Market City stops taking plastic

One downtown Macon restaurant owner has taken a somewhat drastic measure to help control the cost of doing business.

Market City Cafe, 502 Cherry St., is no longer accepting credit and debit cards for payment. But in addition to cash, the eatery now accepts checks with proper identification.

“We did almost $26,000 in credit card fees last year,” said co-owner Don Bivings. “A lot of things are going on. Food prices have skyrocketed.”

Making the decision to not accept debit or credit cards was not easy. Bivings did a test about three weeks ago to see if customers would accept the new policy and it was well received, he said.

He posted a notice on the door and on cards at every table.

“It was a tough decision,” he said. “I look at it as people come to Market City not to use a credit card; people come to Market City for our food. And our food hasn’t changed. The only thing that’s changed is the way we take payment and we’ve made it as flexible as possible with cash and check.”

Card fees were one thing Bivings said he felt he could control. Some food vendors are tacking a gas surcharge onto orders, and items like coffee and produce are coming in at much higher prices, he said.

Some regular customers last week were surprised to learn about the new policy.

On Friday, customer Dorsha Lee left Market City moments after walking in with her friends. “The waitress said there’s an ATM right across the street and I said there’s also another restaurant right across the street,” Lee said.

“We kind of panicked at first because we don’t carry cash,” said Dr. Lesley Cown, of Macon. But she and her friend Jennifer Griffin determined they had enough cash to pay for lunch.

“There are a bunch of ATMs around here, so we knew we could get some (cash) and they take checks,” Cown said.

“We will still come here because we love it,” Cown added.

“It’s a little unusual,” said Mike McRay of Warner Robins, who was having lunch with his wife. But the couple is used to the same policy at Snellgrove Seafood in Centerville, which is also all cash, and it has been that way for a long time.

Sid’s Sandwich Shop has been open 30 years and it’s always had a cash or check policy, said owner Bob Berg.

“Our big ticket might be $6,” Berg said. “I could never make it work (to accept credit or debit cards).”

Market City Cafe opened in spring 2007 and Bivings said he hasn’t had any menu increases.

“Increasing food prices really wasn’t an option for us,” he said.

In 2011, the Consumer Price Index for all food is expected to increase 3 percent to 4 percent, according to a news release from the USDA Economic Research Service in February.

This includes grocery store prices and restaurant prices, caused by higher food commodity and energy prices along with stronger global food demand, the release stated.

Even though rising food costs and card fees are a big part of the expense of doing business, some other area restaurateurs say they can’t afford to go to a cash-only payment.

“I could never see me doing that because 75 percent of my business is with credit or debit cards,” said Arty Passias, owner of Greek Corner Deli, 587 Cherry St. in Macon. “Of course it cost more to (accept) credit cards. If everybody else downtown did it maybe I would join in. ... But I don’t see anybody doing that in the near future.”

Since Passias’ business opened two years ago, food prices are “definitely higher now,” he said. He shops around for lower prices at different vendors.

“But we can’t change our menu every week when (vendor prices) get higher,” Passias said. “Eventually you have to raise your costs, too.”

John McCord, owner of Satterfield’s and co-owner of Fish N’ Pig, said, “We don’t plan to go to cash. Eighty-five percent of our business (at Fish N’ Pig) is with credit or debit cards.”

The average meal price is lower at Satterfield’s and so he sees more cash payments there, but he does a lot of catered lunches that are almost always paid with a credit card.

McCord agrees, however, that food prices are hurting his bottom line because he can’t change menu prices very often, and the economy is causing some people to cut back on eating out.

“We just absorb (the increase),” he said.

Photographer Woody Marshall contributed to this report. To contact writer Linda S. Morris,

call 744-4223.

This story was originally published March 16, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Market City stops taking plastic."