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You may instantly recognise the little white reader, but did you know that Square has tools and software to power your restaurant empire, open your next location, take payments table side and let your customers order online for pickup? From your local grab-and-go coffee shop to multi-location dine-in restaurant, our technology is built to grow with your business.
In this article, we will explore how Square for Restaurants can power everything your restaurant business needs, almost.
Square for Restaurants 101
Square for Restaurants is the all-in-one restaurant point-of-sale (POS) system to help you manage everything from front to back-of-house on one platform. Keep communication between your staff and kitchen flowing with Square Kitchen Display System (KDS), take orders and payments on the go with the Square for Restaurants Mobile POS and get real-time inventory updates so you never run out of that best-selling dish.
Here are some Square for Restaurants features that you might not have heard of.
Square can help improve your service with a mobile POS, but not staring at the piece of spinach on that customer’s teeth is a you thing.
Tired of the constant fear of dropping a perfectly prepared dish while trying to squeeze past the line of diners at the counter? Say goodbye to queues with a mobile POS. Square Terminal lets you take orders and payments at the table. It reduces running around and gives you time back to interact with diners while taking orders quickly and efficiently. No more forgetting about the extra sauce John ordered by the time you reach the kitchen.
You can even keep your kitchen in sync with the ability to course, away, sequence and throttle orders based on prep time and order source.
Square for Restaurants features conversational modifiers for easy order entry, but winding down a conversation with that chatty regular is all you.
Need easy access to different variations of items or modifications like additions or dietary substitutions? You can set up specific variations and modifiers for each item in your inventory so that they pop up on the screen when you need to customise orders. How do they work?
Item Variations allow you to create multiple price points for a single item. For example a small coffee and a large coffee, the variations are ‘small’ and ‘large’.
Item Modifiers edit, modify or specify to the kitchen a change to a pre-existing item. Modifiers can also add to the cost of the item if necessary. For example extra avocado for £1.50, no mushrooms.
You can even take it to the next level and group your items into Display Groups and route them for reporting via categories. Learn more here.
Square KDS can sync your kitchen with your front of house, but getting your kitchen staff to agree on what music to play is your department.
Do you know that you can display orders digitally from anywhere in your restaurant on one screen, without the need for paper tickets? That means orders in restaurant, online and from any delivery partners like Deliverect. Everything is sent to and fulfilled directly from the kitchen. Whether you have a single prep station or need visibility for your bar and your kitchen passes. KDS can be tailored to suit any restaurant setup.
“Square aggregates all of our online Delivery partners so they show up on the kitchen display system. This is amazing for everyone in the kitchen and anyone handling orders” – Dimeji Sadiq, Founder and Owner, Vegan Shack.
Read more about how Vegan Shack use Square to power their business, here.
Square can help you take orders online – but dealing with the customer who keeps ordering takeaway from the wrong location is all you.
Diners want to access their food when and where it suits them. And while many are returning to in-person dining, you can’t go past a good night in with a film and your favourite takeaway. Square Online offers an intuitive way for restaurants to create an online ordering platform that links directly to Square for Restaurants. In fact, you can easily import your menu online and orders are synced with your POS, making pickup and delivery a no-brainer, and giving you more time back to do what you love. Learn more here.
Square can help manage the flow of courses to your diners, but breaking it to your chef that his experimental appetiser is not selling is your department.
Coursing helps you and your team manage the flow of bills for both the front and back of house. Coursing is designed to easily group items, add items and let the kitchen know when to hold or start firing dishes.
The benefits? A smooth workload for your kitchen and a steady pace for your customer’s dining experience. It’s all about getting the right meals out at the right time, keeping your team in sync and your customers relaxed.
With coursing you can make sure dishes for large groups are delivered at the right time and avoid dishes sitting on the pass waiting for their counterparts. With straight away categories, you can automatically set certain dishes to the kitchen or bar when ordered. Learn more here.
Square for Restaurants has plans for every stage of business, but jumping in and getting started is all you.
