17 June, 2025
En este artículo:
18 June marks Sustainable Gastronomy Day, a great opportunity to reflect on a very present issue: in Spain, more than 1.2 billion kilos of food are thrown away every year, and a large part comes from the horeca sector. These figures are alarming, and it’s essential to take action to curb this waste.
One effective way to start changing this situation is by incorporating digital technology into restaurants. Digitising processes helps organise daily tasks more efficiently and can make a real difference when it comes to reducing wasted food. In the end, it’s about finding a balance between advancing with innovation and staying mindful of our responsibility to the environment.
Payment technologies are known for making transactions faster and more secure, but these tools can also support more sustainable day-to-day operations in a restaurant or café. For example, by displaying menus digitally or managing promotions without needing to print posters or flyers. Additionally, offering digital payment methods reduces paper use by sending receipts digitally instead of printing them.
In this article, we explore the key benefits of digitising payments in the horeca channel to create a more environmentally responsible experience.
If you run a restaurant, café or bar and want to manage your resources more sustainably, digitising payments can be a powerful ally. Here’s how it can help:
Introducing digital payments in your restaurant helps modernise your business and offers many other benefits for both you and your customers. Whether using a physical POS terminal, a QR code or tools like Tap to Pay, which turns your mobile into a card reader, these payment solutions allow receipts to be sent via email or message, cutting down on paper usage.
QR codes aren’t just for payments: they can also be used to display the menu digitally. This eliminates the need to print new menus every time there’s a change or a new chef’s special. It’s more convenient, faster, and much more cost-effective in the long run.
But the benefits don’t stop there. Digitising payments also improves the customer experience, speeds up service, and helps increase table turnover. In doing so, you save time, resources and effort, while delivering a more efficient and sustainable service.
When a restaurant uses digital tools, it gains agility and valuable insights. These systems allow you to analyse which dishes sell the most, which go unnoticed, what times and days see the highest demand, and even which types of options (like vegetarian or vegan) are most popular among customers.
With this data, alongside inventory control and seasonal product tracking, it becomes much easier to tailor the menu to what people are actually ordering, avoid unnecessary purchases and manage fresh ingredients more effectively.
The result is a more efficient kitchen that throws away less food and makes better use of resources, without sacrificing quality or the customer experience. And as a bonus, less waste also means lower costs and greater profitability for the business.
Another benefit of digital tools is the ability to create loyalty programmes. These can reward customers who make more responsible choices, while also boosting retention by offering perks and a more personalised experience, all while encouraging more sustainable consumption habits.
For example, you could implement a points-based system to reward customers who frequently choose locally sourced products. You might offer discounts on dishes made with seasonal ingredients or those nearing their use-by date. Another idea is to promote daily specials based on surplus inventory, helping significantly reduce food waste.
All of this encourages much more sustainable consumption habits among diners while raising environmental awareness. At the same time, it builds a closer relationship with your customers, letting them enjoy eating out while also caring for the planet.
Do you run a restaurant, bar or café and worry about the environmental impact of your operations? Then digitising your payments could be a smart move. With tools like digital POS systems, mobile payments and QR code menus, you can significantly cut down on paper and plastic use. They also allow you to manage your resources better, adjust purchases and prevent food from going to waste, while also being kind to your bottom line.
Digitalisation also improves your business’s operational efficiency, helping you save time, increase table turnover and offer a faster, smoother payment experience for your guests.
At PaynoPain, we offer payment solutions designed to simplify your daily business management while respecting the environment. Whether through physical POS, a virtual POS system or innovative tools like Tap to Pay, we help you collect payments quickly and securely.
Fill in the form and we’ll help you find the best payment solution for your business.
Company headquarters
I have read and accept the Privacy Policy
Δ