With it being Good Friday today, Canada is enjoying a statutory holiday. For the most part, stores are closed throughout the nation. Many restaurants, of course, will still be open for business. But generally, business owners can take today as a day of rest. No matter what your beliefs are, we’re sure you can agree that sometimes rest can be good.

In fact, rest can always be good, it just seems that as a business owner, it feels like getting any rest is next to impossible. Even on holidays, your mind is likely constantly racing about what needs to be done the second your doors are open for business again. Well, today we’d like to provide some advice that’s a bit different from our usual dose of helpfulness.

Take it easy. Sometimes taking a load off is actually what is best for your business. Consider your business your body, if you will. Ask any fitness enthusiast and he or she will tell you that rest is important for the health of your body. So while you may assume that constantly working out is what will keep you fit and in shape, lack of rest can be harmful to your body.

Well, your mind works much the same way. Sometimes you simply need to let it relax so that it can recharge. Your business is obviously affected by the way you think about it. Although you are generally thinking of ways to improve things around your store and increase sales, you should remember that you are allowed moments when you don’t need to think about anything.

Sometimes the best ideas can come to you when you’re not even trying to think of one. We’d like to share an interesting story from one of our amazing clients that speak to this point. “The idea came to me in a dream,” he explained of why he decided to renovate his store a year ago, “I was getting concerned that business wasn’t picking up like I expected it to last summer.”

“My wife was starting to get worried because she noticed how frustrated I was getting. And my frustration was growing on a daily basis,” he continued, “She advised me to take a vacation. I thought she was nuts considering how much work I felt needed to be done. But after careful consideration, I finally decided to take a week off and let her handle things.”

“About two days into my vacation, I had a dream about my store. It wasn’t my actual store but one that looked a lot more classy. When I woke up the next morning, I knew I needed to make some changes. And when I made that dream come true, I ended up pulling in more business. Sometimes you just need to relax to make things right…and listen to your wife!”

Wouldn’t it be nice to take a vacation whenever you felt like it? Wouldn’t it be great to drive a different car into work every day? These questions have all the makings of the beginning a commercial for your local lottery, don’t they? The point of these questions, however, is to get you to imagine the possibilities that would come with having extra money.

Now, by no means, are we trying to say that participating in our merchant cash advance program is like winning the lottery. But, then again, it similarly offers Canadian business owners the possibilities of doing so much more with their businesses. Is there anything you can think of that you would like to do with your business that you haven’t done due to lack of funding?

Some business owners give up on their aspirations simply because they feel that they cannot afford to make any changes. These same owners are often the ones that have experience visiting their local banks in an attempt to secure bank loans to assist their businesses with growth.

At Synergy Merchant Services, we certainly don’t give away money for free – again, it’s not like our clients have won the lottery! But what we do, here at Synergy, is provide Canadian business owners with a quick and easy solution to the “I don’t have enough money” problem.

Unlike a bank, we don’t enforce any rules on our clients in terms of what they do with the money they receive. If they really do want to go on vacation, or by a new car, that’s completely up to them. Naturally, we recommend that they put their merchant cash advances towards growing their businesses.

The most popular choices of our clients are renovations, expansion, buying new equipment, stocking up with new inventory and advertising. Of course, all of these options are great ones that do help business owners make more money. And that is the point of our program.

A merchant cash advance is best suited for business owners who know how to make money from money. Then again, that should be characteristic of any business owner. But, as we mentioned, we do realize that many owners do away with their dreams of growing their businesses for fear that the required funding will never be made available.

We encourage you to contact one of our licensed funding specialists at your earliest convenience. We strongly believe that once you have had your first conversation, your eyes will be opened to the possibilities that you may have before considered unreachable. We look forward to speaking to you soon about your new future!

Let’s take a hypothetical trip down “Merchant Cash Advance Lane”. Today, we’d like to present a fictional representation about how Synergy Merchant Services’ cash advance program works. Our business model is such that we encourage Canadian business owners to grow their businesses.

