At Paymentsmith, we love sharing the stories of our happy customers. In the case of D&K Express, their story is a little different from most we see. That’s why Paymentsmith chooses to share restaurant credit card processing case studies. We do this for all of the restaurant owners that might be experiencing the same hard times with their payments. Here’s the story of local Minnesota restaurant, D&K Express:
The Story
There’s a model ship on display at D&K Express. It serves as a reminder of the voyage from Vietnam to America for the Khanh family. “America is like the (1993 Oliver Stone) movie ‘Heaven and Earth’,” explains Du Quach, the owner of the popular Vietnamese restaurant in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Du, whose first name is pronounced “Yo,” left his birthplace in South Vietnam when he was six. After three years of travel, he arrived September of 1984 in St. Cloud.
“I was 9 years old and didn’t know a word of English,” Du continued, “It was very hard.”
Du graduated from Technical High School, where he was a running back on the football team. He also spent his high school years working part-time at the register of the restaurant he now owns, back when it was called Dong Khanh Express. The restaurant came up for sale in 2006.
“At the time, I was making better money where I was at, but owning the restaurant meant a chance to work with my family. Many of my family members don’t speak English well, so it’s hard for them to find a job. This was a way for us to all work together.”
Out of all the members of the current staff at D&K Express, the head cook, Khan Nguyen, is the only ‘non-relative,’ although he’s soon to become Du’s brother-in-law. “Our recipes are all a family secret,” said Nguyen. “I don’t trust anyone with them.”
Sesame chicken and Lo Mein are the most popular dishes served at D&K Express. Fried rice follows as a second popular dish. “The big draw for people here is that we make everything fresh,” said Du, who rolls more than 150 egg rolls by hand every other day. “That’s what sets us apart.”
Along with dine-in, take-out and delivery options, D&K Express has a drive-thru that accounts for over 40 percent of the restaurant’s sales. “Winter time, it’s even more,” Du said. “I mean, who wants to get out of the car when it’s that cold?”
RESTAURANT RITUALS
Alongside the model ship at D&K Express are several Buddhist shrines. Du bows and lights incense around them before the store opens every day. “It’s a ritual for good luck,” he said. “The restaurant industry is tough. We all work really hard to make it.”
It’s true, the restaurant industry is extremely hard when it comes to keeping up with the competition. It’s even harder when you can’t catch a break with your payment processing provider. Read on to learn about how much Du’s family was being financially affected by their last payment processing company in this restaurant case study.
The Paymentsmith Difference
Before switching to Paymentsmith, local Minnesota restaurant owner Du Quach thought that he was paying interchange + $0.06, a standard pricing model for a restaurant. However, he was largely unaware of what was going on behind the scenes. Next, we’re going give you a break-down of each change made in his restaurant credit card processing.
COST
In reality, Du was charged ‘padded interchange’ + $0.31 and about $80 in fees per month. On top of that, he was charged $390 monthly for two very old devices on a four-year non-breakable contract. Now, it’s important to note that these devices are worth in total about $300 when new, so essentially Du paid $18,720 for only $600 worth of old devices.
The bill was dropped roughly $190 a month on his processing by simply eliminating excess fees and charges. We set him up with brand-new clover products, including two CloverFlex gateways and one CloverGo for deliveries, which he paid for outright ($900 total) with zero extra charges.
CUSTOMER SERVICE
His previous rep was a frequent customer and would come in every week, coaxing him to switch to their ISO (Independent Sales Organization) for payment processing at D&K Express. After months, Du caved to his sale. Du figured since the rep was a consistent consumer, it would be a good business transaction. However, once he was set up and running with their system, the rep was nearly ‘unreachable’ and stopped eating at the restaurant completely.
“When I had issues with my device or questions on my bill, I would call and call and never get an answer,” says Du. “Being a business owner, I had little time to make a change for my restaurant credit card processing, but I started to realize I needed to. I had no idea how bad it really was, so I let it go for way too long.”
Du knew he needed better customer service in a payment processing company. His search led to Paymentsmith, where a local representative, Tyler, came to the rescue.
CREDIT CARD PROCESSING SUPPORT
Tyler took control of the situation and called the previous representative, trying to figure out how long Du had left in his previous contract. The representative did not answer his phone, so after several tries Tyler called the 1-800 “support” number and waited another 45 minutes to find out that they “did not have the authority to disclose information” and that the only option was to go through his representative.
After several attempts of calls, waiting on long holds and emails unanswered, Tyler discovered the contract went through a 3rd party POS vendor. The contract was written in a very confusing manner, to say the least. Tyler worked backwards to attempt to find out when the contract started and how much time was left for the machinery and processing. Du is able to get out of his processing contract, but he is still unfortunately finishing out his payments on his old equipment.
To Sum Up Restaurant Credit Card Processing Changes
3 THINGS HE DID NOT LIKE FROM HIS OLD PROVIDER
- Lack of communication
- The representative would never slow down to help explains things, knowing Du does not speak perfect English
- The dishonesty and constant evolution of pricing
3 REASONS WHY HE CHOSE PAYMENTSMITH
- New technology and POS system that does not slow down
- Transparent pricing and expert walk-throughs that simplify everything
- Real account management versus customer service hotline
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