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"Mobile payment transactions are predicted to reach $1.3 trillion per year by 2017, and the restaurant industry appears ripe to scarf down a hefty chunk of that money flying around electronically. \nBut while news about the mobile payments space has intensified lately \u2014 Square's deal with Starbucks, Discover's nod to Google Wallet and Dunkin' Donuts's new gifting/payment app \u2014 pay-by-phone services have yet to hit mainstream status as many consumers are still confused about their options.\nTo help clear confusion, here are five ways you may start paying for your next dinner with your phone.\nOrder Meals With Digital Delivery and Takeout Services\n\n\nFood delivery apps and websites such as Seamless, GrubHub and BiteHunter have simplified the ordering-in and takeout process. The services allow you to browse restaurants' menus, see prices and pay for meals.\nEight-year-old GrubHub, for example, serves 300,000 monthly users and has grown significantly as more consumers make the move to smartphones. GrubHub's services have seeped into 400 U.S. cities.\n\"We're serving a need in the market and having fun in the process,\" company spokeswoman Abby Hunt told Mashable. Fun? Yup. Just check out the playful advertisement above.\nTo see how one of these apps works, watch this video demoing Seamless's iPad app.\n\n\nPull Out Your QR Code\nLevelUp, a branch of startup SCVNGR, is an app that lets you pay for meals using a personalized QR code on your phone. \nWielding their own phones, businesses scan diners' QR codes via a mini kiosk at fast-food locations or a waiter at sit-down restaurants. \nThe app then issues a digital receipt as a push notification in your app.\n\"When you try a new place, you\u2019ll instantly get a few bucks to spend there,\" LevelUp says on its site. \"You'll unlock more savings as you go back to your favorite places.\"\nLevelUp works in more than 3,000 businesses. \nCheck out this slick map to see if LevelUp is enabled in your city.\nTransfer Money to Friends at Group Dinners\nWe've all been there: You're at dinner with a big group of friends and the inevitable tab arrives. Then, mass confusion sets in because of the calculating of who owes how much and fumbling of cash and cards.\nMoney transfer services such as Paypal, Venmo and Dwolla have come to the rescue, alleviating the hassle traditionally sparked by group dinners. \nUsers can send money to one person, who can then pay the tab. Venmo transfers funds overnight, and Paypal and Dwolla take a few days to process transfers. \n\"We wanted to solve some big problems the country has had with moving money the last 40 or 50 years, and that meant not embedding the legacy problems of traditional card networks,\" Dwolla spokesman Jordan Lampe says. \"We removed a lot of the cost and fraud and created our generation's Visa.\" \nAnother money transfer service, Bump, works the way its name implies. You type in an amount you want to give someone else and then bump phones to make the transfer.\nSwipe Your Virtual Wallet When You're Out\n\n\nGoogle Wallet uses wireless technology called near-field communication to let you pay for stuff by tapping your phone on merchants' NFC-enabled terminals. \nStill in its infancy, it's available to use at only a few restaurant branches' participating locations for now: Jack in the Box, Subway, McDonald's and Dairy Queen. Other places where you can pick up food with your Wallet are Tim Hortons, CVS, Walgreens, Jamba Juice and 7-Eleven. \nThe Wallet \u2014 available on six phones on Sprint and Virgin Mobile as well as the  Nexus 7 tablet - syncs to your credit, debit, gift and loyalty cards. \nTry These Growing Apps in Restaurants\n\n\nSquare put mobile payments in the limelight this month when it partnered with Starbucks to process all of the company's debit and credit card transactions from customers. \nThe Square technology behind the Starbucks deal is already in several U.S. restaurants, which use Square Register and Square's white card readerS to power transactions.  \nOn your end, the Pay With Square app lets you open a food tab or have the tab auto-open when you arrive. Your face will appear on the merchants' checkout screen and they will charge you for your meal. \nTabbedOut is a similar app. Like Pay With Square, it eliminates the need to hand your payment to a cashier or waiter. Both apps eliminate the time you would spend waiting for the check and closing your tab. \n\nSEE ALSO: Square Register, Pay With Square Aim To Change How You Pay [HANDS-ON]\nHere is how Square Register works for merchants and Pay With Square operates for you: \n\n\nSquare Register and Pay With Square\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTaking Inventory\n\nSquare Register helps merchants keep track of their inventory,allowing them to gain insight on what's selling well and when.\nThis doughnut shop, for instance, keeps track of each individual type of doughnut it sells using the service. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOpen a Tab\n\nWhen you arrive at a merchant you can 'Open a Tab' on your phone with Pay With Square. When you're ready to make a purchase, you just have to tell the merchant to put it on your tab to complete the transaction.\nFor places you visit often, you can set Pay With Square to automatically check you in, with no need to ever pull your phone out.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPay With Square\nWhen you 'Open a Tab' using Pay With Square, you show up on the register as a payment option. To charge you for a transaction, the merchant just has to touch your picture and name on the screen.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPicture Perfect\nA picture of you on Square Register helps confirm for a merchant that they're charging the right person.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSquare Card Reader\nSquare Register works along with the Square card reader to accept credit card payments as well as Pay With Square. The register can also be used to keep track of cash transactions.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSign Language\nMany merchants display Pay With Square prominently with the other forms of payment they accept.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHot Tip\nIn addition to making a purchase using Pay With Square you can also leave a tip.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nKeeping Track\nPay With Square provides you with a receipt from your purchase, as well as a history of all of the purchases you've made in the past.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nImage courtesy of iStockphoto, hakusan"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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