Adyen NV has clinched a deal to process McDonald’s Corp’s mobile app payments, beefing up the Dutch company’s portfolio of clients in an expanding sector.

McDonald’s will start using Adyen’s platform in the UK in the first quarter of 2020 and will spread internationally from there, Adyen said in a statement on Dec 18.

A partnership with the world’s biggest restaurant chain is a coup for Adyen as payments firms vie to sign on more merchants amid a global e-commerce boom. Mobile orders, for pickup and delivery, are a burgeoning business for the food and beverage industry, according to Adyen, which processes payments for companies like Deliveroo, Domino’s Pizza Inc and Dunkin Donuts Inc.

Adyen chief operating officer Kamran Zaki hopes to eventually expand the partnership with McDonald’s to process more than just mobile payments once the company proves its technology can make mobile payments seamless for customers and franchisees.

“If we do that, then hopefully it would be a no-brainer for them to migrate more and more of their traffic over to Adyen,” Zaki said in an interview.

The company is competing with firms like San Francisco-based Stripe Inc to sign on more merchants, positioning itself to bank a slice of customers’ transactions. Last year, EBay Inc announced it would ditch its longtime partner PayPal Holdings Inc in favour of the Dutch company.

Riding the boom in cashless payments, Adyen’s shares have increased three-fold since its initial public offering in June 2018. The Amsterdam-based company offers merchants payments processing both online and in stores and in a variety of local payments methods. Other customers include Uber Technologies Inc, EasyJet Plc and Birchbox Inc, according to its website.

McDonald’s lets customers order food and pay via an app. The fast-food company is also expanding a delivery business that former chief executive officer Steve Easterbrook said will account for about US$4bil in sales by the end of the year.

“With Adyen’s scalable platform, McDonald’s will be able to continue to provide customers a seamless experience through a variety of payment methods that align with the unique needs of our markets,” McDonald’s said in the statement.

 - Bloomberg