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Author Topic: I went to Meze Grill today and paid with VISA  (Read 7078 times)
Monster Tent
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March 17, 2013, 02:37:20 AM
 #61

Please understand where I'm coming from, for I'm not dissing Bitcoin by any stretch of the imagination. I'm simply seeking solutions to the damn chicken and egg dilemma. It now seems to me that both aspects need to solved simultaneously for each and every sector. This is not a bad thing, but does require a little more effort for all concerns.

Using Chicago as an example, here's one approach.

A convention/expo/etc. is in town. At this large convention is a booth manned by a dozen Bitcoin Gone Wild girls. Early in the evening, the girls are split up into three groups, now at three different bar type establishments. This event has been billed two weeks in advance, hence now being packed by patrons. These patrons needed to have a Bitcoin wallet already installed on their smartphones prior to showing up for this event. If they don't have bitcoins prior to showing up, they'll be able to purchase some at the venues at a slight premium, which they'll be happen to do so to get a chance to meet and have their picture taken next to a Bitcoin Gone Wild girl.

I'm saving the rest of this post for another thread (guess which one), but wanted to show that there's still a way to make this work for a myriad of real world markets. The key word here is "simultaneously." (damn, I hate putting periods inside quotes--looks to ugly)

~Bruno~



Its not as fun to scan a  girl with a phone as it is to stuff $20 in their g string.


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March 17, 2013, 03:18:49 AM
 #62

Shouldn't have given up on bitcoin!  If they had simply held onto the bitcoin they earned for meals, could have possibly kept them in business.  Don't convert your bitcoin back to fiat!  HOLD

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March 17, 2013, 03:19:54 AM
 #63

This sucks,    I ate there for the first bitcoin conference

Took a cab with Roger there from hotel ... 

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March 17, 2013, 04:30:48 PM
 #64

Dollar General now takes PayPal without a debit card via their checkout. You choose PP and give it your phone #, then your PIN.
Simple and fast.

That;s where I saw it.

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March 17, 2013, 05:15:49 PM
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From the photo, I could see why Bruce and Ed loved visiting the place so much.
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March 17, 2013, 05:41:29 PM
 #66

Forget about in-person transactions. That can come later when we have a stronger network of users.

No, DON'T forget about in-person transactions.

The mistake many businesses make when starting to accept Bitcoin is that they expect an increase in turnover quickly. I have seen merchants jump off after 8 weeks because they only got a few extra customers in that time and thought it therefore wasn't worth the effort. But it doesn't work that way.

It does take time but after accepting Bitcoin since sometime in 2011 in our restaurant in Berlin (ROOM77) we can absolutely and definately say that not only has it brought us a lot of media attention but it is actually driving business to our place.

I don't only mean the monthly Berliner Bitcoin-meetups held at our place (we give out too many Pamperos on these evenings to make money on them anyhow Wink). We get reservations from all over the world from people comming to Berlin who know exactly where they want to go for dinner without consulting any restaurant guide and even dragging their local friends to ROOM77 because they want to pay in Bitcoin. I know for a fact that no other bar/restaurant in Berlin of our size and profile is getting that kind of business and this is increasing steadily.

So accepting Bitcoin DOES drive customers to your brick'n'mortar business and if you offer a positive customer-experience you can even turn their non-Bitcoiner friends into regular customers and very often into new Bitcoin-users as well Wink.

Besides, a much better competitor already has us beaten there: cash.

That is not true either. Anyone comming from out of the Euro-zone to Berlin has clear advantages when paying in Bitcoin over having his credit card charged in a foreign currency or changing cash at Western Union. Just do the math.

Joe


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March 17, 2013, 06:02:46 PM
 #67

Forget about in-person transactions. That can come later when we have a stronger network of users.

No, DON'T forget about in-person transactions.

The mistake many businesses make when starting to accept Bitcoin is that they expect an increase in turnover quickly. I have seen merchants jump off after 8 weeks because they only got a few extra customers in that time and thought it therefore wasn't worth the effort. But it doesn't work that way.

It does take time but after accepting Bitcoin since sometime in 2011 in our restaurant in Berlin (ROOM77) we can absolutely and definately say that not only has it brought us a lot of media attention but it is actually driving business to our place.

