Square for Restaurants
Orders made simple with QR code menus
QR codes make it easier to place self-service food orders directly from the menu and make services run faster and more smoothly to improve the experience for both your customers and your staff.
Contactless, in-person ordering experience that increases safety and workflow efficiency.
Free menu templates to create your own custom menu.
Your menu serves a functional purpose but it’s also part of your branding. Square offers a range of functional and attractive templates that you can customise to suit your needs and want, making it easy to create menus that work well and look good.
Accept all major payment types integrated with your QR codes.
Continue the contactless, frictionless experience by integrating the QR codes on your menu with Square Payments. You can even assign individual QR codes to different menus and link them to different areas (e.g. tables), making it really simple to create bills.
Increase efficiency with improved table turn-around times.
Implementing self-service ordering with QR codes and contactless payment through Square can significantly improve your table turn-around times. It can also help to reduce the number of people walking around at any time. Having more clear space can make it easier and quicker for your servers to do their jobs which can help you to turn around tables even faster.
Free up staff to focus on other tasks.
Manually taking orders and payments slowing you down? Automating them frees up your staff for tasks that add value to your business and allows them to efficiently focus on delivering great customer service.
How to create a QR code menu.
Here are the steps involved in setting up a QR code menu. Make sure that the Order Online page template is switched on before you start.
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Go to Fulfilment > Self-Serve Ordering and select Set up QR codes.
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Add self-serve ordering to the relevant items as a fulfilment method. If you are going to edit multiple items, then you can use bulk edits.
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Add ordering stations and enter key details (e.g. a name for the group and each station in it and the number of stations in total).
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Select Get QR code on the Self-Serve Ordering page.
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Choose between having customers automatically assigned an ordering station or manually entering an ordering station.
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Design your QR code cards
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Download the cards or QR codes for your stations.
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Test your cards with your own phone (optional).
Square for Restaurant is more than just a point-of-sale system.
Square for Restaurants is a simple, yet powerful, solution for managing your restaurant end-to-end. It covers everything from creating staff rosters and managing inventory to marketing and running a loyalty programme. Here are just a few of the ways Square can help you to run your restaurant.
Accept all major payment types.
Payment processing your way. Accept all major types of payments quickly and securely, whether you’re tableside, behind the counter, online or on the go.
Floor management
Easily create and customise your restaurant floor plan just by dragging elements onto a grid and quickly make any updates with just a few clicks.
Kitchen display system
Square KDS powers up your restaurant by tracking prep times, routing orders to their correct stations and enabling custom ticket timers for maximum efficiency.
Free online ordering website
Create your restaurant website or online ordering page with Square Online. Built with flexible tools to accept online orders, promote repeat purchases and streamline food deliveries.
Manage your staff
Manage your staff all from your POS with the ability to import and split tips, and set shift rotas without the added hassle.
Build customer loyalty
Boost customer engagement with loyalty programmes for your diners. You can create custom profiles to store preferences and send marketing messages to offer exclusive discounts and news updates.
Square for Restaurants pricing
All three plans cover unlimited device use and have a processing rate of 1.6% per tap or insert. No hidden fees or lock-in contracts ever.
If you turn over $250,000 in card payments per year, you may be eligible for custom pricing packages.
Free
$0
Per month.
No hidden fees.
Plus
$129
Per month per location.
30-day free trial.
Premium
$
Custom pricing.
30 day free trial.
1.6% card present rate applies for Square Sellers who sign up on or after 30 May 2024, or who signed up prior to this date using Square Terminal or Square Register. The rate of 1.9% will apply for all other Square Sellers who signed up prior to this date when using Square Reader, Square Stand or Tap to Pay, as listed in the Square Fee Schedule.
Find out why Australian restaurants choose Square
‘It goes without saying how beautiful Square hardware looks on the counter. It helps when the equipment we use looks just as stunning as the restaurant, right? Not only is it good-looking on the outside, but it’s also functional on the inside.’
Yasmina
Co-owner, No Bones, Byron Bay, NSW
2 locations
‘We’re a fast-paced QSR model, so we want to be efficient wherever we can. Square has streamlined the way customers order, from pick up, to the kitchen operations - it flows really well.’
