Square responds to staffing challenges in Australian hospo by launching Square Kiosk

For hospo businesses operating counter-service venues, like fast-food and takeaway restaurants, cafes, food trucks and more, Square Kiosk brings together smart software and hardware to help businesses do more with less, operate more resourcefully and free up staff time.

Today, Square unveiled Square Kiosk, a fully integrated software, hardware, and payments solution that enables self-serve ordering for hospitality businesses. At a time where hospitality businesses are facing staffing challenges, Square Kiosk bolsters productivity by reducing queues and untethering staff from the counter, freeing them to focus on other tasks. This is the latest technology from Square as it continues to invest in its hardware and software offerings for Australian hospo businesses.

Available today as part of an early access program, Square Kiosk works seamlessly with Square Point of Sale software and Square’s broader ecosystem of customer engagement, and business insights technology. It’s simple for venues to set up, saves precious counter space, and can be placed anywhere – from the wall to flat on the counter to mounted on a VESA compatible stand or swing-arm. Square Kiosk tracks sales data and instantly syncs menu updates, ensuring that customers have real-time visibility into what’s currently available.

For guests, using Square Kiosk is a sleek and simple experience that lets them bypass queues and easily customise their orders. According to research from Square, the majority of diners are supportive of restaurants and cafes using self-ordering technology to help during busy hours, and Square Kiosk’s intuitive UI and built-in payments lets diners quickly and easily order their food. Guests are able to select exactly what they want, with customisation options being sent directly to the kitchen, and restaurants can grow their sales by offering upgrades and add-ons on every order without any awkward exchanges.

Pasta Prego, the Melbourne-based takeaway pasta bar, is one of the first businesses in Australia to use Square Kiosk and says it has already improved its service.

“As a business we are always trying to evolve and improve our customer experience,” says Lorenzo Fantarella and Isaac Varano, co-founders of Pasta Prego. “Even though we have only recently implemented Square Kiosk, we’ve noticed a significant increase in consumer spend per transaction. Square Kiosk allows consumers to peruse our extensive menu with no time pressure, enabling them to select from our broad offering range. We have also noticed a reduction in wait times, helping the team to focus on delivering our product to customers. As with all Square products, implementation has been seamless as the Kiosk is linked to our POS.”

“It’s a challenging time to be in Australian hospo right now, but speaking to people in the industry, we see how resourceful they are and how they’re looking for ways to operate more efficiently, without impacting service quality,” said Jean Magalhães, Hospo Product Lead for Square in Australia. “Technology - like Square Kiosk - can be a powerful ally in helping the industry in challenging times like this.”

Square will be demoing the new Square Kiosk, and other restaurant-specific products, at this year’s Fine Food Australia at The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) between September 2nd and 5th, 2024.

Once it becomes publicly available, until December 31st, 2024, Australian hospo operators will be able to try the Square Kiosk software for free on unlimited devices. After that period, Square Kiosk software will be charged at AU$45 per month, per device.

The software is used exclusively with Square Kiosk hardware which is available for $149. iPads and floor stand hardware are sold separately.

Businesses looking to be part of the early access program, can register interest here.