Bitcoin on the menu at Vancouver restaurants

More than a dozen local eateries accept the cryptocurrency

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      Vancouver entrepreneur Lisa Cheng goes out of her way to eat and shop at businesses that allow customers to pay with Bitcoin.

      “Because I’ve been living off of Bitcoin for about a year, it’s way more easier for me to go and use Bitcoin at a place than having to convert it to Canadian cash or a debit card,” Cheng told the Georgia Straight over lunch at Bestie (105 East Pender Street), a German-inspired sausage parlour in Chinatown.

      Cheng is the 29-year-old founder and CEO of Vanbex Group, a cryptocurrency consulting firm. After consuming currywurst and ginger lemonade at Bestie, Cheng went up to the service counter, where the cashier put a tablet in front of her. She selected a tip percentage using the touch screen, scanned a QR code with her smartphone, and sent a payment of 0.0309266 bitcoins (BTC)—worth about $13.50 at the time—from her digital wallet.

      Bestie is one of more than a dozen restaurants and cafés in the Vancouver area that started accepting Bitcoin in the past year-and-a-half, though prices on their menus remain denominated in Canadian dollars. Created in 2009, Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer digital currency that isn’t issued by a government but has been embraced by Dell, Expedia, and other companies around the world.

      On the other side of Chinatown, the Parker (237 Union Street) joined the growing Bitcoin economy about six months ago. Steve Da Cruz, co-owner of the vegetarian restaurant, told the Straight that people were “really stoked” when he announced the news on Facebook and Twitter, though customers only pay with Bitcoin once every two weeks or so.

      While Bestie uses CoinOS—a free and open-source point-of-sale system developed by Vancouver’s Bitcoin Co-op—to process Bitcoin transactions, the Parker relies on a similar app built by Cointrader, a local company that operates an online Bitcoin exchange. Both apps run in the web browser on a tablet. Da Cruz noted that Cointrader’s app is simple, so it was a cinch to set up and show staff how to use it.

      A Bitcoin user himself, Da Cruz said he views the cryptocurrency as a “cool, dynamic development in the world of finance”. He recommends other restaurants try it out in order to attract a new demographic.

      “There’s no downside,” Da Cruz said, seated at a table in his restaurant. “The price fluctuates, but it’s such a small part of our bottom line. It’s more about being part of something that’s dynamic and interesting to people and creates a new conversation outside of the usual dynamic.”

      Bitcoin-spending customers are few and far between at Re-Up BBQ, according to co-owner Michael Kaisaris.
      Stephen Hui

      In New Westminster’s River Market, Re-Up BBQ (114–810 Quayside Drive) began accepting Bitcoin almost a year ago. Since then, the southern-barbecue restaurant has done just over 2 BTC in sales with the cryptocurrency. (As of October 6, 1 BTC was worth about US$340.)

      “Bitcoin was getting a lot of press at the time, and it’s an interesting new phenomenon: a non-national currency that is obviously acknowledged to be based on the common delusion of a marketplace, in this case the Internet,” co-owner Michael Kaisaris told the Straight in Re-Up’s kitchen. “I thought it was fun. I wanted to see what the market was like.”

      Like the Parker, Re-Up doesn’t have a “Bitcoin accepted here” sticker out front, relying instead on word of mouth. Aside from a couple of regulars whose employers pay them in Bitcoin, Kaisaris maintained that Re-Up hasn’t gained much business by adopting the cryptocurrency.

      Kaisaris noted that Re-Up uses the point-of-sale app offered by BitPay, one of the largest Bitcoin payment processors, in combination with a Blockchain wallet. Kaisaris doesn’t immediately convert the bitcoins to dollars—a move that would avoid the risk of currency fluctuations—and has cashed out only once at a Bitcoin ATM.