So let’s say you owned a lemonade stand. (Please keep in mind that this hypothetical example is completely on a much smaller scale than the parameters for our actual program.) And you found out that lemons were going on sale for half price for today only. Now you don’t have any cash on you but you would really like to pick up those lemons to increase the amount of lemonade that you can sell.

So you decide to ask your friend – “the bank” – for ten dollars. Before this friend of yours loans you the money, it is highly probable that he will have to contact the rest of your friends to ask whether or not you have ever borrowed money from any of them. Looking into your credit history would be an important step for this friend to take before letting you borrow anything.

Chances are this friend may also ask for you to forfeit your lemonade stand if you are unable to pay back the money you borrowed. Sounds like an unreasonable request, right? But this is what your friend, “the bank” is known for – requesting collateral. He has no intention of losing out on this deal. After all, you plan on buying lemons with his money, not yours!

After this usually long process has been completed, if your friend loans you the ten dollars, he will expect you to pay it back in…say, daily installments. “One dollar a day,” he insists. And when that first dollar is paid, don’t expect to only owe nine dollars. You are being charged interest. So whatever you pay will go towards covering your interest charges before the principal balance.

“What happens if I miss a payment?” you ask. “Well, I may increase your interest rate, charge you a late fee and even take over that lemonade stand of yours,” he replies. Sounds like a hard deal to agree to, but “the bank” has been your friend for years and besides…you don’t have any other alternatives.

But wait! Before you make the decision to borrow the ten dollars, you meet someone new. This new friend is not willing to loan you any money but instead would like to buy some of your future lemonade sales. The person – “the cash advancer” – is aware that you sell lemonade and trusts that you will continue to do so in the future.

Instead of charging you interest, “the cash advancer” is willing to advance you the ten dollars under the agreement that you will repay him fifteen dollars in the future. “You have no time limit,” he explains, “Simply pay me a small percentage of each of your lemonade sales until you’re able to pay off the entire fifteen dollars.”

“It doesn’t matter how long it takes for you to pay me back. If you don’t sell any lemonade one day, you don’t owe me anything,” he continues. Now you get to buy those lemons at the low cost and sell more lemonade than you ever have before! No hassles and no risk! Wouldn’t it be nice if we all friends like this?

In yesterday’s blog, we discussed the benefits of blogging. All week, our blogs have been taking a look at various ways in which business owners can grow their companies. Renovating gives your client base the feeling that you are on top of things and are willing to work to keep things fresh. Being stocked with the latest inventory says you can always be relied on.

In addition, daily blogging says to your customer base that you want to keep them informed and that you are always keeping up with the times. Just as importantly for your business, your blog is a great way to drive more traffic to your website and increase your customer base.

BlogBuildingU.com lists several ways in which blogs can help your company. Revisiting this list, we’d like to mention yet another important benefit to blog writing. As the site points out, daily blogs help to “humanize” your company. It gives readers the impression that they are communicating with a person and not a “corporate entity”.

Blogs can help build buzz about your business without being an overt commercial advertisement. The personal touch given to blogs helps to communicate to your readers that you are interested in being in direct contact with your clients. As BlogBuildingU.com puts it, “your business can get in front of the audience regularly through a blog.”

Some blogs also allow for readers to communicate right back. We often encourage our readers to e-mail us with questions or even suggestions for future blogs. Making your blog not only about your company about your loyal “fan base” is an important way to develop customer loyalty.

“Generate more sales, writes BlogBuildingU.com, “Through educational marketing, you can build interest and drive more sales naturally. You can also make use of the blogs to build buzz about your product. Software companies are able to increase sales by 100% or more just by giving free copies to bloggers, who in turn review it on their blogs.”

As always, we hope that our blogs have been both informative and enlightening. Of course, we recommend that you get your own daily blog started if you haven’t already. You don’t have to be the best writer in the world. In fact, many business owners hire blog writers if they are not confident with writing themselves.

At the end of the day, building your business through a blog is a cost-effective way to stay relevant in your industry. Blogs help you to grow your sales, increase your audience and have fun!

Throughout this week, we have been blogging about different ways that you can either change or add to your business in order to help it grow. As we mentioned in Monday’s blog, change is pretty much necessary in order to keep up with the ever-growing demands of your customers.

