Tom Reaney knows his market. Reaney’s market stall, Burger Bear, is possibly the first in London to accept Bitcoin payments.
Burger Bear began accepting Bitcoins in late November, but it was only two weeks later that it made its first BTC-burger transaction.
The Burger Bear market stall sets up shop two days a week at Red Market in East London, just a two-minute walk from the Old Town Roundabout and the epicenter of London’s tech scene.
If anyone in London is going to buy food in digital currencies, it’s the lunchtime crowd around the Silicon Roundabout.
Bitcoin is not the first payment innovation Reaney has introduced to his burger pop-up. Since opening in May 2012, Burger Bear also adopted iZettle, becoming the first London shop to do so.
iZettle works like Sqaure in the US, allowing small merchants to process credit card payments from their tablets and smartphones.
“A lot of my crowd are the coders, the geeks and the freaks on the digital scene,” Reaney told CoinDesk. “I love it. It’s cool to keep in tune with these guys.”
Burger Bear customer Ryan Holder confirmed this market analysis. Holder, who first dabbled in Bitcoin mining in 2009, got back into the currency this year and was enthusiastic about the new possibilities available to users.
“[W]hat I really wanted to do was buy food with Bitcoin,” he said. “In the worst case scenario, at least you want to be able to buy food with your currency.”
London readers can check Burger Bear’s whereabouts here: https://www.facebook.com/burgerbeartom