Payment processing for Montréal restaurants

A restaurant asks more of its payment setup than most businesses. Guests pay at the table, split bills four ways, add tips, and expect it all to happen in French or English without a wait. Behind the counter, the night has to close cleanly and match the POS.

This guide covers what to get right before you choose terminals and a processor in Montréal.

Quebec's mandatory billing rules come first

Revenu Québec requires restaurants to produce customer bills through a certified sales recording system. Your POS has to be certified for Quebec's mandatory billing, and the payment terminals have to work with that POS. Check certification before you buy anything: a terminal that doesn't integrate with a certified POS can mean keying amounts twice and reconciliation errors at night.

Table-side payment and tipping

Portable terminals that come to the table are now expected. Set them up properly:

• Tip suggestions as percentages, plus a custom amount, and the choice of before or after taxes.
• Bilingual screens, French by default for Quebec customers.
• Split bills by item, by seat or evenly, without voiding and re-ringing.
• Wi-Fi with a 4G backup for patios and busy nights.

What restaurants actually pay

Restaurants see a lot of tapped credit cards and a meaningful share of Interac debit. Debit is usually priced per transaction, so a high debit share lowers the overall cost. On interchange-plus pricing, that benefit reaches you directly; on a flat rate, the processor keeps much of it. Our article on restaurant processing fees goes through the numbers in more detail.

Closing the night

End-of-night problems usually come from three places:

• Terminals not integrated with the POS, so amounts are entered twice.
• Tips adjusted after the sale and not batched before the cut-off.
• Several terminals batching at different times, so totals don't match the POS report.

An integrated setup with one batch time fixes most of this. Ask your provider to show you the end-of-night report before you sign.

Choosing a setup

Most Montréal restaurants we set up choose between Moneris Go terminals integrated with their POS and Clover, which combines POS and payments in one system. Both handle tipping, split bills and bilingual screens. The right choice depends on the POS you already use, the number of stations and how you take orders.