RestaurantCredit will be free for operators to use, and will allow them to immediately begin selling online vouchers to their customers.
All of the restaurants that join the platform will be given a dedicated page on the RestaurantCredit website, and access to a back office where they can manage orders and see their customers contact details.
Payments are processed online, and funds are transferred directly from the credit card processor into the relevant restaurant’s bank account.
BigHospitality reported last week that operators including Harts Group and Kricket were asking customers to purchase gift vouchers that could be redeemed in the future, in order to help combat the disastrous impact the Covid-19 Coronavirus pandemic is having on cashflow.
Earlier this week, restaurants across London and beyond have begun temporarily closing their doors after Prime Minister Boris Johnson advised the public to ‘avoid’ bars, cafes and restaurants, as the country’s response to the outbreak intensifies.
As cashflow-dependant businesses with high fixed costs - including rents and salaries - restaurants that are forced to close are at serious risk of going under, especially if they have low cash reserves.
“As the Coronavirus has developed and the impact on the restaurant industry got more and more serious, we have been trying to find a way of combining our marketing abilities with our tech stack to provide the industry with a free and not-for-profit solution to help them to generate cash-flow through this difficult time,” says Tom Warsop of Gourmet Guide.
Gourmet Guide says the site will, in the short term, need to take a 7% fee from the monies that are raised to cover the cost of credit card charges and administration costs. However, the more people that support the platform the lower that fee will become.
Additionally, any monies that are raise over and above our costs will be donated to trade charity Hospitality Action to further assist the industry at this time.