Being ahead of the game is something we mentioned in yesterday’s blog. Buying inventory well ahead of the months in which you will be selling them is an important trait to have as a business owner who always wants to outshine his or her competition. Keeping with that trend, we wanted to revisit another method by which entrepreneurs can continually draw attention to their businesses.

The Synergy Merchant Services Blog has been updated daily for the past couple of years and it has made a lot of difference in the amount of hits our website gets. The number of times that our company’s website shows up in search engines has increased significantly, as well. These are just a couple of the reasons that, if you don’t have a blog, it’s time to get one started.

BlogBuildingU.com describes “blog marketing” as a strategy that utilizes the writing of daily blogs as an online marketing vehicle. Blogs have been known to increase sales and brand awareness, build the visibility of your company and generate leads to grow your customer base.

As our long list of blog entries will showcase, a daily blog can be about just about anything relevant to your business. Everything from discussing current events to providing top industry tips, blogs can be both entertaining and informative. BlogBuildingU.com encourages business owners to post news and information about industry events in order to keep customers updated about their companies.

One of the overall goals, of course, is to establish better communication with your client base. Your blogs help to create a dialog between you and the people who are most interested in the products and services that you have to offer. However, the benefits of having a daily blog don’t stop there!

As BlogBuildingU.com suggests, your blog provides your company with a marketing platform. It gives your company the opportunity to showcase its “expert status” by sharing information and insights about various topics. In the time that Synergy has maintained its daily blog status, we have developed a loyal readership as well as grown our client base.

Not to mention, the research put into many of our blogs has helped us to grow and develop our own business knowledge. As they say, you’re never too old to learn new things! We will continue to take a look at the benefits of blogging in tomorrow’s entry. We look forward to having you visit us again!

Summer is coming! And yes, we know that spring has just barely gotten underway. But with the snow having melted and likely not to return until next winter, we couldn’t help but express our excitement. There’s a lot to love about the warm summer months. Barbeques, dips in the pool and not having to lug around a heavy jacket are just a few of summer’s perks.

For the most part, our clients generally love the summer months as well. It’s not uncommon for retailers to experience a boost in sales when the weather is hot. It only makes sense, considering that the sunny skies invite people to leave their homes more often.

For this reason, we often encourage our clients to think about ways in which they can boost their sales during the summer. Now just because summer is on the way, there is no reason for a business owner to simply sit back and assume that sales will pick up. It’s in the months before summer starts that they must prepare to stock their stores and advertise their goods.

Restaurants, for example, enjoy major spikes in business during the summer months. Of course, eateries with patios are able to open them up in order to seat a lot more patrons. Offering customers the option of sitting either inside or outside is a great way to increase business during the summer.

Many of our clients who have not yet opened a patio like taking their merchant cash advances to build one! Are you a restaurant owner? Have you ever thought of building a patio for your restaurant to seat extra customers? But you just weren’t sure where to get the money to do so?

One of our licensed funding specialists would be more than happy to discuss your options with you. A phone call today could mean a new patio this summer!  Clothing retailers, also enjoy a boost in sales even in the months leading up to the summer. Of course, many people like to be up on the latest fashions so as to not be unprepared when the temperature rises.

Have you stocked your store with summer inventory yet? Are you still unsure of how to afford those new shipments of summer clothing that could really help your sales figures in the coming months? Give us a call today and discover how quick and easy it can be to help your business enjoy its best summer yet!

Have you ever watched “The Apprentice”? Donald Trump’s reality show, sometimes known as “The Celebrity Apprentice” when it features celebrities playing for charity, is the perfect example of what business owners practice on a daily basis. And that, of course, is the practice of making money. Who doesn’t like doing that?

Sensibly, it takes money to make money. And this show has quite often shown contestants taking a sum of money to develop a business idea that, in turn, will earn them as much money as possible in return. Every business needs start up money, right? Gathering your inventory and advertising your business are just two of the first steps entrepreneurs must take.

Naturally, the contestants who make the most money on “The Apprentice” end up being the most successful. The premise of using money to make money is exactly what Synergy’s merchant cash advance program is based on. Quite often, our clients mention that they “have enough money” when they first hear of the program.

