Visa awards money to foodservice businesses through Cashless Challenge

Image courtesy of Visa

On Thursday, March 29, Visa announced the 50 small business winners of its Visa Cashless Challenge. The contest asked small businesses in the foodservice category to explain how the cashless movement could benefit their business, with winners receiving $10,000 to assist in their plans for digital commerce enhancements, point-of-sale upgrades, marketing efforts, and other business improvements.

“Going cashless was a major key to helping our local dessert business activate at a large multi-day event in Philadelphia. We were able to observe our inventory and keep top selling flavors in stock, cut down wait time for customers to processing every 32 seconds and reconcile our books easier at the end of the event,” says Andre Andrews of Dre’s Water Ice and Ice Cream in Philadelphia, PA. “We are excited to win the Visa Cashless Challenge and use the prize money to implement the same digital technologies used at the event into our store and better serve our customers.”

Bakeries, coffee shops, food trucks, full-service, and quick-service restaurants were among the entrants from all across the United States. Their video submissions were judged on how well they conveyed cashless impact on their employees, their businesses, as well as originality, creativity, and passion.

“When we launched the Visa Cashless Challenge, we wanted to inspire and inform merchants on the benefits and effectiveness of going cashless,” says Jack Forestell, head of global product and solutions, Visa Inc. “Since announcing the challenge, we have continued to see businesses across the country go cash-free, and Visa is committed to tapping into our innovation and technology for merchants to remain competitively connected to their consumers.”

Here is the full list of Visa Cashless Challenge winners: