum Kitchen in Soho - has more than tripled its crowdfunding target towards expansion.​

Gourmet Burger Kitchen and Prezzo signed up to Paypal’s mobile app last year​, and in June Bookatable.com became the first online booking service to introduce the pay-at-table function.​

Azzurri Group – which owns ASK Italian and Zizzi – said it adopted mobile payments after customer feedback showed splitting the bill was a ‘pain point’ for diners.

“We know that [customers] are looking for faster and more convenient ways to pay," said Doug Wooten, head of IT for the Azzurri Group.

"By working with MasterCard and implementing Qkr! our restaurant teams can focus on delivering great service to customers.”

Barclaycard has reported that cashless payments have tripled in the past year,​ with restaurants now accounting for 20 per cent of all transactions.

Many operators are still failing to meet customer expectations​ in terms of technology, with a 2015 survey of members of the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR) revealing that just 24 per cent were able to offer tablet or mobile ordering options and only 59 per cent could take cashless payments.