WE’RE GOING CASHLESS
We love + pay tribute to the restaurant industry for its traditions, but put forth equal effort in helping reshape it. Pushing forward the idea of what’s possible in the world of healthy + sustainable food is what we live for. We’re most comfortable at the edges — making the kinds of bold decisions that define the future of what it means to eat sustainably. And removing cash from our guest experience, we believe, is one of those decisions.
Since day one, we’ve obsessed with how we can make the experience at iQ more seamless + light-weight. A fully digital payments world is a lot faster, which means we can serve our time-strapped guests more quickly. It’s also safer. At the moment, our managers spend hours each day counting cash — having to walk to the bank every night with bags of money in their hands. We’re excited about giving our team members that time back so they can spend it coaching, leading + inspiring their teams. All things we consider more meaningful than counting paper.
And most importantly, we made the decision with our guests in mind. At the moment, less than 10% of our guests pay using cash — and of those 10%, effectively 99.9% carry some form or debit / credit / digital payment in their wallet or smartphone. So we recognize that while we may disappoint a very small number of guests that only carry cash, almost all of our guests will benefit from elevated levels of service + experience.
The idea of cashless restaurants isn’t new territory for us. Last February, we opened up two locations (at First Canadian Place + inside Equinox @ Hazelton lanes), both of which have been cashless since inception + have been met with great response. After seeing the results, we decided that it made sense to make the move company-wide. We recognize that in 5 years or so, this kind of thing will be commonplace, but a huge part of our identity is getting ahead of the curve + setting benchmarks.
And we’re excited to have you along for the journey.
— Alan + the iQ team
