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When a table asks you to split the bill more than two ways, things can get complicated. Whether it’s by seat, by couple, or divided by people who did and didn’t drink, if you’ve worked at a restaurant, you know this moment all too well.
What should feel like a logistically smooth final action on a meal often turns into a situation filled with awkward pauses, confusion, and questions. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Square makes splitting payments intuitive and easy, whether guests want to divide the check by item, seat, or amount.
Here’s everything you need to know about splitting payments with Square.
Why splitting checks matters in restaurants
As a restaurant owner, your bottom line and guest experience are directly tied to how easy or difficult it is to split payments for guests.
When it comes to paying the bill, flexibility is crucial, and guests have come to expect it. With that in mind, the ability to accommodate guests’ different payment preferences clearly shows that you’re paying attention to and prioritizing their needs, which in turn creates an experience that feels intentional and personalized.
As a server, being able to split checks quickly and accurately allows you to turn tables over more quickly, which means optimizing for more covers during peak service hours and increasing the restaurant’s potential revenue. With the right intuitive and easy-to-learn tools in place, restaurant staff will feel confident, training time will be reduced, and checkout errors will be minimized. All resulting in saving time and money. And since splitting the check is the final impression that guests have at their table, being able to seamlessly check them out can be the differentiator between a choppy experience and a restaurant they’ll be sure to recommend to their friends and family.
3 ways to split the bill with Square
Split the check by item
When to do it: You can select specific items from the check and move them over to separate checks. This is the best move for when a guest wants to pay for specific items, someone is leaving early, or you need to separate something that was just ordered.
Key feature: You can divide up any shared items — like bottles of wine or appetizers — into portions. This way, the guests don’t have to break out their phones and calculate who owes what or how to split 10 chicken wings four ways.
How it works: Once you’re looking at the open check, tap “Split” and select “By Item.” From there, select the items you want to move over to a new check. When it comes to shared items, tap the item and select the number of portions you want to split it into. Square will automatically calculate the per-person cost.
Split the check by seat
When to do it: When each guest in the party wants their own bill. You can automatically divide up the check based on where guests are sitting once you enable seat tracking in your Square dashboard.
Key feature: When you’re applying relevant discounts and service charges, they automatically follow the specific items they’re attached to, which means calculations are clear and accurate, with minimal effort required from your busy servers.
How it works: When you’re taking orders, be sure to assign each guest a seat number. When it’s time to pay the check, tap “Split” and then “By Seat.” Square will then create separate checks for each seat at the table.
Split the check by amount
When to do it: When guests are looking to do an even split with different payment methods, this is the way to go. When you split the check by amount, you can divide the dollar amount into multiple payments.
Key feature: The check can be split in as many ways as is needed, which helps to accommodate a mix of payment types. When one guest wants to pay with cash and another wants to pay with a card, for example, use this method.
How it works: When you’re looking at the open check, tap “Split” then “By Amount.” From there, enter the dollar amount for each payment. You can continue adding payments until the full balance of the check is covered. With this method, you can give guests maximum flexibility when it comes to how they divide their costs.
Best practices for faster checkouts
Train servers on all three methods. Make sure your servers are fully trained on how to split payments when they’re taking orders. If they get ahead of the logistics, they’ll be able to stay organized from the start and prevent the awkward end-of-meal scramble.
Set expectations with guests up front. Don’t be afraid to be up front with your guests. Let them know that they have options when it comes to splitting the bill, and let them know exactly what those options are. Before you process the check, make sure you ask them how they want to split it. And of course, remember that each payment will get its own receipt.
Know what you can’t do. Split payments should be completed within 5 minutes to avoid a timeout. And it’s not possible to split sell-by-unit items or portions of items that were previously split.
Keep the table moving
This benefits both servers and guests. When the checkout process is easier, staff can focus on hospitality and providing excellent service, and guests can focus on enjoying their meal and their company without being consumed by the financials.
Square makes this all possible. Visit Square Support for specific instructions on each split payment method, and read more stories from The Bottom Line to learn more about running your restaurant with confidence.
