What makes this industry different
This page looks at four things that come up when a restaurant takes cards:
- Small sales. A coffee, a lunch, a slice.
- Tips. Sometimes added after the card is approved.
- Split bills. One table, several cards.
- Tap. Including Interac debit tap.
Each of these changes which part of a fee matters most.
A merchant category code (MCC) is a four-digit code that says what kind of business you are. Visa’s rate sheet and rules, and Interac’s fee page, use these codes to say which rates and rules apply. Visa’s rules list 5812 as “Eating Places and Restaurants”, 5814 as “Fast Food Restaurants” and 5811 as “Caterers”. Ask your processor which code your business has.
Fees to know about in this industry
Visa: the Everyday Needs program. Visa Canada’s rate sheet has an “Industry Program” with lower rates for some kinds of business. Its “Everyday Needs” list includes MCC 5811 (Caterers), 5812 (Restaurants) and 5814 (Fast Food Restaurants).
| Visa consumer credit card | Everyday Needs (Visa’s rate sheet) | Everyday Needs from Oct 22, 2026 (TD) | Standard in-person (“Electronic”) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Classic, Gold, Platinum | 1.10% | 1.10% (no change) | 1.25% |
| Infinite | 1.20% | 1.10% | 1.57% |
| Infinite+ | 1.35% | 1.35% (no change) | 1.60% |
| Infinite Privilege | 1.95% | 1.85% | 2.08% |
Where these numbers come from. The “Visa’s rate sheet” column is Visa Canada’s own rate sheet, as read on October 22, 2026. The “from Oct 22, 2026” column is TD Merchant Solutions: its Fee Change Summary lists “CDN INFINITE ELEC EVERYDAY NEEDS” going from 1.20% to 1.10%, and “CDN INFINITE PRIV ELEC EVERYDAY” from 1.95% to 1.85%, both effective October 22, 2026, with the change origin marked as the card network. TD’s “upcoming (Oct 2026)” rate sheet shows the same new rates. Visa’s own sheet still did not show them when we checked on October 22, 2026.
These are interchange rates: what your processor pays the card’s bank. What you pay depends on your pricing. On interchange plus you see them line by line. On flat rate, they are inside one rate. See What Is Interchange?
Interac: the low-ticket tap tier. Interac’s fee page lists a Tier 1 tap interchange of $0.020 a sale (on sales up to $100) for “low-ticket” categories. The list includes Fast Food Restaurants (MCC 5814) and Caterers (MCC 5811). MCC 5812 (restaurants) is not on the Tier 1 list. Unless a business qualifies for Tier 2 (at least 20 million Interac tap sales in the previous year), it falls under Tier 3 at $0.035. Tap sales from $100.01 to $250 are $0.055 for all businesses.
American Express. TD’s April 2026 rate sheet (for its Emerging program) lists American Express OptBlue rates by industry. For “Restaurant”, it shows 1.60% for sales of $200 or less and 2.40% for sales over $200.
Tips and the 20% rule
Visa’s rules have a table of how far the final amount of a sale may be from the amount first approved. For Canada, from February 21, 2026, it lists up to 20% for MCC 5812 (restaurants) and MCC 5814 (fast food). Visa’s rules do not say what the difference is for. Ask your processor how tips added after approval are handled on your terminal. More on holds and tips: Tips and Pre-Authorizations.
Fees on tips. With a percentage fee, the tip is part of the amount charged, so the percentage applies to it too. Square’s support article says its fees “are taken out of the total amount of each transaction, including tax and tip.”
Average ticket and why it matters
Your average ticket is your average sale: card sales divided by the number of card sales. Restaurants with small average tickets feel the cents part of a fee more.
Split bills work the same way. Each card is its own sale, so a cents fee is charged once per card. Four guests paying separately means four per-sale charges.
Interac tap is a flat amount at the network level, so it does not grow with the bill. Interac says tap limits are set by each card’s bank and are “typically set to $250”. See Interac Debit: How It Is Priced.
Equipment and software options
Some restaurant point of sale systems come with card processing included. One published example is Square’s restaurant pricing page:
- Free plan: $0 a month plus processing fees. Split bills included, but “does not include item splits and split by seat”.
- Plus plan: $60 a month per location, with one countertop device (+$40 a month for each added device). Includes splitting by items or by seat.
- Premium: custom pricing, for more than $250,000 a year in credit card sales.
- Rates: under “Processing rates per transaction”, the page lists “2.5% for all major credit cards” and “0.75% + 7 cents per debit chip and PIN or tap”, in person, on the Free and Plus plans (as read on October 22, 2026).
Square’s page also says its products “are not compatible with the online sales recording module (WEB-SRM) or other mandatory billing requirements in Quebec” and points to a certified integration. Quebec restaurants should check this with any provider.
Renting versus buying a terminal: Equipment Leases.
Contract terms to read closely
- Term and leaving fees. Some providers have a fixed term and an early termination fee. See Early Termination Fees.
- Surcharges. Card network rules allow credit card surcharges outside Quebec, with limits. See Surcharging Credit Cards in Canada.
- Monthly fees on top of the per-sale rate. See Processor Markup.
Questions to ask a processor
- Which merchant category code will my business have?
- Do my Visa sales qualify for the Everyday Needs rate, and will I see that on my statement?
- How are tips added after approval handled?
- What do I pay per Interac tap sale?
- Is there a per-sale cents fee, and is it charged on each split payment?
Where to go from here
Average ticket is total card sales divided by the number of sales, both shown on a monthly statement. The cents part of each fee is listed with the fees. How to Read Your Merchant Statement shows where to find both.
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