Mastercard has implemented mobile payments technology at Change Please, a social enterprise that allows homeless people to train as specialist baristas and sell coffee. Qkr! is an app created by Mastercard to allow customers to pay for food and drinks from their mobile phone. In a restaurant, that means there’s no need to wait for the bill, but at food stands, concessions and market stalls, it means being able to order ahead without queueing.
Now the baristas at Change Please, a community project set up by a former city trader, have been supplied with digital tablets by Mastercard that allow them to accept mobile payments through Qkr, whereas previously they accepted only cash. The baristas serve ethically sourced coffee from their converted Piaggeo trucks at eight of London’s busiest commercial areas, including Canary Wharf and London Bridge.
Now consumers can order a flat white at their desks, or as they are approaching work, from their mobile phones. By the time they’ve reached the Change Please mobile coffee cart, not only is their coffee already paid for, it is also ready for them to collect.
Qkr is connected to the Masterpass digital wallet which securely stores all of your cards – not just Mastercard – as well as payment preferences. Masterpass allows one-click purchases online without having to enter card details each and every time.
Qkr can be used in a growing number of outlets in the UK. It first came to use in wagamama, and since then it has been adopted by Zizzi and ASK Italian restaurants. Young’s & Co. Brewery and Geronimos Pubs have recently deployed the technology. Byron Hamburgers and Carluccio’s will soon go live, with number of other chains coming on board later this year.
Cemal Ezal, founder of Change Please said: “Being able to use the technology in Qkr to connect with our customers is absolutely invaluable for us. We have an ambition to be completely cashless by the end of this year. And by using Qkr, it allows us to take payments which we couldn’t do previously. Being able to use this technology is fundamental to our expansion.”
Elliott Goldenberg, head of digital payments at Mastercard UK & Ireland said: “Change Please are proof that it’s not just big businesses that can accept digital payments. Even the smallest businesses can adopt this technology incredibly easily. An office worker can order a coffee from their desk allowing the barista to make it in advance. It removes queues and it removes the need to fiddle around with change. What’s so special in this instance is that it shows how technology really can make a difference.”
The implementation of Qkr at Change Please was made possible through the support of their acquirer WorldPay.