Nathan & Dave
Co-owners, Bao Brothers, NSW
4 locations
‘We can simply open the Square app on our phones and assess the performance across thirty locations. We know which products are working and not working in real-time. This enables us to scale while maintaining the same level of attention to detail we had when we operated just one store.’
Nic Pestalozzi
Co-owner, Fishbowl, NSW, VIC and QLD
35 locations
‘It came down to cost for us. Once you’re paying for your fees subscriptions and devices, our old systems were more expensive. We did a bit of research, Square was simple and offered custom rates so it made sense and was more cost efficient to switch.’
Carla
Co-owner, T-Bone Brewing Co, TAS
2 locations
‘The user interface makes it so simple for us and our customers. Prior to Square, we used one of those bank EFTPOS machines with handwritten dockets. Now, we can check our stats at the end of the night just on our handheld device.’
Matt
Owner, Sonny & Ogee, Hobart, TAS
2 locations
Awarded Canstar’s Most Satisfied Customers, Merchant Services, 2021 - 2023
Trustpilot config
Trustpilot Stars
Trustpilot Logo
Start using Square for Restaurants today.
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FAQs
A QR code menu is a menu that uses QR codes to allow customers to place self-service food orders.
You can either assign QR codes to each service area (e.g. table) or have customers enter their service area manually. Either way, their orders will be sent to your staff automatically as a digital ticket.
No, they just use their regular mobile phone/tablet camera.
Yes, it’s both free and simple to create QR code menus with the Square QR code menu generator.
Once the customer scans the QR code and places their order it creates a digital ticket. This can then be tracked in the same way as any other digital ticket. For example, it can be used to create bills without any need for human intervention. These can then be paid as usual.
Yes. Businesses that process over AUD 250,000 per year in card payments may be eligible for custom processing rates and discounts on Square software and add-ons. To find out if your business qualifies, contact the Square Sales team.
Yes. Square Point of Sale software has a free plan available with no setup fees or monthly software fees. You only pay a processing fee when you accept a payment. The free plan also includes a range of useful tools such as inventory management, staff management, customer relationship management and sales reporting to help you run your business efficiently and smoothly.
You can purchase Square hardware from major retailers across Australia, including JB Hi-Fi, Officeworks, Costco and Harvey Norman. Buying in-store lets you get started with Square straight away without waiting for delivery or lengthy approval processes that are common with traditional EFTPOS providers. You can find a full list of retailers and online purchase options here.
Square is designed for fast and easy setup. You can create an account and start accepting payments within minutes — with no complex onboarding required. Simply download the Square app and connect your hardware or use Tap to Pay to start selling with just your iPhone or Android device.
Yes. Square is built for the hospitality industry, offering tools designed specifically for cafes, restaurants and bars. Features include multi-channel menu management, table layouts, coursing, integrated kitchen display system, and self-serve kiosk ordering.
Square is also a great fit for retailers, beauty and professional services, with specialised POS features tailored to each type of business and the way you work.
Yes. Square includes an offline mode that lets you continue taking card payments for up to 24 hours when your internet connection or Wi-Fi is unavailable. As long as you enable offline mode before losing connection, transactions made offline are stored securely and processed automatically once you reconnect. This means you can keep accepting payments anywhere and never miss a sale even if the network goes down temporarily.*
*You can process transactions through offline payments for up to 24 hours in a single offline session. Your offline payments will be declined if you do not reconnect to the internet within 24 hours of the start of your offline payment session. By enabling offline payments, you are responsible for any expired, declined or disputed payments accepted while offline. Square is unable to provide customer contact information for payments declined while offline. eftpos-only cards, Square Gift Cards and Afterpay transactions do not work with offline payments. Offline payments are not supported on older versions of Square Reader (1st generation – v1 and v2). Learn more on identifying your contactless reader or how to enable and use offline payments.
Yes. Square is designed to be flexible and grow with your business, whether you’re adding new locations, staff, products, or managing a loyal customer group. You can manage everything in one place with centralised management tools, synced inventory and unified reporting across all sides of your business.
Square also supports multi-location management, custom staff permissions and integrations with leading apps for accounting, marketing, reservations, eCommerce and fulfillment. This flexibility helps your business stay connected and efficient as it expands.