CLEVELAND — At Corner 11, the menu is stacked with favorites: poke bowls with unlimited toppings, bowls of ramen, and even a 5% discount if you pay in cash on Thursdays and Fridays.
Owner Thiwaporn Sirisuwan has run the shop since 2018, weathering COVID-19, inflation, and even this year’s egg shortage, a key ingredient in ramen. She admits keeping prices steady hasn’t been easy.
“You know right now the worker wage higher. Everything higher. Expense when you go to Walmart or grocery store. It’s higher. But we are still not increasing the price here,” she said.
One way she makes it work is by encouraging customers to pay in cash. By skipping credit card processing fees, she says both the business and the diners save.
“The credit card processor fee is about 3%. And it’s convenient for us if we don’t have to use it. So we offer the customer 5% off if you pay cash,” Sirisuwan said.
The practice is becoming more common as food prices rise. From 2015 to 2022, cash purchases with discounts jumped 66%, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
Adam Rust, director of financial services at the Consumer Federation of America, said the fees can be especially tough for restaurants.
“So if you’re a restaurant you’re seeing a substantial cost. Passing it along to consumers is certainly a fair proposition,” Rust said.
Customers are split. Some, like Alisse Nowak, are happy to support a local business.
“They’re a local business so I’d help in that way,” Nowak said.
At Corner 11, most transactions are still on plastic. But cash helps keep costs from climbing higher, and gives customers a chance to save a few bucks on their next meal.
Sirisuwan says people are paying so much for everything else right now, and she wants to keep prices down at her restaurant.
