January 10,2007
-
Bigger than the Burger King
Perhaps in light of the big trend in 2006 for fast food retailers to start taking credit and/or debit cards as a form of payment, consumers charged more dollars on fast food purchases than ever before. It is estimated that fast food sales on American personal cards came to $51 billion this past year, compared to $33.2 billion the year before.
The experts attribute this rise to both the expansion of fast food restaurant locations as companies grow, and the advent of contactless payments in the marketplace. McDonald's alone added over 10,000 locations to the list that take credit cards as tender in 2005, with even more added in the past year. The newest trend to hit French fries is such contactless payment options as PayPass, which reduce checkout times to mere seconds, and offer consumers a degree of convenience (and, perhaps, a psychological detachment from the realities of spending) than ever before. Of course, fast food is a big money maker, with or without plastic: Visa estimates that the mean fast food ticket (on their credit cards) is a little over $11. Americans spend $160 billion annually eating fast food.