Lightspeed: setting the table for restaurant ambitions

Lightspeed, a global technology platform from Canada, is at the forefront of providing cloud-based point of sale (POS) and commerce solutions to small and medium-sized businesses in the retail and hospitality sectors. Their comprehensive suite includes POS systems, inventory management, customer engagement tools, and, recently, embedded payments. In 2020, Lightspeed turned to Adyen to power the payment solutions for their hospitality vertical, Lightspeed Restaurant. They wanted to move from a referral model to an embedded payments offering to unlock new revenue opportunities.  The collaboration initially began with Adyen enhancing their POS system, then evolved into Lightspeed utilizing Adyen’s white-label solutions for their branded Lightspeed Payments offering. This evolution marked a pivotal shift in their business operations and revenue streams.  Boukan Edible Bliss, a Haitian fusion restaurant in Toronto, is one of Lightspeed’s platform users benefitting from this partnership. Discover the journey firsthand as we delve into insights from Boukan’s owner, Ricardo Province, their business manager, Francine Joseph, and Lightspeed’s GM of Hospitality, Peter Dougherty, as they shed light on how Adyen is shaping payments for Lightspeed’s clientele.

Lightspeed wasn’t new to payments when they partnered with Adyen. They had experience working with a collection of payment service providers, but those providers came with various limitations.  In some cases, their solutions weren’t ready to be white labeled, and if they were, critical APIs were missing. In other cases, they couldn’t automate onboarding or scale globally.  Lightspeed faced a unique challenge in serving the dynamic landscape of the food and beverage industry, especially restaurants striving to create exceptional guest experiences in high-volume or complex environments. “We help them understand the lever they need to pull to help grow their business,” says Peter.  To help power that lever, and propel their platform revenue forward on their payments journey, Lightspeed turned to Adyen.

Can you feel the revenue tonight?

Lightspeed’s journey into embedded payments wasn’t a sprint; it was a well-thought-out strategy designed to increase revenue and stickiness to its users. While Lightspeed might have entered the embedded payments space a little later than other SaaS platforms utilizing touchscreen/iPad POS technology, Adyen for Platforms gave them the right tools to implement their solutions, get to market quickly, and iterate as they saw fit.  "The first step in the journey for any restaurant embarking on the Lightspeed partnership is to sign up for the payments offering. Our ability to integrate comprehensive underwriting and risk assessment directly into Adyen sets us apart. We loved that we could put the Lightspeed brand at the forefront." - Peter Dougherty, Lightspeed's GM of Hospitality Adyen for Platforms empowers Lightspeed Restaurant with the capabilities to provision platform users effortlessly and keep transactions flowing through their system smoothly. “We used to navigate a different system of third-party payment service providers. Now, with Lightspeed integrated with Adyen, it's all streamlined. Funds arrive in our bank account faster,” says Ricardo. Francine adds, "This efficiency isn't just about receiving payments faster; it's also about effectively compensating our customers."  Adyen’s tools grant Lightspeed control to oversee every facet of their platform users’ journey, freeing them to focus on their core restaurant operations. That journey starts with their terminals. 

Don’t go breaking my terminal

Within Lightspeed’s vast hospitality community, users have many unique customer needs. Thankfully, with its extensive array of terminals like the NYC1 and AMS1, Adyen aligns with Lightspeed’s commitment to meeting these requirements. 

Shedding light on the practical benefits, Francine adds: “One standout feature, both operationally and from a customer’s perspective, is the split bill option. That's very helpful when we have large groups. It streamlines the process, making it super efficient.” Adyen for Platforms enables platforms to onboard users with POS integrations to accept in-person payments. For small and medium-sized businesses, reliability is paramount. Any downtime has a material impact on their business. Additionally, they need in-person payments that can scale with their business at cost.  “Coming from a humble 12-seater to a bustling 65-seat restaurant demanded a more intuitive, insightful solution. With our expanding staff and customer base, we needed a tool to capture the growth of our business operations,” explains Francine. Adyen and Lightspeed’s collaborative partnership is a testament to their shared commitment to creating functional hardware for platform users’ unique journeys. Whether it’s being first to Tap to Pay on iPhone or the NYC1, Lightspeed knows they can count on Adyen to be running ahead of the curve, ensuring they move forward in perfect sync.

Goodbye data silos

For Lightspeed Restaurants, data from in-person payments are vital to success. For their payments data to be most effective, a Unified Commerce approach is mandatory. Connected systems for platform users mean less time spent on reconciliation and payroll and more time spent understanding customer insights.   Peter explains, “We’re consolidating not only payment transactions data but also data from restaurant operations, previously unconnected data points that drive many insights for restaurateurs. Being able to do this globally, with many diverse restaurants, requires a platform and a partner that allows for a ton of customization.” Leveraging Adyen for Platforms customizable white-label solutions, Lightspeed simplifies complexity for their users and saves them time and money.

Payments seem to be the hardest task

Lightspeed must embrace various local payment methods to thrive as a global platform. Adyen for Platforms’ ability to accept a broad spectrum of offerings allows Lightspeed Restaurant to expand into new markets. From day one, Adyen expertly manages compliance.

In Australia, it’s typical that the restaurant will surcharge the transaction fee to the customers. Adyen provides compliance protocols that can ease the complexity for a company like Lightspeed. Peter adds: “There are card brand rules, compliance requirements, guest and customer experience customization. Bringing all this together with a technology provider capable of creating those great experiences while remaining compliant is no easy feat.”

With their adoption of embedded payments, Lightspeed is experiencing tremendous growth. In their Q1 earnings for FY 2024, Lightspeed reported 56% year over year growth in gross payment volume to $5.1 billion.  The revenue gains Lightspeed sees from the increased bonds with their users make them enthusiastic about a future with embedded finance. Peter adds: “Financial technology is evolving rapidly. We aim to expand our offerings in payments capital issuing. With Adyen, we have somebody building technology that is not only future-proof but also focused on innovation.” Without innovation, payments become a mere commodity. Together, Adyen and Lightspeed are committed to making payments as seamless as possible for platform users across the globe. Shared ambitions bind Lightspeed and Adyen together. The future is bright.