I don't only mean the monthly Berliner Bitcoin-meetups held at our place (we give out too many Pamperos on these evenings to make money on them anyhow Wink). We get reservations from all over the world from people comming to Berlin who know exactly where they want to go for dinner without consulting any restaurant guide and even dragging their local friends to ROOM77 because they want to pay in Bitcoin. I know for a fact that no other bar/restaurant in Berlin of our size and profile is getting that kind of business and this is increasing steadily.

So accepting Bitcoin DOES drive customers to your brick'n'mortar business and if you offer a positive customer-experience you can even turn their non-Bitcoiner friends into regular customers and very often into new Bitcoin-users as well Wink.

Besides, a much better competitor already has us beaten there: cash.

That is not true either. Anyone comming from out of the Euro-zone to Berlin has clear advantages when paying in Bitcoin over having his credit card charged in a foreign currency or changing cash at Western Union. Just do the math.

Joe


Sounds to me like your place would be a perfect candidate for placement of one of those new Bitcoin ATM machines.

~Bruno K~
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March 17, 2013, 06:31:20 PM
 #68

That is not true either. Anyone comming from out of the Euro-zone to Berlin has clear advantages when paying in Bitcoin over having his credit card charged in a foreign currency or changing cash at Western Union. Just do the math.

This seems to be a scenario that seems to be uncommon in the United States.  If I go anywhere in the US from LA to NYC, it is unlikely I'll have to change my money around at any point. 

And maybe this should define the bitcoin brick and mortar strategy.  Not so much focus on random restaurants, but areas that have a high concentration of foreign tourists and advertise it internationally as a place to eat and save on conversion fees.

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March 17, 2013, 06:38:51 PM
 #69

Forget about in-person transactions. That can come later when we have a stronger network of users.

No, DON'T forget about in-person transactions.

The mistake many businesses make when starting to accept Bitcoin is that they expect an increase in turnover quickly. I have seen merchants jump off after 8 weeks because they only got a few extra customers in that time and thought it therefore wasn't worth the effort. But it doesn't work that way.

It does take time but after accepting Bitcoin since sometime in 2011 in our restaurant in Berlin (ROOM77) we can absolutely and definately say that not only has it brought us a lot of media attention but it is actually driving business to our place.

I don't only mean the monthly Berliner Bitcoin-meetups held at our place (we give out too many Pamperos on these evenings to make money on them anyhow Wink). We get reservations from all over the world from people comming to Berlin who know exactly where they want to go for dinner without consulting any restaurant guide and even dragging their local friends to ROOM77 because they want to pay in Bitcoin. I know for a fact that no other bar/restaurant in Berlin of our size and profile is getting that kind of business and this is increasing steadily.

So accepting Bitcoin DOES drive customers to your brick'n'mortar business and if you offer a positive customer-experience you can even turn their non-Bitcoiner friends into regular customers and very often into new Bitcoin-users as well Wink.

Besides, a much better competitor already has us beaten there: cash.

That is not true either. Anyone comming from out of the Euro-zone to Berlin has clear advantages when paying in Bitcoin over having his credit card charged in a foreign currency or changing cash at Western Union. Just do the math.

Joe



well done.  it's called "sticking with it".
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March 17, 2013, 06:40:55 PM
 #70

That is not true either. Anyone comming from out of the Euro-zone to Berlin has clear advantages when paying in Bitcoin over having his credit card charged in a foreign currency or changing cash at Western Union. Just do the math.

This seems to be a scenario that seems to be uncommon in the United States.  If I go anywhere in the US from LA to NYC, it is unlikely I'll have to change my money around at any point. 

I was talking about when you come to the eurozone. You _will_ have to change your USD at some point as nobody accepts USD here (imagine! Wink).

Joe


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March 17, 2013, 06:47:30 PM
 #71

Shouldn't have given up on bitcoin!  If they had simply held onto the bitcoin they earned for meals, could have possibly kept them in business.  Don't convert your bitcoin back to fiat!  HOLD

just imagine if the Meze Grill owner had saved all the BTC paid to him since day 1 of opening his doors to Bitcoin.  he might have been able to retire by now.

