Brian Krider: Congress needs to pass the Credit Card Competition Act

The story of Ben’s Soft Pretzels is an unlikely one. An Amish couple, neither of whom knew how to make pretzels or had even eaten one, bought a pretzel shop and, with help from me and Scott Jones, have turned it into a successful franchise. But that’s exactly what happened.

Shortly after Ben and Liz Miller bought the shop, Scott and I were lucky enough to meet them and try the amazing pretzel recipe they had developed. From there, we launched Ben’s Soft Pretzels together and grew it into a 16-state operation with more than 165 points of distribution. Today, we’re in water parks, boardwalks and more than 50 of the largest sports stadiums in the country. From humble Amish beginnings, we’re now spreading blessing and prosperity across the world one pretzel at a time.

It hasn’t always been easy. The pandemic hit the entire restaurant and snack industry like nothing we could have imagined. Our profit margin, already incredibly tight like in all restaurants, has decreased due to inflation. The cost of the diesel needed to make our deliveries and the price of our commodities and paper goods have skyrocketed.

To stay in the black, we constantly negotiate prices and terms with vendors—except the credit card companies. Because there’s virtually no competition in their market, they can charge whatever fees they want. In 2022, U.S. vendors paid nearly $160 billion in processing fees, an increase of more than 16% over the previous year. This was while the pandemic was putting thousands of restaurants out of business.

In addition to the average 2.22% charge on every swipe, there are added fees for credit cards offering points or rewards, for swiping a second time to add a tip and even for manually entering a credit card. Credit cards’ swipe fees are our fourth-highest cost—behind only food, labor and rent.

We have no choice but to pass these costs on to our customers through price increases, which is difficult in a business with smaller fare. Any increase, no matter how minor, is noticed on a pretzel bill. But that’s what we must do.

It’s time to fix that. Congress needs to let other networks enter the credit card market so the entire system can be fairer to businesses and consumers. Lawmakers, pass the Credit Card Competition Act, which would introduce competition and save businesses and consumers an estimated $11 billion a year. It could even save the average American family nearly $1,000 a year.

We’re not asking for a handout or special treatment. Politics is not our business; we simply want to continue doing what we do well and offer customers a brief respite from their day with the best soft pretzel they’ve ever had so they will come back again and again. The credit card companies should adopt that same attitude. Right now, they’re not earning our business; they’re holding us hostage by blocking competition and charging outrageous fees.

After surviving the pandemic, restaurants and other businesses deserve some relief. Curbing unfair credit card swipe fees is a great place to start.•

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Krider is a co-founder of Ben’s Soft Pretzels.