We understand that skepticism is usually the main reason that potential clients express this response. However, once they discover how quick and easy it is to get approved for a merchant cash advance, they begin thinking of ways to make the money work for them. Renovating, advertising, buying new inventory or equipment and expansion are among the most popular choices.

“Winning” is the name of the game. Just ask Charlie Sheen! On “The Apprentice”, contestants vie to win a job working for Donald Trump’s organization. In real life, the job of any business owner is to be a leader in his or her respective industry. Knowing how to properly spend money in order to make money back is the way to achieve this.

What can you do to outshine your competition? How can you position your business in such a way that your customers will want to come to you time and time again? Answering these other questions will help you to decide how to use a merchant cash advance the right way. In other words, our money can help you win!

Then again, perhaps we should rephrase that last sentence. A merchant cash advance is YOUR money. When Synergy purchases your future credit and debit sales, the money we used to pay of them is yours to do with what you like. Putting that money towards the growth of your business is how you can become the Donald Trump of your industry!

Renovating happens to be one of the most popular choices of our clients for things to do with their merchant cash advances. It rarely ever is a bad thing to spruce things up. Your company image should especially be kept fresh to keep up with both the advances in technology and the needs of your customers.

For example, if your store signage does not include your company’s website, perhaps it’s time to get a new one. It has become common knowledge that many customers flock to business websites before traveling to a store to make a purchase. Browsing for various items and comparing prices on the internet has become a common practice.

SmallBusinessNotes.com defines a company’s image as a combination of the thoughts, feelings, beliefs, opinions and visions people have about you, your products and services, or your company.” So, in other words, the image of your business is not one you necessarily decide. It’s based on what others think about your company.

The website believes that your company image is a simple concept. The most successful businesses are the one that create images that are very easily described and recognized by their target audiences. However, your company image is also complex in that it is made up of a variety of elements.

These elements, writes SmallBusinessNotes.com, include your company’s “advertising, marketing, communications, publicity, store locations, prices and product positioning.” What is the identity you want your business to encapsulate in the marketplace? Keep in mind that your competition may present the same image.

The question then becomes, what can you do to present a superior image to that of your competitors? This is where being on top of your game and consistently freshening things up comes into play. Your website should always look updated, but of course, so should your place of business.

SmallBusinessNotes.com writes that two chains within the same industry can provide different images based on the respective looks of the stores. Says the site: “One chain might not be as clean or brightly lit as another. Its employees might not be as helpful and friendly. You may choose the clean, brightly lit, friendly store because of those image attributes alone.”

Other important factors to consider to make sure you provide a positive image of your company include your company logo, your product packaging, how your employees interact with your customers, how your phones are answered and how your employees are dressed.

Are you planning a trip to Hawaii next month? Most people would likely answer “no”, although they wish the answer could be a loud “yes”. For the most part, people don’t make plans unless they have the money and time to fulfill them. Now, what if you did have the money and availability to take yourself to a sunny Hawaiian beach in the next few weeks? Chances are you would.

This is the same type of sentiment felt among business owners all throughout Canada. Generally speaking, all entrepreneurs have plans for how they would like to expand and grow their businesses. The only problem is that they don’t always have the money necessary to accomplish these goals.

But what if you did have the money? Would you renovate? Many business owners feel that all their businesses need in order to be taken to the next level is to spruce things up a bit. New signage, better in-store layouts, updated furnishings…anything to make the business look fresher and more appealing.

How about some good old advertising? So many business owners clamour for the opportunity to have their companies advertised on television. Or at the very least, in newspapers, magazines of even bus shelters. Once again, the dilemma lies in not having the working capital necessary to pull off this marketing strategy.

Business owners always have ideas. We have come to know this all too well, here at Synergy. The problem, of course, is that going the way of the traditional bank loan has often proven to be a futile course of action. This is where we come in. Synergy’s merchant cash advance program works to make dreams come true in ways that a bank cannot.

