FOOD DIVERSIONS CROSSWORD apps in Silicon Valley, they’re focused on peers similar to them who have access to credit cards, and bank accounts, and smartphones,� Leitmann-Santa Cruz says. Going cashless is painful for Pow Pow, a plant-based fast-casual restaurant on H Street NE, where about five customers pay in cash per week. “In our neighborhood, it matters,� says chef and co-owner Margaux Riccio. “We reluctantly went cashless three weeks into the stay-at-home order, after reading about how cash was causing the spread among workers. We feel going cashless is a mistake and wildly inappropriate for our community that we strive to serve, however, the safety of our staff outweighed our personal beliefs.� Currently, Pow Pow takes payment online and through its free app. Eventually, customers who enter the store will be able to insert their chipped credit cards into a reader or use Apple Pay. Even though they currently have a cashless policy, Riccio and her staff can’t help but make exceptions. Once, a quick-thinking employee asked a customer to seal their cash in an envelope, where it sat for a couple of days. Other times, they’ve given food away. “That’s not sustainable,� Riccio says. “But we will be cashless until we hear it’s safe not to be.� CAVA CEO Brett Schulman confirms the Mediterranean fast-casual chain went cashless, despite bucking the trend back in 2017. “We pride ourselves on being an inclusive company,� Schulman told City Paper at the time. “If you’re trying to make high-quality, healthier food accessible to more people, you can’t exclude the people who have the least access to it.� The pandemic has tempered Schulman’s conviction. “Looking at CDC guidance, we temporarily suspended using cash,� he says. The majority of orders come in through digital channels like the CAVA app. In store, the pin pad and receipt printer are on the same side as the customer. “We’re going to continue to revisit and look to evolve as the situation evolves, but currently the restaurants are cashless.� Two restaurant owners plan to arm servers with handheld mobile payment devices that interface with Toast, a POS system that’s growing in popularity. Daniel Kramer, managing partner at Duke’s Grocery, Duke’s Counter, and Gogi Yogi, started using them before the pandemic because they speed up service. Instead of a server making laps between the table and the POS terminal, they can swing by just once. “Give me your card, click the tip, bye,� Kramer says. He vows to continue accepting cash. “Ever since I was running a lemonade stand, the idea of saying ‘no cash’ never made much sense [to me].� Anna Bran-Leis is planning to use Toast handhelds at Taqueria del Barrio in Petworth once she can serve patrons on site again, though she knows it will take some retraining of customers. Dining out isn’t the predictable dance it once was. Bran-Leis says she’s already getting blowback from individuals who don’t like scanning a QR code to view the restaurant’s menu on their phones. Her restaurant is currently cashless. “The majority of our customers aren’t paying in
cash,� she says. “Based on that, the health of my staff was far more important than the possibility of missing out on some sales because I wasn’t going to take cash.� Other restaurants will ask customers to pay in advance. Dave Roubie, the managing director at Tabard Inn, says the hotel’s restaurant will be reservation-only when they first reopen. Customers will need to enter a credit card number when they book using OpenTable. “When the last touch happens with dessert or coffee, we’ll ask if they want dinner placed on the credit card on file,� Roubie says. If customers insist on a more traditional payment process, they can visit the “payment station� stocked with sanitized pens. The restaurant will accept cash or cards. Mintwood Place in Adams Morgan will also use a prepaid system for reservations. Customers will order and leave gratuity in advance. General manager Gene Alexeyev says he’s struggling with what gratuity amount to suggest, given service will be streamlined. “You won’t get the fully transportive experience,� he says. “We’re going to fast-forward through some things together.� When they eventually take walk-ins, he predicts Mintwood Place will use handheld payment devices. Alexeyev says 99 percent of transactions—even at the bar—were credit cardbased before the pandemic. He sees going cashless as a natural shift. “The pluses outweigh the minuses.� Even cash bars are going cashless. When Ivy and Coney opened in 2014, co-owner Chris Powers says he and his partners elected to be a cash bar to keep prices affordable. “We wanted to sell $3 beers and hotdogs,� he says. “Looking at credit card fees, when your ticket average is so low, it wouldn’t have allowed us to run the bar the way we wanted to run it.� Credit card processing fees are typically between 1.5 percent and 3.5 percent per transaction, but some companies charge more for contactless processing, according to Brent Kroll, the owner of Maxwell Park wine bars in Shaw and Navy Yard. He’s been keying in credit card information manually so customers don’t have to swipe and sign. “You’re going to pay a higher fee per transaction because you’re trying to be safer and not get people sick,� Kroll says. “You could lose 10 percent of sales for being safe and keying in cards. The rich are getting richer, and they’re not giving any breaks during coronavirus.� Nevertheless, Ivy and Coney stopped taking cash when they reopened for carryout during the pandemic. “It’s notorious for being touched by too many hands and is an unnecessary risk,� Powers says. “Customers will not feel comfortable handling cash anytime in the future. I know our bartenders won’t. They don’t want to take cash from 15 people an hour.� The dive will strive to keep prices low. “Being a cash bar has been part of the identity of the bar, much to the chagrin of some customers,� Powers says. “We spent six years establishing ourselves as cash-only. It is going to be missed, but in the scheme of things, this is a low-lift, easy thing to do to make people more comfortable.�
Like A Boss By Brendan Emmett Quigley
Across 1. Ultimate object? 5. ___voce 10. Key with one flat: Abbr. 14. “This is bad� 15. It’s read in a Nook 16. Island nicknamed “The Gathering Place� 17. Stir up 18. Dry Spanish wine 19. Condo, e.g. 20. Jobs of Apple 23. Bad guy 24. Words said flashing one’s badge 27. Penne or rigatoni 30. Islamic duty 33. Islamic holy men 34. Sports equipment with a V-shaped groove 35. Snap 37. Mattar paneer green 38. Musk of Tesla 41. Slow down, in mus. 42. Dues collectors 43. Town in Utah 44. “Can It Be ___ Simple� (Wu-Tang Clan) 46. Saucer crew 47. Zoom meeting operators 48. Vinyl siding? 50. Player who popularized dunking from the foul line
51. Page of Google 58. Some lawyers: Abbr. 60. Constellation with a belt 61. Waterloo’s home 62. Swell problem? 63. Backsides 64. Plumbing problem 65. Spread choice 66. Traitor’s fate, often 67. “What ___ can we do?� Down 1. Her archenemy is Swiper 2. Chain that serves pancake sliders 3. Cutting sound 4. Nerves 5. Start the rally, maybe 6. Award that sound like two letters 7. Workbench gizmo 8. WWII villain 9. Giraffe’s cousin 10. Wee-hour time 11. They might tidy up some chest hair 12. Sashimi fish 13. Stick (out) 21. Goddess of the dawn 22. Gives off 25. Breakfast made in a pan
26. Whence the phrase “at wit’s end� 27. Some aquarium fish 28. On an incline 29. Evoking John and Paul, say 30. One of the Backstreet Boys 31. Fancy tie 32. Casual Friday outfit 35. Quarterback Dawson 36. Returns collectors 39. Its new, in Napoli 40. Milk, jokingly 45. Attends, as a problem 47. Time sheet nos. 49. Wear down
50. Thick 52. Basic idea 53. Place for old platters 54. Chatroom guffaw 55. Take it easy 56. Pairs 57. Stuffing seasoning 58. It might be massaged when bruised 59. Fifth note
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