Card machines for fast food

Contactless within 3 seconds, competitive rates on high volumes, and a terminal that handles the pace of quick-service trading.

Common challenges

  • Speed at the counter is everything — slow payments lose customers
  • High daily transaction count means small fee differences add up
  • Need reliable contactless for the majority of transactions
  • Long trading hours so the terminal must be dependable
  • Want better rates than the current provider

Updated:

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 fast food outlets choose uno

Fast food is about speed - customers expect to tap and go. Your card machine needs to match that pace and handle hundreds of contactless transactions a day without dropping a beat.

Counter speed

The PAX A800 is rental-free for your first machine and handles contactless within 3 seconds. Wired connection means no Wi-Fi drops during the lunch rush.

Multiple tills

If you’re running more than one serving point, the PAX A920 connects over Wi-Fi or 4G, giving you flexibility to add terminals where you need them without extra cabling.

Rates for volume

With high daily transaction counts, even a fraction of a percent difference in rate saves real money over a month. We compare providers to find the pricing that works for your volume.

What you get from uno

  • Terminals matched to high-volume quick-service trading
  • Rates compared across providers for your transaction count
  • On-site installation and setup
  • UK-based support

Common questions from fast food owners

How fast is the card machine during a lunchtime or post-school rush?

Contactless payments take under one second. In a fast food environment where you're serving a customer every 30–45 seconds during peak, the card machine isn't the bottleneck - food prep is. The terminal keeps pace with however fast you can serve.

The kitchen environment is hot and greasy - will the terminal survive?

We position the terminal at the counter, not in the kitchen. The customer-facing side of a fast food shop is a standard retail environment. The terminals are touchscreen devices used in thousands of food businesses daily. Contactless means neither staff nor customers need to physically handle the device during most transactions.

Most of our orders are £5–£8 - are card fees still worth it?

For such situations uno would recommend a Blended rate billing model, and then the question isn't the few pence each transaction costs - it's the growing number of customers who won't queue if they can't pay by card. Fast food customers expect speed and convenience. Contactless is part of that expectation now.

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