Card machine for your café

Quick transactions at the counter, tips on screen, and reliable connectivity all day. We match the right card machine to how your café actually runs.

Common challenges

  • Card machine is slow for quick counter transactions
  • Customers want to tip but the terminal doesn't support it
  • Wi-Fi drops in the café cause payment failures
  • Paying too much in transaction fees for small-value payments
  • Current provider is unresponsive when things go wrong

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Recommended solutions

PAX A800

Portable/countertop Android terminal with 5.7-inch touchscreen and Payment & POS functionality. Built-in Wi-Fi & 4G connectivity, along with thermal printing. Includes merchant branding on-screen, an intuitive over-the-phone payment flow, on-board POS features, and is configurable for full POS integration.

  • 5.7-inch HD touchscreen
  • Built-in printer
  • Wi-Fi & 4G
  • Contactless, Chip & Pin, over-the-phone
  • Fast contactless transacting
  • Integrates with its provider's own POS only
  • Android POS and payments
Contract
negotiable

PAX A920

Portable/countertop Android terminal with 4.9-inch touchscreen, built-in Wi-Fi & 4G connectivity, and thermal printing. Its form-factor means it's ideal when payments need to be taken away from the counter. Easily handles over-the-phone payments, and is configurable for full POS integration with many third-party POS systems.

  • 4.9-inch HD touchscreen
  • Built-in printer
  • Wi-Fi and 4G connectivity
  • Contactless, Chip & Pin, over-the-phone
  • Can be integrated with multiple POS systems
  • Android payment-only terminal
Contract
negotiable

Why cafés choose uno

Cafés live or die by speed. When there’s a queue of customers waiting for their morning coffee, a slow card machine costs you sales and patience. And with average transaction values often under £10, high per-transaction fees hit harder than in other sectors. The same speed problem hits hardest at seasonal seafront cafés in places like Weston-super-Mare, where four months of trade has to carry the rest of the year.

We assess your operation, see how your counter operates, and recommend a card machine that keeps pace with your busiest periods.

Counter payments

For most cafés, a countertop terminal is the backbone. The PAX A800 connects over Wi-Fi or mobile data and processes contactless payments within 3 seconds. Dual connectivity means if your broadband drops, it falls back to 4G automatically — a setup that earns its keep for the rural cafés we look after in Mid Wales, where neither connection can be wholly trusted on its own.

Table service

If your café offers table service as well, a portable terminal like the PAX A920 handles payments at the table with contactless, Chip & Pin, and on-screen tipping.

Why two providers?

Because we’re not tied to one brand, we can show you both options honestly. The PAX A800 is ideal if you want a rental-free terminal with slightly higher transaction rates, while the PAX A920 suits cafés that prefer lower per-transaction costs with a fixed monthly fee. We help you work out which makes more sense for your volume.

What you get from uno

  • An assessment to understand your café’s layout and payment flow
  • A card machine matched to your counter speed and transaction volume
  • Clear comparison of costs across multiple providers
  • On-site setup and ongoing UK-based support

Common questions from café owners

Can customers add tips on the card machine in my restaurant?

Yes. The payment terminals we supply support on-screen tipping, so customers can add a tip when they pay by card. This works for both percentage-based and custom tip amounts - handy for restaurants, pubs, cafés, and anywhere tipping is common.

Can the card machine keep up with a busy morning coffee rush?

Contactless transactions take literally a few seconds. When you've got a queue of commuters at 8am all buying a flat white and a pastry, every one of those seconds at the till adds up. The terminals we'd recommend would be optimal for exactly this kind of sustained, rapid-fire processing.

Are card machine costs worth it when most of my sales are under £5?

Yes - because the alternative is losing customers entirely. Fewer and fewer people carry cash, and a customer who walks past because you're cash-only is a sale you never see again. The cost of turning away card-paying customers is far higher than the processing fee.

I've got limited counter space in my café - how big are the terminals?

The terminals we supply are compact by design and can sit neatly beside a till or on a narrow counter. Many of the card machines we recommend are handheld and doesn't need counter space at all - they can charge on a cradle placed anywhere, and work wherever they're needed.

General questions about uno
Which card machine is right for my business?

The right card machine depends on how the business trades. A fine-dining restaurant in Covent Garden, a market trader at Glasgow's Barras and a pub beside Cardiff Arms Park take payments in completely different ways, and no single machine suits all three. uno starts by understanding how a business actually operates, and only then recommends - from a range of providers rather than from one.

Do all the card machines uno recommends take contactless?

Yes, every one of them. Apple Pay, Google Pay and contactless cards are accepted as standard on every machine uno recommends; contactless is how most UK customers now pay, and every machine features it as standard.

Will I be able to take 'over-the-phone' payments?

For most merchants, yes - available on-screen along with contactless and Chip & Pin. The small minority of high-risk business-types that are not offered over-the-phone payments by default are the exception - for the vast majority, 'over-the-phone' payments will be offered as standard.

How can we process refunds?

From the card machine, in a few taps. Refund a sale on the same day and it is cancelled outright, with the money never leaving the customer's account; refund it after the provider's daily cut-off and the customer's bank typically takes 3-5 days to return it. Every machine uno recommends handles both, and the difference is only in how quickly the customer sees the money.

Is PCI compliance as much of a chore as it is with my current provider?

With several of the providers uno works with the merchant does nothing at all, because the provider handles PCI on their behalf; with the others it is a few minutes once a year. Nobody uno works with makes it complicated, and uno tells a merchant which they are getting before anything is signed.

How long does it take to get set up?

Most businesses are up and running within a few days. uno handles the installation and configuration, then walks the merchant and their staff through everything.

Ready to choose the right card machine?

We make the effort to understand how you operate, and only then recommend the solution that's right for your business - not the provider's.

Get Started 07395 451520