08/26/2026
A little Pizza Nomad TED Talk about credit card processing fees...
You've probably noticed more and more businesses adding credit card surcharges, cash discounts, or different prices depending on how you pay.
I get why. The vast majority of our orders are paid by card, and many of those transactions cost us 3.5%+ just to process the payment. We're also paying processing fees on things like taxes, tips and certain fees. When you're running a restaurant on already small margins, that adds up to a pretty ridiculous amount of money over the course of a year.
We've looked at all the same options. Add a surcharge. Raise prices and offer a cash discount. Have separate cash and card prices. None of those have ever really sat well with us.
One comment I've seen many times on other posts is "credit card processing is a cost of doing business. Deal with it."
And you know what? I agree. It IS a cost of doing business, and we're gonna deal with it.
But instead of asking "How do we stop paying it?" we started asking a different question:
If we're already spending the money anyway, how can we make that money work for us AND our customers instead?
So we're going to try something a little different for the next few months.
We're NOT adding a credit card surcharge. We're not raising prices to create a cash discount or doing separate cash and card prices. Use your card if you want. The price on the menu is the price you pay.
The Nomad Rewards Program will continue and members will earn 2.5% back on qualifying food purchases whether you pay with cash or card.
But if you're a Nomad Rewards member and pay with cash, we're adding an EXTRA 7% back.. for a total of 9.5% back in Nomad Rewards on the portion of your qualifying food purchase actually paid in cash.
Card = 2.5% back in Nomad Rewards.
Cash = 9.5% back in Nomad Rewards.
Instead of trying to save every dollar we'd normally spend on processing, we're going to try redirecting more of that money back to our customers.
Once we pay a processing fee, that money is gone. If we put more of it into your Nomad Rewards account instead, you get something out of it and hopefully we do too. Maybe you visit us one more time. Maybe you've got $15 or $20 sitting in rewards and it makes the decision about where to get pizza Friday night a little easier.
Either way, we'd rather have more of that money stay in our little Pizza Nomad ecosystem than disappear as another processing expense.
We're going to test this for a few months and see what happens. Maybe it gets some people to carry a little cash again. Maybe it brings people back a little more often. Maybe it works so well that we can do even more with it.
No surcharge. No different menu prices. Pay however you want.
But if you're a Nomad Rewards member and pay cash, we're going to make it worth it.
9.5% BACK IN NOMAD REWARDS.
Let's see what happens.
Not a Nomad Rewards member yet? It's free and easy to join, and your rewards can be earned and used interchangeably at both Pizza Nomad locations.
Rewards apply to qualifying food purchases only and exclude beverages, taxes, tips, delivery/service fees and other excluded items. Nomad Rewards account required for the additional 7% cash bonus. The additional cash bonus applies only to the qualifying food portion actually paid in cash after any rewards, discounts or other credits are applied.