I don't think you can retire on 17 BTC.

Meze Grills' Bitcoin account (the one they had as "a QR code on a big laminated card":
http://blockexplorer.com/address/1MTbKpYWnzqmsLvCjdTtwrvuX81g3HCgC
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March 17, 2013, 06:52:30 PM
 #72

Forget about in-person transactions. That can come later when we have a stronger network of users.

No, DON'T forget about in-person transactions.

The mistake many businesses make when starting to accept Bitcoin is that they expect an increase in turnover quickly. I have seen merchants jump off after 8 weeks because they only got a few extra customers in that time and thought it therefore wasn't worth the effort. But it doesn't work that way.

It does take time but after accepting Bitcoin since sometime in 2011 in our restaurant in Berlin (ROOM77) we can absolutely and definately say that not only has it brought us a lot of media attention but it is actually driving business to our place.

I don't only mean the monthly Berliner Bitcoin-meetups held at our place (we give out too many Pamperos on these evenings to make money on them anyhow Wink). We get reservations from all over the world from people comming to Berlin who know exactly where they want to go for dinner without consulting any restaurant guide and even dragging their local friends to ROOM77 because they want to pay in Bitcoin. I know for a fact that no other bar/restaurant in Berlin of our size and profile is getting that kind of business and this is increasing steadily.

So accepting Bitcoin DOES drive customers to your brick'n'mortar business and if you offer a positive customer-experience you can even turn their non-Bitcoiner friends into regular customers and very often into new Bitcoin-users as well Wink.

Besides, a much better competitor already has us beaten there: cash.

That is not true either. Anyone comming from out of the Euro-zone to Berlin has clear advantages when paying in Bitcoin over having his credit card charged in a foreign currency or changing cash at Western Union. Just do the math.

Joe



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I have wanted to go back to visit Berlin for over a year now, just to eat there!
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March 17, 2013, 08:22:30 PM
 #73

This is thread is getting sad and is putting me in a quagmire. I'm about to embark on the Chicagoland area to get several restaurants, mainly, to accept Bitcoin. Three restaurants are co-owned by what's becoming friends of mine, coupled with supplying them barn wood for past and future restaurants, when they expand, notwithstanding. (damn, I hope that sentence is written correctly)


Can you tell us which restaurants these are?  I'd like to visit them to also support and encourage them to adopt bitcoin.
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March 18, 2013, 03:12:29 AM
 #74

Shouldn't have given up on bitcoin!  If they had simply held onto the bitcoin they earned for meals, could have possibly kept them in business.  Don't convert your bitcoin back to fiat!  HOLD

just imagine if the Meze Grill owner had saved all the BTC paid to him since day 1 of opening his doors to Bitcoin.  he might have been able to retire by now.

I don't think you can retire on 17 BTC.

Meze Grills' Bitcoin account (the one they had as "a QR code on a big laminated card":
http://blockexplorer.com/address/1MTbKpYWnzqmsLvCjdTtwrvuX81g3HCgC

Looking at that address on BlockChain, I'm thinking that the majority of it came from Bruce and Ed, and that one meal for the two NPR guys who got their coins from MyBitcoin. http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=137795648&m=137803856

Upon revisiting the podcast, something struck me as odd. Jacob and David are instructed by Bruce to go over to the two computers. Bruce sits at one, while Jacob and David are instructed to bring up MyBitcoin (mybitcoin.com). When they do, they learn that the last person setting there forgot to log out, and notice a $400K+ USD account. Bruce said it wasn't his, that it belonged to the guy who sat their last. Later that day is when MyBitcoin was hacked.

Here's my question. How many of you reading this would forget to log out on a computer that belonged to somebody else, given that if you didn't, you may loose everything you have in some financial institute account? For that matter, even if you never forget to log out, who in their right mind would view their personal financial records on somebody else's computer?

Even before Bitcoin, we all knew how foolish such an act would be, hence learning to never do it. I'm curious on how much Meze Grill entrusted Bruce with, perhaps to invest in Bitcoin.

Is there an official New York government website one could go to and search pending litigation? I have a hunch (rhymes with lunch).

~Bruno K~

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