Technology

Implementing credit card chip technology

hand chip credit card emv

By now, most restaurant operators have heard of EMV. (If you haven’t, search for “EMV” on RestaurantBusinessOnline.com for the nitty-gritty on what this technology is and how it works.) The reason attention has picked up is that the shift in liability associated with it goes into effect Oct. 1.

Some might not have believed that deadline to upgrade credit-card readers from swipe-card-only to EMV-compatible would stick. But starting next month, those operators that don’t update their equipment may be held liable for data breaches, an onus that now falls on the banks. Despite the rapid approach of this shift, there’s still much confusion around EMV. Here are three points to clear up:

There is no mandate to switch

Adoption is voluntary; there are no rules forcing operators to get on board. In fact, the National Restaurant Association suggests that operators don’t rush into upgrading their equipment by Oct. 1, unless they’ve had a prior problem with fraud.

Not all fraud falls to the operator

If an operator still is using a swipe-card reader, and the customer has an EMV-enabled card, the operator is liable. However, if the customer doesn’t have a chip card or fraud occurs while using EMV readers, liability is not with the operator.

EMV alone isn’t the answer

EMV technology is only a piece of the data-security puzzle: EMV reduces counterfeiting through authentication; cardholder data is encrypted as part of PCI Compliance; and tokenization protects data when it comes back to the POS system.

Members help make our journalism possible. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.

Multimedia

Exclusive Content

Technology

The year of restaurant loyalty programs ends with a whimper

Tech Check: Loyalty programs are a great tool, but restaurants need to appeal to more than just their most frequent customers to bring back traffic.

Financing

Life is tough for pizza chains right now

The Bottom Line: Major pizza brands like Domino’s, Papa Johns and Pizza Hut are trading share with independents. And fast-casual brands are in decline. The sector has a smaller market, thanks to third-party delivery.

Food

A restaurant's cheese sauce makeover leads to a retail line

Behind the Menu: When the famous cheese fries at Michael’s Grill & Salad Bar were not turning out according to spec, owner Ryan Gamperl created a new product to bring them back up to speed.

Trending

More from our partners