[2017-11-07] New French Restaurant in New York City Accepts Bitcoin, Ditches Vis

[ivanpoldark]

A new French restaurant in New York City is taking things one step further to give diners a unique experience: it’s letting them pay in bitcoin.

La Sirène, which opened on Friday, is located on Upper West Side, and proclaims to be an authentic French bistro. This is the second La Sirène restaurant in New York. The first is located downtown in Lower Manhattan.

According to the West Side Rag blog, though, while the restaurant accepts bitcoin, cash, cheque, and American Express, it doesn’t take Visa or Mastercard.

Reacting to the blog post, one person wrote:

"They take bitcoin, but not Visa? Who are they hoping to market to? Makes no sense."

Another wrote:

"Bitcoin but no “regular” credit cards (Visa, MasterCard)? Guess they only want to attract the Amex crowd (biz travelers, business people?) … and millennials with bitcoin. And who writes checks anymore?"

As the crypto market continues to gain prominence restaurants are realizing the benefits of accepting the digital currency for payments.

Last August, a New Hampshire restaurant was reported as accepting the digital currency for everything on its menu. Called Street, and located in the west end of Portsmouth, it features a global menu while providing a casual atmosphere for hungry diners.

Shortly after that, Free Keene, a pro-decentralization and pro-bitcoin organization in New Hampshire, revealed that a food truck in Keene, New Hampshire, was accepting bitcoin. Featuring a bitcoin sign on the truck, Bon Vivant – Gourmet Street Food, is believed to be the first food truck in the U.S. to accept the digital currency.

However, it’s not just the food industry that is accepting the cryptocurrency.

In November, Italy’s biggest taxi firm, Cooperative RadioTaxi 3570, announced that it was accepting the digital currency as payment from its customers. In July, Japanese electronics retailer Bic Camera enabled the acceptance of bitcoin to customers across all its stores, becoming the first major Japanese retailer to do so. Whereas, tenants at a London residency can now pay their deposits in the cryptocurrency.

With the digital currency now worth over $5,000 it’s likely that more companies will begin accepting it as a form of payment.

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/new-french-restaurant-in-new-york-city-now-accepts-bitcoin/

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1713542209

[Jating]

I guess the owners of the restaurant is pro bitcoin. LOL. That's a good thing and as a investor on bitcoin, he needs to promote it and he is very much anti bankers perhaps because he doesn't accept Visa or Master Card for that matter.

I guess its the owner decision not to accept them, maybe he has a very bad experience with those that he doesn't want them to be acceptance on his restaurant. And we can add his restaurant to the ever growing list of places that accepts bitcoin as mode of payment. Kudos to the restaurant owner though.

[Lucius]

Very interesting business approach with the non-acceptance of Visa and MasterCard which are generally accepted means of payment almost everywhere in the world.It is positive that this restaurant accepts BTC and actually sending a message that BTC is better then Visa&MasterCard.I check their web page and there is no mention of BTC as a means of payment.They say they accept only cash and American Express,but maybe they need to update their site.

https://lasirenenyc.com/about-us/#

[FrueGreads]

I've read a similar article about a preschool that also accepts those exact types of payments, and also ditches visa payments. I think we will see more of that in the future, because people are realizing that there is an alternative to the huge fees they have to take in order to accept visa payments. Even without the LN working and, with all our scalability problems, bitcoin is proving to be a better option to visa when it comes to fees. When all those problems get solved, there is no way bitcoin can be stopped. Also, it will cause the need for visa and MasterCard companies to adjust their fees, because they now have a competitor.

[Lieldoryn]

I do not believe in the success of this business. Perhaps this restaurant has the main task to collect the cash. Than just write that there is such an opportunity it would be better written how many people took the opportunity to pay by bitcoin. The existing rules it is better to use Visa and MasterCard.

[greeklogos]

I would like to see their menu with bitcoin prices 
The owner of the restaurant must be one of the big investors in those crypto and it is in his interest to raise the demand for bitcoin, such strategy will make him rich very fast, it's 98% successful plan!

[Mark Promo]

Good news, bitcoin is becoming more popular all over the world.

[buwaytress]

Ha, instantly predictable online response from the crowds. Alienate mainstream and accept Bitcoin, cater to millenials and big bankers? Publicity stunt more than anything else.

But don't worry they won't lose business. By the sounds of it, French Restaurant in the upper NY city, their clientele is unlikely to be Visa using middle class echelon anyway.