Table of contents
Hospitality has always been about more than serving delicious food; it’s about the joy of giving. From offering a great meal to having a genuine connection with your guests, it’s that sense of sharing something you’ve crafted that leaves an impact. Whether you’re running a fast-casual spot or a fine-dining establishment, the goal is the same – making people smile and feel good with what you do.
Restaurant owners are catering to diners who want personalised, memorable experiences, but they’re also dining in more ways than ever: in person, through takeaway and delivery. They also expect great service every time. A PwC global survey found that 76% of consumers say consistent service and great experiences are key to earning their trust, while BCG reported that four in five customers expect a personalised experience. And many get frustrated when their expectations aren’t met.
With so many new ways to dine and check out, it can be difficult for owners to know where to invest their time and resources to meet customer preferences. Staffing remains a hurdle, and there’s always more to manage behind the scenes, from tracking inventory to ensuring quality. So, how do you maintain a personal connection while keeping everything else running smoothly?
This is where technology comes in – not to replace the human side of hospitality, but to make it easier to deliver the kind of service that keeps people coming back. With the right tools, you can offer seamless ordering, thoughtful personalisation and loyalty programs that make every guest feel valued, whether they’re grabbing a quick lunch or ordering dinner from their couch. Here’s how.
1. Personalise the dining experience with data
Understanding your customers is the foundation of providing exceptional hospitality. And technology helps make this easier than ever. Using integrated systems, restaurants can gather valuable insights about customer preferences and behaviours without being intrusive.
For example, Square Dashboard pulls together all the data from your point of sale (POS), inventory and third-party platforms, becoming a powerful tool for helping you deliver personalised touches that keep guests coming back. Practically, this could mean:
- Greeting returning customers by name and recalling their preferences, thanks to customer profiles that show detailed purchase history
- Sending personalised offers based on past purchases, like alerting a regular coffee customer about your new breakfast menu
- Creating targeted rewards that match customer behaviours, like offering special dessert promotions to diners who frequently order sweets
2. Expand your ordering options
The way customers want to order and pay for their food has fundamentally changed. According to research from the 2025 Square Future of Restaurants report, Australian consumers find self-service kiosks (63%), mobile payments (62%) and in-app payments (56%) convenient ways to pay at a restaurant.
Offering more ways to order means creating more opportunities to serve customers how they prefer. For example, online orders might capture office workers ordering lunch, while a kiosk might appeal to on-the-go customers looking for quick service.
Multiple ordering options can also help reduce wait times during peak hours. A self-service kiosk, for example, allows customers to place orders independently, cutting waiting lines and freeing up staff for more value-adding tasks. A handheld POS like Square Terminal enables servers to take orders and process payments tableside without crowding the counter. If you stack that with a Square Online site, you can take orders that sync seamlessly with your physical POS and hardware.
The key to effectively managing multiple ordering channels lies in integration. For example, Square POS can unify orders from various sources – whether they’re coming from your counter, website, third-party delivery apps or self-service kiosks – into a single, manageable stream. This ensures your kitchen runs smoothly and efficiently, regardless of where the orders originate, helping you scale without sacrificing service quality.
That’s why restaurant owners like Rob at Common Room Co value how integrated order-taking tools help his team work better. “The staff have found using Square much more enjoyable, which has enhanced their ability to deliver a better customer experience. They appreciate having a reliable system that makes their jobs easier and supports their efforts.”
At the end of the day, hospitality is about meeting your guests where they are and making their experience as seamless and enjoyable as possible. Offering customers multiple ways to order shows that their time and preferences matter, which is essential for building trust and loyalty.
3. Strengthen hospitality with a loyalty program
When guests become regulars, they become part of your restaurant’s story. As Vegie Bar co-owners Laki Papadopoulos and Mark Price shared: “We have a wide range of customers, people that came here as children that now bring their children, people that came here on their first date that now come back on their anniversaries, people that came here during uni or with colleagues from a new job, now have regular catch ups with these long-standing friends. Some of our regulars have been coming here for over 30 years.”
Creating a well-structured loyalty program powered by modern tools is a great way to encourage repeat visits and build those connections. Data from Square Loyalty shows just how significant the impact can be: Customers enrolled in Square Loyalty programs spend 53% more and visit 40% more often than non-enrolled customers. These numbers highlight why investing in customer retention is just as crucial as attracting new diners.
Modern loyalty programs do more than just track points – they create a digital connection between restaurants and customers. For example, Square Loyalty integrates with your point-of-sale systems, so you can automatically identify returning customers, track their preferences and deliver personalised rewards that feel meaningful rather than generic. This digital relationship complements and enhances traditional hospitality by helping staff recognise and reward loyal customers without requiring them to present physical cards or remember phone numbers.
With Square Loyalty and Square Marketing, you can amplify these community-building efforts in so many ways:
- Track customer visits and rewards automatically.
- Offer personalised promotions based on ordering history.
- Enable targeted communication with different customer segments.
- Create incentives to try new menu items or visit during off-peak hours.
- Gather feedback to continuously improve the dining experience.
4. Use automation tools to free up more time for guests
The secret sauce of restaurant technology lies in its ability to free up staff time for meaningful customer interactions. With modern tools, you can simplify back-office operations like shift scheduling and inventory management. For example, with Square Shifts, you can track your team’s hours from your POS and streamline rostering. Square Inventory Management tracks inventory in real time and sends daily stock alerts when items are low.
When routine tasks like these are automated, your team can focus on what matters most, such as:
- Building genuine connections with guests
- Providing attentive, personalised service
- Addressing special requests and dietary needs
- Creating memorable dining experiences
These systems should be implemented naturally and organically to avoid losing touch with customers. It’s not about flipping a switch and automating everything overnight. Instead, it’s about making small, smart changes that help your team work smarter, not harder. With tech handling the background tasks, your staff can give more attention to guests, delivering great vibes and service in every interaction.
Deliver memorable experiences at scale
When implemented thoughtfully, technology doesn’t replace hospitality – it enhances it, allowing restaurants to serve more guests while making each one feel special. “It’s all about the feel. It’s about the ambience, creating an atmosphere, and allowing people to connect,” explained Matthew Freeman, owner of Johnny Alloo.
Technology’s role is to strengthen the elements that make your restaurant special, helping you create an experience guests can take home with them. After all, hospitality is about making people feel valued, whether dining in, ordering takeaway or getting delivery. The right technology helps deliver this connection more effectively than ever before, across every channel where you serve your guests.
