Merchant category codes

MCC 5499: Miscellaneous Food Stores

MCC 5499 covers convenience stores, specialty food markets and other food sellers that are not full-line grocery stores. The line between it and 5411 decides how the networks, and card rewards programs, see the business.

Written by Robert Day, Founder and Managing Partner of weAudit.com, previously an executive at Fifth Third Processing Solutions, later Vantiv and Worldpay, now part of Global Payments, the world’s largest card processor. Published October 2026.

MCC 5499 at a glance

5499

Visa: Miscellaneous Food Stores: Convenience Stores and Specialty Markets
Mastercard: Miscellaneous Food Stores: Convenience Stores, Markets, Specialty Stores

Used by convenience stores, specialty markets and vending. Full-line supermarkets belong under 5411.

Seeing it on your own card statement?

It means the business is classified as a convenience or specialty food store. Many cards do not count these as grocery stores, so the purchase may not earn grocery rewards.

What MCC 5499 covers

MCC 5499 is the home for food sellers that are not supermarkets: convenience stores, specialty and ethnic markets, gourmet shops and food vending. Several specialist food businesses have their own codes nearby.

Code	Name	How it differs
5499	Miscellaneous Food Stores	Convenience stores, specialty markets, vending
5411	Grocery Stores and Supermarkets	Full-line food stores
5462	Bakeries	Bakeries
5441	Candy, Nut and Confectionery Stores	Confectionery shops

Why the code changes what a business pays

Many sales at these stores are small, and small-ticket sales are where per-transaction fees hurt most. A flat 15 or 30 cent fee on a three dollar purchase is a large share of the sale, which makes the pricing model as important as the code.

The code also decides which industry interchange programs the store can use. A specialty grocer that genuinely sells a full line of food may belong under 5411; a convenience store coded as a supermarket may be in for a surprise if the networks review it.

Small-ticket businesses are hit hardest by fixed per-sale fees. If most of your sales are a few dollars, ask how your per-transaction fees are set, not only your percentage rate.

Signs MCC 5499 may be the wrong code

You run a full-line grocery but are coded as a convenience store, or the reverse
Most sales are under ten dollars and your per-transaction fee was never discussed
Your effective rate on small sales is far above your quoted rate
Your account was coded from a quick application rather than a look at what you sell

See the full merchant category code list and how to look up your own code, or read why setup matters more than the rate you were quoted.

Common questions

What is MCC 5499?

It is the merchant category code for miscellaneous food stores, including convenience stores, specialty markets and food vending.

Is MCC 5499 a grocery store?

Not in most card networks’ or rewards programs’ terms. Full-line grocery stores and supermarkets use 5411; 5499 is for convenience and specialty food stores.

Why did my purchase not earn grocery rewards?

Probably because the store is coded 5499 rather than 5411. Rewards programs usually follow the merchant category code, not what you bought.

What is the difference between MCC 5499 and 5411?

5411 is for full-line grocery stores and supermarkets. 5499 covers convenience stores, specialty markets and other food stores that are not full-line grocers.

Send us a statement. We will check your code, and everything else.

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About this page: merchant category codes are defined by the ISO 18245 standard and published by the card networks, which occasionally add, retire or rename codes and do not always use identical names. Code names here follow Visa and Mastercard published lists, checked October 2026. Whether a code is right for a particular business depends on what it actually sells; your processor and the card networks make the final assignment.