Visa and Schwartz Brothers Restaurants Cook Up A Winning Combination

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Building the tradition of excellence

The Schwartz Brothers Restaurants story begins in 1970, when brothers Bill and John Schwartz opened the doors to The Butcher Restaurant in Bellevue, Washington. Since then, Schwartz Brothers Restaurants has expanded to include a number of highly distinguished restaurants throughout the greater Seattle area, including the award-winning Daniel’s Broiler steakhouse, which consistently ranks among the 100 busiest independent restaurants in the country.

Commitment towards quality

“Daniel’s Broiler has built its reputation by being the only major steakhouse in the region to exclusively serve USDA prime beef,” explained Lindsey Schwartz, president of Schwartz Brothers Restaurants, and proud son of founder Bill Schwartz. “Prime is the top two percent of all graded beef in the nation. It may cost us more money to use such high quality beef, but it’s important for us to only serve the very best.”

Schwartz’s customers appreciate that dedication to quality, and often select Daniel’s Broiler as their restaurant of choice for special occasions. “People come to us when they have something to celebrate and they want to treat themselves to an exceptional meal,” said Schwartz. “Our job is to make their experience as pleasant as possible, from start to finish. That’s one of the reasons why we accept Visa.”

A worry-free experience for the customer

From the beginning, Visa has been a key ingredient for the Schwartz Brothers Restaurants’ success. “We have been accepting Visa since 1970,” said Schwartz. “It’s always been one of our most popular cards—I would hate to even think about what would happen to our business if we didn’t accept Visa.”

The primary benefit of being a Visa acceptor, says Schwartz, is providing a convenience to customers. “Since we’re a higher-end dining establishment, average guest charges can range from $70 to $80 per person. Obviously, people prefer not to have to carry around that kind of cash in their wallet. With Visa, they can just come in and use their card.”

Many of Schwartz’s corporate customers appreciate the simplified expensing that results from using a Visa card. “We have a fair amount of business people who dine at our restaurants,” said Schwartz. “They definitely welcome the ability to charge the meal to their card rather than having to take cash out of their pocket and get reimbursed for it later. It just makes life easier for them.”

Security and streamlined operations

Visa also makes life easier for the restaurant from an operations perspective. “In the restaurant business—particularly a high volume one like Daniel’s Broiler—you can have multiple employees handling financial transactions with customers,” said Schwartz. “Visa provides a paper trail and makes balancing the books at the end of the night a little more straightforward. You don’t have to spend a lot of time counting cash from different employees.”

Using Visa to process customer transactions also provides an advantage to restaurateurs from a security standpoint. “Anytime you have a large pile of cash lying around the building, there’s a risk involved—be it fire, theft, or whatever,” said Schwartz. “Since we do nearly 90 percent of our business in credit cards, we don’t have as much cash on the premises, which removes a large part of that risk.”

Helping manage all aspects of business

Schwartz also uses a Visa Business card behind the scenes to procure supplies for his restaurants. “We try to put as many purchases as we can on our Visa Business card,” said Schwartz. “We charge everything from liquor purchases to menus to furniture and fixtures. Using Visa for purchases is much quicker and easier than having to set up an account with a vendor and fill out a credit application.”

From front-of-the-house interactions with customers to back office operations, Visa touches nearly every aspect of Schwartz Brothers Restaurants. “The best part about being in the restaurant business is taking care of people and making them happy,” said Schwartz. “And, in a sense, that’s what Visa does for me in a lot of different ways: it takes care of business and keeps me happy.”