A few months ago Darrell MacMullin, Managing Director, PayPal Canada told us that “23% of Canadians want a digital wallet,” and today PayPal Canada and Toronto-based TouchBistro have announced a new partnership to offer Canadians the ability 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 has been integrated with TouchBistro’s point of sale (POS) technology which 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.
One of the first locations that is piloting the new system is Jimmy’s Coffee, a Toronto coffee shop in the King West neighbourhood (aka agency alley) that previously accepted only cash and debit card payments, is now offering customers to make payments with the PayPal 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.