Simply put, a merchant cash advance is the quickest and easiest way for a Canadian business owner to get the money necessary to renovate or advertise his or her company. Turned down by the bank? Not willing to put your house, car or business up for collateral? Tired of having interest accrue on your balances?

No problem. None of these things come into play with a merchant cash advance. Speak to one of our funding specialists today. You will see that your Visa, MasterCard and Interac sales are more valuable to you than you may realize. By taking a look at these sales, we can determine how much money can be made available to your business without any collateral.

No interest either! We simply charge a one time fee. Find out how much it will cost you to get a cash advance by giving us a call. Realize your dreams. And realize that they are not just dreams but possibilities that can become actualities by just taking the chance to try something new. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

To introduce our merchant cash advance program to small and medium-sized business owners all over Canada, we offer free quotes with no obligation to take any money. Very simply, our quotes entail how much money a business is qualified for, what the cost of the advance will be and what percentage of the merchant’s future credit and debit sales will be used for repayment.

Now we know what most people think when they hear the word “free”. Nothing in life is “free”, right? To be clear, we do not charge any interest rate when providing business owners with our funding option. We do, however, charge a one time fee which will be revealed during the free quote.

There we go with that word again! Yes, our quotes are free. Not only does it cost an owner nothing to get this very valuable information, but it also comes with the promise of not being obligated to participate in the program. Our funding specialists are very confident that the various benefits offered by our merchant cash advance program will encourage business owners to consider it as a funding option.

Consider this. When going into a bank to secure a bank loan, a business owner must be prepared to fulfill a number of requirements. Nothing is free, remember? Often, collateral is expected to be put up to borrow money from a bank. This usually involves putting up one’s home, car or business on the line. Now, who truly wants to risk all of that?

At Synergy Merchant Services, we base our free quotes…yes, FREE quotes…on a merchant’s Visa, MasterCard and Interac sales. The amount of money your company processes on a monthly basis is the number that best helps our funding specialists determine how much money your company would be eligible for.

Without having to forfeit any collateral, you can be approved for a merchant cash advance that you can receive within five business days. The cost of the advance is different for every business owner. This is why our funding specialists would like to review your sales with you. They help to determine how much you can afford.

Every quote is catered specifically to each business owner. No two quotes are the same because we recognize that no two businesses are the same. We know that, generally speaking, nothing in life is free. But we promise that our free quotes will give you the information you need to make a wise decision about the funding options available to your company.

Over the past week or so, we have been blogging about this year’s CRFA Show. And although this year’s awesome hospitality event ended yesterday, Synergy Merchant Services would like to take this opportunity to both thank and congratulate the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association for yet another incredible experience.

Our fourth consecutive year at the CRFA Show, Synergy Merchant Services was given the amazing opportunity to meet with business owners from all over the country. Predominantly in the restaurant and food supplying business, of course, these entrepreneurs are among our favourite people to work with.

That is because these hard working business owners are already very well aware that attempting to secure financing from their local banks is no easy feat. Working with restaurants, say most traditional banking institutions, is “risky business”. “How else are we supposed to grow our businesses?” asked one of the visitors to the CRFA Show when this topic arose.

Evidently, this is a sentiment shared among many in the restaurant business. They are aware that without major assets that can be used as collateral, banks are rarely willing to supply the funding necessary to help their businesses grow. The answer to the above question then, is a merchant cash advance!

One of the reasons we love working with restaurateurs is because we know that their businesses are open more often than any other. Weekends and holidays…you can still count on restaurants to be serving the public. This generally helps restaurant owners get approved for merchant cash advances because their businesses accept many credit and debit card payments.

Not only do these sales allow for them to secure funding through a merchant cash advance but it also makes their payback processes a breeze. As some of our new friends were made aware over the past few days, a merchant cash advance is paid back through a small percentage of a merchant’s future credit and debit sales.

There is no risk on the business owner’s behalf, as no collateral is necessary. Over the years, we have found that doing business with restaurants isn’t so risky for us either. We look forward to building new relationships with all of the business owners we met this week. As always, the CRFA Show has lived up to its billing, allowing us to continue to grow our business while we help other businesses do the same.

