________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
How do rising consumer expectations influence payment strategies in restaurants and convenience stores? Consumers increasingly expect payment to be effortless, instant and aligned with how they already live and shop. This is driving restaurants and convenience stores to prioritize flexible, digital-first strategies that support tap-to-pay, mobile wallets, QR codes and inapp checkouts. The focus is no longer just on transaction acceptance, but on delivering a connected experience that links payment with loyalty, personalized offers and digital receipts.
Preferences differ by demographic. Staffed checkout remains the preference for 57 percent of the 55-plus group, while younger shoppers report higher use of online and unattended. Wallet adoption also varies by market, reaching 19 percent in the UK and 14 percent in Australia versus ten percent in the US. Quick approval times and reduced payment friction are critical to customer satisfaction and repeat visits. As expectations continue to rise, F & B operators are adopting more agile payment infrastructures that can evolve quickly as new behaviors emerge.
How are PSPs and acquirers adapting their infrastructure to support fast, flexible payments in food retail? Payment service providers( PSPs) and acquirers are investing heavily in infrastructure that can support low-latency, high-approval payment flows at scale. In food retail, where transaction volumes are high and speed is crucial, they are increasingly adopting cloudnative architectures to improve agility and reduce time-to-market for new services. Many are partnering with orchestration platforms to enable intelligent routing, automatic failover and real-time transaction optimization. There is also a growing emphasis on security, with enhanced encryption, tokenization and stronger fraud prevention tools being embedded into the payment journey. Given that 43 percent of consumers reported a checkout issue in the last 12 months, modernization must prioritize resilience alongside features. Provider ecosystems that can add methods quickly also address the 21 percent who say their preferred option is missing. By modernizing their infrastructure, PSPs and acquirers are equipped to meet the sector’ s need for reliable, fast and flexible payments.
Are there any innovations in payments that you think will redefine the F & B customer experience? Several emerging technologies are set to reshape how consumers interact with payments in food and beverage environments. Artificial intelligence is already streamlining fraud detection and dynamic routing, and we expect it to play a larger role in predicting preferred payment methods and personalizing checkout flows. Biometric authentication, such as face or palm-based payments, is likely to grow as consumers continue to seek fast and secure experiences. We are also seeing increased interest in embedded payments within loyalty apps and connected devices, allowing transactions to occur almost invisibly. Our research shows adoption accelerates when innovation reduces steps and keeps protection visible. Market context matters too. Wallet usage is higher in the UK and Australia than in the US, so we localize experiences while maintaining global consistency. These innovations are moving the industry closer to truly frictionless commerce.
From your perspective, what’ s the future of frictionless payments in food and beverage environments? The future of frictionless payments lies in experiences that feel almost invisible to the customer while being powered by intelligent infrastructure behind the scenes. As consumers move fluidly between physical, mobile and unattended channels, F & B operators will rely on platforms that deliver
14