Cash Quietly Fading From Vancouver Restaurants

Vancouver restaurants and tourist attractions are quietly ditching cash registers. What once seemed impossible—a fully digital payment ecosystem—is becoming the new normal across the city's service sector.

One example tells the story: a local restaurateur with eight healthy-food café locations converted entirely to digital payments during the pandemic and never looked back. What started as a health precaution became a permanent shift in how businesses operate. No cash drawers to manage, no till reconciliation, no cash handling risks.

But the trend raises real questions about who gets left behind. Seniors, undocumented workers, and people without bank accounts suddenly face barriers at everyday transactions. Some cities and countries have started legislating cash acceptance—Canada hasn't, yet. As Vancouver continues to go cashless, the conversation about financial inclusion is overdue.