So another CRFA Show has come and gone. And we, here at Synergy Merchant Services, already can’t wait for next year’s event! As expected, the annual hospitality event put on by the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association was an incredible success. We have spent the last three days meeting business owners of all kinds and having a wonderful time speaking to each of them.

Perhaps, not surprisingly, many of our new friends were hearing about merchant cash advance for the first time. So, naturally, we were only too pleased to fill them in on all the benefits that our program has to offer. Of course, there were many types of entrepreneurs who came to this year’s CRFA Show. And not all of them owned stores or restaurants that accepted credit and debit cards.

So while our merchant cash advance program wasn’t exactly suited to each business owner’s company, our promotional gifts sure were! As we have done in the past, Synergy Merchant Services adopts a flyer that is designed to look like a Canadian one hundred dollar bill to promote our company.

In CRFA Shows of past, we would keep a plate of these one hundred dollar bills in stacks at our booth only to find that they would end up missing by the end of the three day event! Evidently, everyone loves money…even if it isn’t real. Keeping in mind how popular this marketing strategy has been, we came up with an even more inventive way to use our phony bill flyers this year.

Synergy’s Vice President of Marketing, John Meloche hasn’t earned his title for nothing. He sure knows how to market and promote. And he also knows how to have a good time too. Along with a few other members of the Synergy staff, John took a stroll throughout the luxurious Direct Energy Centre over the past few days randomly dropping one hundred dollar bills every several steps.

“Excuse me sir, you dropped something!”. “Oh, is that yours?”. “I think some money fell out of your pocket!”. These and many other exclamations of kindness poured out of passersby each and every day. To John’s delight, he was only too happy to reply that he “had plenty more where that came from!”

For many visitors to the show, a big laugh came out when they realized that the money dropped to the floor was a phony bill…but a great marketing tool nonetheless. At times, John and his team would walk briskly enough through the building so as to not get stopped by people noticing the fallen money.

Seeing the curious expressions on the faces of those who ran to pick up the lost hundred dollars was a priceless experience. Of course, each CRFA Show is an amazing experience and we would like to send a special hello to everyone we met this year. If you missed out on this year’s event, we certainly hope you’ll take advantage of the great benefits that will be provided to you at next year’s show.

Who knows? You may find a hundred dollars!

What an amazing time we’ve been having so far at this year’s CRFA Show. As we’ve been excitedly talking about for the past few weeks, Synergy Merchant Services is a proud member of the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association, and we are at our fourth consecutive CRFA Show right now!

Beginning yesterday, this incredible annual event has already given us the amazing opportunity to meet with so many different members of the restaurant and foodservices industry. Developing relationships with these professionals in person is not something we are always able to do. So we are so grateful when we get the chance to do so.

We’ve already enjoyed hearing some interesting stories and realizing how small the world is. Apparently, we know so many people who know people we know! And that’s just how networking works isn’t it? Meeting like-minded professionals at the CRFA Show is one of the biggest benefits that the event provides.

Building these relationships is what allows for the name of your business to be spread in a positive way. Because you are able to provide that personal touch, you know that the meeting will be a meaningful one. Your rapport developing skills will definitely need to come into play to help build your business along with helping others to do the same.

As if that wasn’t reason enough to visit this year’s CRFA Show, today there’s another great line-up of seminars in store for you! Learning about various products, cooking techniques, recipes and restaurants through these seminars makes for your visit to the show to be an even more wondrous experience.

If you can get yourself to the CRFA Show today, here’s what is in store for you, according to CRFA.ca: “Mark McEwan at 11 and 2:30, Lynn Crawford at 11:30 and 3:30, Derrick Tu Tan Pho at 12:30, John Placko at 1, Susan Trianos at 2, Anna Olson at 4, Barista Latte Art at 5.”

In addition, you will have the opportunity to visit the over 1,200 exhibitor booths that provide countless samples of the most delicious foods. By the way, don’t forget to visit Synergy over at booth 1009. As always, we look forward to building our business relationships by helping businesses across Canada to grow. See you soon!

