After rent, the cost to accept debit and credit cards is often the next biggest piece of overhead for a business, especially restaurants and bars. However, since congress passed legislation with the Durbin Amendment to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, merchants now have options to give incentives to customers that want to pay with cash or check, and this can actually eliminate merchant fees from anywhere between 90 and 100%, even while continuing to take payment cards. This is a game-changer for businesses of all types, especially during these tough times.

Jon Taffer from Bar Rescue is concerned that this second round of closures of Vegas bars – that don’t serve food – will make it much harder for bars to stay afloat compared to the first shutdown. “I’m not certain a lot of bars will survive this.” Taffer says.

This is a closure in Las Vegas that affects bars (serving alcohol-only) as of July 10th, due to the recent spike in coronavirus cases and a supposed lack of safety compliance reported from OSHA inspections . As it stands, restaurants are still able to stay open.

Jon doesn’t agree with the fact that restaurants, that are very close to bars as far as business models and infrastructures, should be allowed to stay open if bars are required to shutdown.

Taffer suggests that bar owners should weigh the cost of staying open in some creative capacity, despite all of the restrictions, vs. temporarily shutting down. Owners should consider an attempt to renegotiate deals with landlords, while looking for any other means available to lower overhead.

Taffer goes on to say – speaking on behalf of bar owners – “If I’m going to bleed money, then let me bleed less money… so I can reopen when the pandemic is over.”

Original story from 8NewsNow: Las Vegas