Ashok Hindocha, owner of Tandoori Kök and Bar in Mariestad, debuted as the “original surfer” in February of 2022; becoming the first person to complete a live Tap-to-Pay transaction in Sweden using Surfpay. Now he is giving us a look into how he has adapted to using the app for his business over the last few months, and how it compares to other payment terminals that he has used in the past.
“I was currently using Pax terminals before turning to Surfpay. I have been using Pax terminals for the last two years, I think, and various other machines for the last thirty-five to forty years,” said Hindocha. “Some of the terminals were alright. Pax was alright, but they were heavier. They were harder to bring around with me. They weren’t quite mobile.”
This is what initially drew him to Surfboard Payments and our product, as Surfpay is easily accessible on any Android device. By leveraging the NFC chip found in smartphones, the app allows easy and fast contactless card transactions to be made directly on your mobile. No extra hardware needed!
Ashok claims that after using the app for the last few months he has come to really enjoy its flexibility. Being able to bring the phone with him, and manoeuvre easily around his restaurant has really improved the overall customer experience.
“It’s hard to say how it has changed things (in terms of sales) at the moment, but the customers really enjoy it and that is what is most important,” says Hindocha. “That is how it has benefited me the most. The customers are happy, they really enjoy it, and they're very impressed with the app. It’s nice to see.”
He also highlighted the importance of the QR Code as his customers seem to be really intrigued by it. Merchants can send digital receipts via Surfpay’s QR code, removing the need to have a printer. In addition, the QR receipts have special features to allow business owners the opportunity to add promotions and campaigns to help market themselves, as well as build a stronger rapport with customers.
In addition, what sets Surfpay apart is the app's ability to monitor sales in real-time via the overview dashboard. This only contributes to its simplicity and user-friendly experience for the micro-merchant.
"It's very easy to use, I find it to run very smoothly. I had some expectations going into this experience,” said Hindocha. “But Surfpay has exceeded all of my expectations and more. I was really surprised in a positive way.”
Having so much experience under his belt as a business owner, the Surfboard Payments team is happy to hear that he prefers our app to other payment terminals out there. In his concluding remarks, Ashok Hindocha claimed that he would be introducing Surfpay to more of his staff in order to have it accessible at every point in the restaurant. In addition, he reassures that he will continue using Surfpay in the future.
“I would recommend this to any business owner out there,” said Hindocha.
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