Card payments
for cafés.
A café lives and dies on small baskets and a queue that can’t stop moving. The fixed pence on every transaction matters far more to you than the percentage does, and most rate cards are designed so you won’t notice that.
- Card takings a month
- £14,000
- Average sale
- £9
- Payments a month
- 1,556
- Card fees (1.4% + 10p)
- £351.60
- Plan fee
- £19.00
- Total a month
- £370.60
An effective rate of 2.65% all in. The card rate is the same on every plan. Pro if you want tables, split bills and more than one login when the till launches. Counter-only with one login, Starter. Illustrative — put your own numbers in below.
Three things cafés keep telling us.
The fixed fee is your real cost
On a £3.20 flat white, a 10p fixed fee is 3.1% on its own — more than the 1.4%. Every provider charges one; most hide it inside a blended rate. Ours is Stripe's published 10p, shown on every sale, so you can see what a month of coffees actually costs.
Tap has to be instant
Contactless at the till, Apple Pay on a watch, a phone held over the reader while someone’s already reaching for their bag. Nothing that needs a signature, a reboot or a second attempt while eleven people watch.
Cash flow is daily, not monthly
Milk, beans and staff get paid on a weekly rhythm. Daily payouts mean Friday's trade is not waiting on a monthly statement before the weekend order goes in.
A till is coming, and it’s free
Cheeky Till puts your menu, your modifiers and eat-in versus takeaway VAT on the iPad you already own, and rings up the sale whichever reader takes the card. Not live yet; register interest and hear first.
Start from a real basket, not a round number.
Set up for cafés: £14,000 a month at a £9 average sale, all taken face to face. Drag any of it.
All at the counter or on a phone
All UK and EEA cards
An effective rate of 2.65% on £14,000 across roughly 1,556 payments.
- Percentage fees (Stripe's rate)
- £196.00
- Fixed fees per payment
- £155.60
- Plan fee
- £19.00
- Total cost
- £370.60
The card fees above are the same on every plan. Changing plan changes only the plan fee: Starter £0 · Pro £19 · Scale £79.
What cafés ask
Is it worth paying a monthly fee for a café?
Not for the card rate. It is 1.4% + 10p on every plan, so a café taking £14,000 a month across roughly 1,556 sales pays about £351.60 in card fees whether it is on Starter or Pro. Pro's £19 buys the till's hospitality features when they launch — tables, split bills, courses, staff roles — up to ten staff logins and phone support. Serve at the counter with one login and Starter is the right answer.
How much does it cost a café to take card payments?
Every Cheekypayments plan charges Stripe's published rate of 1.4% + 10p per in-person payment on UK and EEA cards. For a typical café taking £14,000 a month across roughly 1,556 sales at an average of £9, that is about £351.60 in card fees. On the Pro plan (£19 a month) the total is about £370.60 — an effective rate of 2.65%.
Can cafés take card payments without a card machine?
Yes. Tap to Pay on iPhone and Android turns a phone you already own into a contactless card reader, accepting Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay and Google Pay with no extra hardware. It is included on every Cheekypayments plan, including the free one. A card reader is available for £29 as a one-off purchase if you would rather have a separate machine, or a traditional countertop machine on your own Verofy account.
How quickly does a café get the money?
Payouts run daily once your account is verified. How quickly a given sale lands depends on your account's schedule. It is the same on every plan. Money taken on a card is settled to your own bank account rather than held in a separate balance you have to withdraw from.
Trading by this afternoon.
No long contract. Cancel whenever you like. Start on the free plan and move up when you want the software, not to chase a better rate.
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