Heartland POS pricing for restaurants: the Genius offer, fees and terms

Heartland's restaurant POS is now part of Genius for Restaurants from Global Payments. The Genius offer page prints one price: $0 for software, setup, hardware and shipping, for approved new merchants who sign a three-year contract, use 4% cash discounting and process at least $250,000 a year in cards. It prints no card rate, so card fees come from your quote.

So the real cost of Heartland sits in two places: the card rate on your quote, and what 4% cash discounting does to your prices. This page lists what Global Payments prints, how its cash discount, dual pricing and surcharge programs work, and a month worked through with labeled assumptions. For surcharge law and card-brand rules, see our guide to restaurant card processing fees.

Who sells Heartland's restaurant POS now?

Global Payments launched Genius on May 16, 2025, to bring its POS products onto one platform, and said in its launch release that Genius for Restaurants would debut at the National Restaurant Association show on May 17 for US and Canadian businesses. Heartland's own restaurant FAQ is marked "A Global Payments Company", and Global Payments' Genius restaurant help center now holds the Heartland Restaurant guides.

What does Global Payments print for Genius for Restaurants?

Each line below comes from the offer and its footnote on the Genius for Restaurants offer page, which Global Payments repeats on its Genius POS page. The funding line comes from the Genius POS page's FAQ.

Item	What Global Payments prints	What to check
Software, setup, hardware, shipping	Offer headline: "Get started for $0" with no subscription, setup, hardware or shipping fees	Only for new Genius merchants who apply and are approved
Card processing	"Processing fees and other charges still apply"; no rate printed	Get every card rate in writing
Devices covered	Up to 10 POS stations; for restaurants, 3 Sunmi P2 Pro handhelds count as 1 station	How many stations your floor needs
Contract	Three-year contract; "Early Termination Fee may apply"	The fee amount is not printed
Cash discounting	Offer terms: 4% cash discounting required	Whether it can end before the three years do
Minimum volume	Offer minimum: $250,000 in annual processing volume, and at least 2 months of processing statements for a quote	A new restaurant has no statements to show
No sales history	No history: "may be charged $150 per station"	The footnote does not say whether that is once or monthly
Quote	"Sales quote good for 15 days after receipt"	Compare quotes inside that window
Payments	Genius must process your card payments; funds usually arrive the next business day after settlement	You cannot bring your own processor on this offer

The Genius POS page answers its own pricing question this way: transaction fees, monthly fees and pricing "depend on the type of payment processed, whether the transaction is made in-store or online and other variables." Ask for a station price in writing if you do not qualify for the $0 offer.

How does the 4% cash discount work?

With cash discounting, your menu shows the card price and guests who pay cash get money off. Heartland's cash discount program article sets these rules:

• Volume: the program needs at least $50,000 a year in volume, a lower bar than the $250,000 the $0 offer asks for.
• One card rate: a single flat rate, supported between 3% and 4%, applies to card-present and card-not-present sales. The article does not print the rate you pay.
• Exclusions: PIN debit is not supported, and the program cannot run alongside surcharging. Your merchant category code must allow flat-rate pricing.
• Billing: choosing the program sets billing to Daily Net and removes the Monthly and Daily Split options.
• Signs: Heartland supplies printable signs for your door and counters.

At the register, the Genius cash discounting guide says the POS applies the discount by itself to any ticket paid in full with cash, and shows a Total Due and a Cash Total Due. It does not apply to cards, gift cards, custom tenders or partial cash payments, or to delivery charges and gratuities on the ticket. Staff cannot remove it once a ticket is paid in cash.

What about dual pricing and surcharging?

Genius offers two other ways to pass on card costs. Only one can run at a time.

• Dual pricing: the dual pricing guide marks card prices up, or cash prices down, by a percentage you set, with optional rounding. Only Global Payments staff can turn it on. While it runs, the kiosk, online ordering and Classic POS charge card prices only.
• Surcharge: the surcharge setup article allows exactly 3% on credit cards, on PAX S300, A920 and A35 devices. It cannot be added to debit, prepaid, EBT, gift card, swiped or typed-in payments. Global Payments says "a small fee" covers the program but prints no amount, and its article lists states where it will not surcharge. Check your state's current law before you pick this route.

What would a month cost? A worked example

Every input below is an assumption. A full-service restaurant takes $30,000 a month at menu prices, which under cash discounting are the card prices. Guests pay $25,500 by card and $4,500 by cash. That is $306,000 a year in card sales, above the offer's $250,000 minimum. The offer page prints no card rate, so the example uses a made-up flat 4%, the top of the range the cash discount article supports. Replace it with your quote.

Line	Assumed input	Monthly cost
Software, setup, hardware	The $0 offer, 3 stations	Software line: $0
Card processing	$25,500 at an assumed flat 4%	Card fee line: $1,020
Cash discount given	4% off $4,500 in cash tickets	Discount line: $180
Total	$30,000 at menu prices	Total: $1,200, or 4.0% of menu-price sales

You keep $28,800 of the $30,000. Each 0.1 point on the card rate moves the card line by $25.50 a month, or $306 a year. For scale, $69 a month, the starting price Toast prints for its Point of Sale plan (see our Toast pricing guide), comes to $2,484 over 36 months. The $0 offer saves that line and asks for the three-year contract and the cash discount in return.

If you are opening a new restaurant with no statements or sales history, the same three stations could carry $450 at the footnote's $150 per station. Ask whether that is a one-time charge or a monthly one.

What should you ask before you sign?

1. What is my card rate, in writing, for credit, debit and American Express, in person and typed in for phone orders?
2. Is the 4% cash discount required for all three years, and can I switch to dual pricing or a surcharge later?
3. How is the early termination fee worked out, and what do I owe if I close in month 12?
4. Who owns the hardware, during the term and after it?
5. Is the $150 per station charged once or each month, and when does it stop?
6. Which add-ons (online ordering, gift cards, loyalty, kiosk, kitchen display) carry monthly fees?
7. Is my contract with Global Payments or with a dealer? Global Payments' guides describe Genius sold by dealers as well as its own staff, so ask who supports you after install.

Our guide to restaurant POS contracts covers renewal, notice and exit terms, and what a restaurant POS costs sets several systems side by side over three years. If you take phone orders into your POS, note that Maple's integrations page lists Toast, Square, Clover, SkyTab (now Shift4 Dine) and others, and does not list Heartland or Genius.

Published by Maple. This AI-assisted guide combines Global Payments' Genius offer pages, its May 2025 launch release and Genius restaurant help-center articles with an original worked example on assumed sales and an assumed card rate. It does not include a quote from Global Payments or a dealer, and it does not claim anyone tested Genius or Heartland Restaurant.