Well, we’re just a couple of short days away from this year’s CRFA Show at the Direct Energy Centre in downtown Toronto. And just in case you haven’t noticed yet, we couldn’t be more excited! This year’s event takes place between Sunday and Tuesday and Synergy Merchant Services will be awaiting you at booth 1009.

Be sure to come by and visit us. As we have been mentioning, the CRFA Show is an absolutely amazing experience for all visitors. Even if you’re not part of the restaurant and foodservices industry, there is so much for you to learn…and eat! That being said, the restaurant business is actually one that is tops among providing jobs in Canada.

Back in December, the CRFA’s website revealed the results of a Kraft Foodservice Canada-sponsored survey. It discovered that 22 per cent of Canadians say that they received their first jobs in the restaurant and foodservice industry. Polling over 1,000 Canadians, the public opinion survey reveals that the restaurant business is the top industry for offering people their first tastes of employment.

Retail, manufacturing, delivering newspapers and agriculture followed restaurants, in that order, for the top first job-providing industries in Canada. As well, 45 per cent of Canadian adults have a connection to the restaurant industry of some type. This refers to those who may have worked in or have had a family member work in the food field.

As a result, Canadians rank the restaurant industry very highly when it comes to it economic impact. In fact, 80 per cent of respondents feel that it is a “vital source of employment”. 70 per cent agree that it is “important” to the national economy. 75 per cent feel that working in restaurants helps young people to develop “crucial skills”.

Said Garth Whyte, the President and CEO of the CRFA: “This is the first study of its kind in Canada, providing us with a fascinating glimpse into how the restaurant industry is perceived by Canadians. It is important for policy-makers to understand that Canadians have a strong connection to the restaurant industry and value its contribution to jobs and the economy, and first-time jobs in particular.”

In addition, the survey also found that going out to eat at restaurants is a favourite choice among Canadians when it comes to leisure activities. When it comes to going out with family and friends, 28 per cent of respondents say that going to a restaurant is number one. Outdoor activities, going to a movie, going shopping and going to a concert followed in that order.

It is obvious that the restaurant industry is an important part of both the national economy and the overall happiness of our population. After all, who doesn’t like to go out to eat? Be sure you come out to eat this Sunday, Monday and Tuesday at the CRFA Show. The benefits to you and your business are endless! See you there!

This Sunday, Synergy Merchant Services will be making its way back to the Direct Energy Centre at Exhibition Place in Toronto for the CRFA Show. Our fourth consecutive visit to this annual hospitality event, Synergy is excitedly looking forward to what is one of our favourite times of the year.

As you may have guessed from our previous blogs, the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association provides the most sensational of live experiences for its members every year. With the opportunity to showcase one’s business at booths displaying products and information on services, CRFA members know that the annual show is a can’t-miss event.

Considering that the CRFA is known for lobbying on behalf of members of the restaurant and foodservices industries, you may be wondering how and why Synergy Merchant Services became a member. Well, aside from the fact that we love food, we also love helping to grow the restaurant business in Canada!

With many of our own clients being restaurant owners, we have become well aware over the years, that these entrepreneurs face great difficulty in securing financing for their businesses from banks. “They consider our business a great liability,” say many of our restaurateurs, “Apparently loaning money to restaurants is risky business.”

Our merchant cash advance program, on the other hand, works ideally for restaurant owners. Unlike most businesses, restaurants are open almost all the time. We’re talking weekends and even holidays – you can often trust a restaurant to open its doors to its customers when they are need of filling their bellies.

Because our program is based predominantly on a merchant’s Visa, MasterCard and Interac sales – methods of payment common in restaurants – it helps for our clients to be easily eligible for an advance. In addition, it makes for the repayment process to be an effortless one.

Best of all, restaurant owners do not ever have to worry about losing any of their equipment or even the business itself in the process of securing the financing to grow their companies. This, of course, is because no collateral is necessary to be approved for a merchant cash advance.

We look forward to meeting with many more restaurant owners starting this Sunday at this year’s CRFA Show. Be sure to come and visit us by booth 1009. We are certain that your experience at this year’s event will have you leaving with a lot more confidence about your business’ future. That…and a full stomach!