Set Up Self-serve Ordering and QR Codes with Square Online
Self-serve ordering offers a contactless dine-in experience that’s quick and easy to use. Instead of browsing a paper menu and placing orders with a staff member, customers use their mobile phones to scan a QR code at their table, parking spot or anywhere you want them to order from.
The QR code automatically directs them to your website where they can choose their items and pay. Everything is processed online, so there’s no need to handle credit cards or cheques. Your staff will see which location each order came from, so they’ll know exactly where to deliver the items. You can also add instructions to let customers know where to pick up their orders.
Before getting started, please take note of the following requirements:
Make sure your website is published from the Square Online site editor. The QR codes send customers to your website to choose items and pay, so it won’t work if the site isn’t published.
If you haven’t already done so, create an Order Onlinesingle ordering page for your website.
If you have more than one website, make sure you’ve selected the site you want to link the QR codes to. You can switch sites using the menu on the upper left of the Square Online Overview page.
Set Up Self-Serve Ordering
You can set up Self-serve ordering for one or more locations. From the Square Online Overview page, go to Fulfilment > Self-serve ordering and select Set up QR codes.
Click the toggle if you’d like to make all items available for Self-serve ordering, then click Continue.
To generate your ordering cards, enter the number of stations you have and create a label for them. Stations are the places where you’ll display the ordering cards, so if you have 12 booths, you would enter the number 12 and the label would be “Booth”. That will create 12 QR codes, one for each of your booths.
Add some text to let your customers know how you’ll serve their orders, or provide additional information at the top of the ordering page.
You can also let your customers leave you a note when placing an order. To turn on this option, please follow the directions below:
From the Square Online Overview page , go to Settings > Checkout or Shared Settings > Checkout, and select Advanced settings.
Under Checkout options, tick the box to allow notes from customers.
Save your changes.
If you want to add a service fee for self-serve orders, select either a set amount or percentage of the total, then enter the amount.
Click Done to save when you’re finished.
Note: At this time, QR codes are limited to 1000 per location.
Print or Export Ordering Cards
Select View details and click Edit if you want to add more stations or change the station label, but note that reducing the number of stations may disable existing QR codes. For example, if you lower the number of stations from 12 to 10, then the codes for stations 11 and 12 will no longer work.
You have the option to print the ordering cards or export your QR codes. The print option generates a PDF file with four ordering cards per page. These will display your company name and look like the example image shown during setup. The export option generates a zip file with individual PNG images for each QR code and the associated station number (e.g. Booth 3). You can use these images if you’d prefer to design your own station cards. You can also hire an expert to create custom ordering cards through our partnership with 99designs.
Whichever option you choose, you’ll need to place each QR code card at the corresponding location. You might consider laminating the cards, placing them inside your menus or using tabletop card holders.
Update Fulfilment Settings for Items
To default the fulfilment method for newly added items to a specific fulfilment method like self-serve ordering, please follow the directions below:
From your Square Online Overview page, go to Items > Item Preferences or Shared > Settings > Item Preferences.
Under Default item fulfilment, select Edit.
Select the fulfilment method(s) of your choice to default to.
Select Save when finished.
All items imported in the future will default to your selected fulfilment method(s).
Note: You can edit fulfilment for your existing items at any time from your Square Online Overview page in Items > Site Items. Do this by selecting an individual item and going to the fulfilment section, or by using the bulk editing method.
Ordering with QR Codes
The ordering experience for customers is quick and simple:
Customers scan the QR code at their table using the camera on their mobile device.
They’re sent to your Order Onlinesingle ordering page where they’ll add items to the cart and purchase as usual. At checkout, they’ll see information about how to re-order, and receive a text message and confirmation email.
Self-serve orders will show up as “delivery” at this time in Order Manager and on the Printed Ticket, but your staff can view the order details to see self-serve information (e.g. Booth 12).
Order Tipping
Turn on tipping to let your customers leave a tip on their self-serve order. You can set a default tip percentage or leave it blank. Customers can also change the amount, or opt to not leave a tip.
To enable tipping, go to Fulfilment > Pickup & Delivery > Advanced settings on the Square Online Overview page . Click the toggle under Order tipping, and select a default amount from the menu. Save to apply your changes.