Check Management with Square for Restaurants

We know every customer and every order is unique. With Square for Restaurants Check Management, you can customize, update, and edit your checks any way you need!

Keep in mind: Once you open a check, you can also view real-time reporting to keep on eye on your restaurant’s sales throughout a shift by heading to View Live Sales in the Square for Restaurants app.

Review the full comparison of features between Square for Restaurants Free, Plus and Premium Plans.

Actions

To access your check management system, you’ll need to first open a current check. Depending on whether you want to take action on the entire check or an individual item, you’ll see different options in your actions menu.

• To edit an individual item, tap that item in the check.

• To edit an entire check, tap Actions in the bottom navigation bar.

From the bar or item box, you’ll be able to access all of the following actions:

Move Check: Allows you to move a check to a different check, new or existing.
Assign Check: Allows you to transfer ownership of the check to a different server. Sales and tips will be attributed to the new owner.
Comp Check: Allows you to comp individual items or the entire check.
Void Check: Allows you to void individual items or the entire check.
Split Check: Allows you to split off items into separate checks. This is different than splitting a payment at the end of service.
Reprint Ticket: Allows you to reprint an order ticket from your receipt or kitchen ticket printer.
Clear New Items: Clears all items that have been recently added to a check and not yet sent to the kitchen.

Names & Notes: Allows you to update the check name or add notes directly to a check. Notes are only printed on kitchen tickets, not on customer bills or receipts.
Dining Options: Allows you to assign a dining option to your check. You can choose between “For Here,” “To Go,” ‘Delivery,” “Pickup,” or any other custom dining options you may have configured.
Seats: Allows you to update the number of seats or covers on the check. You can also assign a cover count to a table and a seat position to specific items at that table from any Square for Restaurants device.
Auto-Gratuity: Allows you to manually apply/remove automatic gratuity and automatically apply to all checks or apply to checks based on seating count.
Discounts: Allows you to view or remove discounts already applied to the check.
Rewards: Allows you to apply customers to a check so they can earn Rewards.

Calculator: Opens a calculator for quick calculations.
Custom Amount: Allows you to add a custom charge amount to a check without having to add an item.
Gift Cards: Allows you to redeem or load your customers’ gift cards.
Item Availability: Allows you to quickly update the availability of an item or 86 an item on the fly.
Open Drawer: Allows you to open your cash drawer without completing a sale.

To get back to your check, click Close Actions.

Split Checks

To split a check into multiple checks in Square for Restaurants POS:

1. Select the check to split.

2. Tap Actions > Split.

3. Choose the item(s) you’d like to move to another check.

4. Tap Create New Check.

5. Select Save All to confirm.

Note: You can split a check with Square for Restaurants Mobile POS, but splitting an item is not available.

Edit Open Checks

You can edit an open check at any time:

1. Open a check and tap Edit Items.

2. Select the items to update > Edit Item(s). From here, you can take the following actions:

• Move to: Move an item to a different open check.

• Repeat: Repeat an item on a check.

• Comp: Keep an item on a check, but remove the cost from the check total.

• Remove: Remove an item from a check entirely.

3. Once you’re ready, tap Done.

Note: At this time, tickets created in the Square app containing items sold in decimal quantities will not appear in the Restaurants app.

Support for decimal quantities in the Restaurants app is something our team is actively working on, so keep an eye out for any updates in our Seller Community.

Note: Checks left open longer than 180 days will be removed from your account.

Reopen a Closed Check

If you accidentally entered the wrong tip amount, or if a table closes out and decides to have a few more drinks, you can reopen a closed check at any time before you run your Close of Day report — adjust the tip amount, add additional items, comp items, or transfer a closed check quickly and easily.

Once a check is reopened, the total amount charged can be adjusted by adding items or a custom amount to the check. To process the payment again, tap Pay and select the saved payment method. If Collect Tips is enabled, the tip can be adjusted after reprocessing the payment. Note: Readjusting the tip is only available when the Customer Signs on Printed Receipt setting is enabled.

Once a transaction has been settled (with or without tip), it cannot be reopened. Transactions can be manually settled, settled in bulk by running the Close of Day report, or settled automatically within 36 hours of the transaction being made. Learn more about how checks are settled in Square for Restaurants in the Seller Community.

Reopen or Refund a Closed Check

You have two options for reopening a closed check with Square for Restaurants:

• Reopen and Keep Payment Method: Allows you to reopen a closed check and keep the original payment method used.

• Reopen and Remove Payment Method: When you reopen a closed check, the payment method will automatically be removed and the original payment amount will be refunded.

Note: By default, Reopen and Keep Payment Method will be enabled, but you can update your settings at any time.

To get started:

1. Head to Points of Sale in your online Square Dashboard > Service Settings.

2. Click Reopen Checks.

3. Select Reopen and Keep Payment Method or Reopen and Remove Payment Method.

4. Click Save.

Keep in mind: If you select Reopen and Remove Payment Method, when you reopen a check your customer will automatically be refunded.

The Service Settings for your Points of Sale are location-specific — not device-specific. If you update the reopen check flow, all of your active devices for a particular location will be affected. If you’d like to change the reopen-check flow for all of your locations, make sure to update and save for each location individually.

Reopen a Closed Check from the App

Once you save your service settings, you’re ready to reopen a check.

To get started:

1. Tap Transactions at the bottom of your screen.

2. Select the check that you wish to reopen.

3. Tap Reopen Check.

4. Confirm Reopen Check.

Note: You will not be able to reopen a closed check when your device is in Offline Mode. To reopen a check, make sure you’re connected to Wi-Fi or cellular data.

Switch Payment Method on a Closed Check

If you have Reopen and Keep Payment Method enabled in your Service Settings online, and you haven’t run your Close of Day report, you can switch the payment method for a closed check.

To get started:

1. Locate the check by selecting an occupied table, or search through your transaction history.

2. Tap to bring up the check details page > Reopen Check and confirm you’d like to Reopen.

3. In the cart view, you’ll see the card(s) listed. Tap the card > Remove.

4. Once you confirm you’d like the payment card removed, you can process the payment again with the updated payment method.

Refund a Check

To process a refund from your Square for Restaurants POS app:

1. Click Transactions at the bottom of your screen.

2. Select the check that you wish to refund and tap Refund.

3. Choose the items or enter the amount you’d like to refund.

4. Tap Next.

5. Choose the reason and hit Refund.

6. When you’re all set, tap Done.

Learn more about issuing a refund with Square.