Friday, March 30, 2007
By Greg Chandler
The Grand Rapids Press

HOLLAND — Frank Scimeca was traveling in Europe last summer when he noticed diners at restaurants could pay for their meals at their table without having to hand their credit card to the server.

The restaurants brought a wireless card-processing terminal to the tables, and the diners would swipe their cards there.

Scimeca, the general manager of Holland’s Alpen Rose restaurant, thought it was a good idea and wondered why restaurants in the U.S. were not using it.

“Far too often, you dine, you give the card to the server, and then they get distracted with other customers, and it takes a couple of minutes to get your card back,” Scimeca said.

Starting Sunday, Alpen Rose will be the first restaurant in West Michigan at which diners will be able to pay at the table.

The downtown eatery has purchased six wireless, handheld terminals, at a cost of about $500 each.

Scimeca said the new devices will speed the processing of customers’ bills and reduce the risk of identity theft, since the card will not leave their hands.

“You’ve got safety, security, speed, efficiency and flexibility,” Scimeca said.

Fifth Third Bank will handle the processing of the cards, but the devices will accept any credit or debit cards.

“It allows us to provide another avenue of convenience in technology to our merchants,” Fifth Third regional market manager Larry Koops said.

The self-service technology is relatively new to the restaurant industry — estimates vary on the number of restaurants nationally that have adopted the wireless processors, from as low as 30 to several hundred. Furthermore, Alpen Rose may be the first in the country to have the new terminals accept debit cards by cardholders punching in their personal code, Scimeca said.

“It’s not only a win for the restaurant industry, but it’s a bigger win for the consumer,” said Craig Bickley, a board member of the Michigan Restaurant Association and chief operating officer at Computer Decisions Inc., a Farmington Hills-based company that sells wireless-card processors.

Wireless credit card devices have been in use for the past five or six years at various venues, such as the Palace of Auburn Hills, but still involve the customer handing over a card to the server to run through.

Thursday, February 22, 2007
The Grand Rapids Press

HOLLAND — This May, Tulip Time visitors will be able to enjoy a glass of wine as they catch a prime seat for the festival’s parades.

The City Council has given New Holland Brewing Co. and AlpenRose restaurants permission to keep their fenced sidewalk cafes open during the parades.

Last year, New Holland Brewing Co. became the first restaurant to enter into an agreement with the city to turn a public flower bed into dining space.

On Wednesday, council gave AlpenRose permission to transform the flower bed outside its restaurant.

The city and the restaurant will split the $1,300 cost to install snowmelt under the space.

The rest of the transformation will be funded by AlpenRose.

More outside dining will give downtown a cosmopolitan feel found in bigger cities such as Chicago and Grand Rapids, city officials said.

“Customers have shown the kind of dining experience they prefer, and I think AlpenRose is responding to that,” Mayor Al McGeehan said.

On Wednesday, council also amended its ordinance to allow sidewalk cafes from March 1 to Dec. 1 and will allow only fenced-in cafés to stay open during the parades because of the labor involved in removing and installing the fences.

Councilman Mike Trethewey expressed concern the sidewalk cafes could cut into the public viewing areas for the parade.