      The Howe Street location of Waves Coffee House is home to the world’s first Bitcoin ATM.
      Stephen Hui

      In May 2013, India Gate (616 Robson Street) became the first restaurant in Vancouver to accept Bitcoin. The world’s first Bitcoin ATM went live at Waves Coffee House (100–900 Howe Street) in October 2013. In June of this year, Old Country Pierogi became Metro Vancouver’s first food truck to embrace Bitcoin.

      Other Bitcoin-friendly eateries in Vancouver include Central Bistro (1072 Denman Street), Francesco’s (860 Burrard Street), Lost + Found Cafe (33 West Hastings Street), Rouge Bistro (91 West 2nd Avenue), and Vera’s Burger Shack (2922 Main Street). Steamrollers (1195 Robson Street) and 24/7 Thai Vietnamese Cuisine (986 West Broadway) are also home to Bitcoin ATMs.

      In September, East Vancouver’s Mega Chill became the first marijuana dispensary in Canada to accept Bitcoin. Co-owner Matt Jung is also one of the proprietors of Mega Ill (646 Kingsway), the pizzeria next door that caters to medical-marijuana users.

      Jung told the Straight Mega Ill is closed for renovations but they hope to reopen it by mid-October and plan to take Bitcoin there too. He added that both businesses are “looking” at the possibility of accepting PotCoin and other cannabis-community cryptocurrencies.

      “It’s been a pretty good response so far—nothing negative,” Jung said by phone from Mega Chill. “Some people, obviously, are like, ‘Oh, they’re wasting their money on Bitcoin.’ But I see it as just something new to try.”

      Vanbex Group’s Cheng asserted that Bitcoin benefits businesses because it requires lower transaction fees than credit and debit cards. It also doesn’t involve the risk of chargebacks, as Bitcoin payments are irreversible.

      According to Cheng, the adoption of Bitcoin by restaurants helps show people how cryptocurrencies can be used in everyday life.

      “You can feed yourself, go out for drinks, pay for dinner, take someone out on a date—all using Bitcoin,” Cheng said. “It’s kind of cool.”

      Comments

      5 Comments

      Peter

      Oct 7, 2014 at 4:45pm

      You can do the same with a debit card and it will always be much better

      Derp

      Oct 7, 2014 at 6:02pm

      Debit cards contain fees which go to the bank. Bitcoin has much tinier fee which goes to the miners who process the transaction. You are the bank. People like to use the analogy of btc being like the internet in the nineties. I am more prone to btc= cell phones in 1989. they were too big, too unweildy, too costly and didnt work well so no one wanted to use them and thought of them as a joke. Come back in 5-10 years and you will see that btc is the iphone and using a bank is like a landline.

      Greg

      Oct 7, 2014 at 7:02pm

      Hey Stephen, good article. It seems like there's not many customers using these retail POS (point of sale) solutions. In other words, not many people are using Bitcoins in person with these Vancouver businesses. Did you get a chance to investigate any online businesses in Vancouver, BC, or Canada? I would expect there to be a lot higher use of Bitcoin there.

      skysurfer

      Oct 9, 2014 at 8:40am

      Let me see if I have this right... To be a trendy, cool, and hip resident of Vancouver I need to " invest" in this pseudo currency that has been dropping in value for over a year, will likely continue tanking and may even go to Zero or be rendered non valid and possibly even stolen!!!!???? You people are idiots! If you had bought bit coins near their peak you would be looking at a loss of around 75% !!!! How's that $50 hamburger that should have cost only $10 tasting now, Ms. Cheng. ??

      Robert

      Oct 11, 2014 at 3:30pm

      The Georgia Straight is continuously printing Stephen Hui's stories about bitcoin, and all with a positive spin. In each article, the focus is mainly on someone with a financial interest in bitcoin's success, often the founders of local cryptocurrency firms. Any chance balanced reporting in the future? It seems there are more than a few economists that are not so optimistic. http://time.com/money/3479199/why-bitcoin-fans-dont-believe-in-bad-news/