Live Q&A: Ask us anything about Square for Restaurants

[katieand]

Hi Sellers,

On Friday, June 8th at 11am PST, we hosted a Live Q&A on using the recently launched Square for Restaurants solution. We had Restaurants Product Manager, Kevin Yien, here to help answer your questions about this brand new Square product. 

@kevinyien is a Product Manager at Square solely focused on helping restaurants grow their businesses and deliver exceptional customer experiences. Every week he speaks with restaurateurs from around the country to learn about what’s making them successful, what’s causing the most pain, and how hospitality is evolving.

A couple example questions:

• Why did Square build a new point of sale for restaurants?
• I own both a QSR and FSR. Can I use the Restaurants POS at both restaurants?
• How are delivery/pickup services changing the way restaurants operate? What is Square doing about it?

[roque]

how do i save tickets if its a call in order?

[Chad]

Hello @roque! I recommend creating a new section called "Take out" or "Phone orders". You don't have to add the tables to your floor plan, but this will allow you to track your call in orders and keep all of the checks in one place. 

Alternatively, you could tap New Sale to quickly create a new custom check. 

If you have any other questions please let me know! 

[King_William_ii]

Hello! So happy to see the new square for restaurants! Question, if migrating from Aloha is there a migration tools to bring over the data or does everything have to be recreated on the new platform?

Thanks!

-William

[kevinyien]

Hi @King_William_ii,

A question many restaurants coming from Aloha have asked! The good news is that many have made the switch already. While there is no automated migration tool, there are a few tools and services we offer to help with the transition. Aloha can typically export to a CSV and Square offers a CSV upload that you can leverage to get all your menu items into Square. Note that you would need to reformat it and make additional changes for the actual layout on the POS, but that should help with the first-time creation. Additionally, we offer Square Implementation Services starting at $600 for restaurants who would prefer to have someone else do this.

[GPCTed]

I would  like to use either multiple iPads, or phones to submit orders to the POS and to the kitchen printer. Do you have an option and configuration for this?

Thanks,

Ted

[kevinyien]

Hi @GPCTed,

Definitely! Square for Restaurants was built with every set up in mind, and many restaurants have found the flexibility it offers incredibly valuable. Every iPad running the Square Restaurants app will stay in sync and be able to print to all your kitchen printers as long as they’re on the same WiFi network.

[amcsu15]

Hi, I am wondering how to add additional taxes to employees pay checks. I have a resturant and we need to tax servers for credit card tips/sales. 

[kevinyien]

Hi @amcsu15 - I looped in some of my Payroll teammates for this question. You can’t add additional taxes per se but you can add “post tax deductions” in the “deduction” section under each employee profile. Here’s a video on post tax deductions and how to add them - https://www.useloom.com/share/7867f680e8dc4699bbcf989b02dd2429

Another option is to add paycheck tips.

[LaCanastaEatery]

I saw that Caviar (Squares delivery service) is going to be integrated into Square for Resturants this summer. Are there plans to add other delivery services like Post Mates, Uber Eats, and Door Dash in the future? 

[kevinyien]

We’re working to offer that, @LaCanastaEatery! We can’t speak to any timelines or who we’re speaking with, but we want to make sure that you get to choose how your diners find and order with you. We’re here to help you run your restaurant faster.

[Wurstkutchie]

We use the Square Online Store for online orders are there plans to integrate this into Square Resturants? 

[kevinyien]

There are plans to have online orders from Square integrate into Square for Restaurants. Echoing the response to @LaCanastaEatery, we definitely want to make sure that you get to choose how your diners find and order with you, @Wurstkutchie.

[CornersTavern]

I own a quick service resturant that offers self seating. I love using Square Point of Sale and want to stick with you guys, but I don't know if the additional $60 dollars per register will fit my needs.

Right now our checkout flow is customer places order an order at the counter> cashier hands the customer their receipt and an order placard> customer seats themselves> runners delivery the food. Since we allow customers to seat themselves the floor plan isn't terribly useful.

I'm interested if you plan on offer something similar to LRS's Table Tracker? This would be huge for us. 

[kevinyien]

Lots of quick service restaurants with seating are using Square for Restaurants @CornersTavern. The main benefit has been around faster order entry—due to the customizability of menus and forced modifiers—which leads to faster line speed.

We have no plans to build something similar to the LRS Table Tracker, but have heard it’s a great system and can be worth the high cost if you have the budget and volume to warrant it.

Also, remember that you can always continue using the standard Square Point of Sale app for free. It’s all about choosing what’s best for your restaurant.

[cbenson]

There is currently no way to import a menu to another location.  I understand I can use my item library and share that between locations, but I completely have to redo my Menu system for each of my 6 locations.  This seems like a no brainer as something to add for the future.  I understand Square for Restaurants is a relatively new product.  Is there a place where I can see a roadmap of planned features?  Some sort of timeline of where SFR is headed before I commit a multi-location operation like mine to the platform?

Thanks.

[kevinyien]

Great question and something we’ve considered, @cbenson! Choosing a system for your restaurant(s) is a big decision, and in the end you’re deciding based on the future, not just the present. There is no “public roadmap” because we want to remain agile and receptive to feedback in these early days. The needs of restaurants are quickly changing and we want to make sure we have the flexibility to pivot with them. Are there any other features that would be a major factor for you when considering which system to use?

[cbenson]

Note: As of summer 2020 Square for Restaurants Free is now available on both iPad and Square Register. 

@kevinyien thanks for the reply.  To answer your question, the main thing I'm looking for in POS software is good core functionality.  I like that Square for Restaurants let me jump right in on a demo account and setup a menu -> connect an iPad as a "demo" POS and just try it out!  For someone like me this is huge.  I don't want to necessarily talk to a sales rep about the product; I would rather just try it!  That was great.  And so far I like where this system is starting out.  That said, I think there needs to be a page where some of the functionality of Square for Restaurants (and in some cases lack thereof) is more clear.  For instance, I bought the Square Register and at this stage it does not fully support Square for Restaurants (I'll likely be using the Square Stand and iPads instead).  Bar-code scanners which work with Square Retail do not work with Square for Restaurants.  Menus cannot be copied from one location to another (though an item list can be shared between locations).   Negative modifiers are not in place.  I think it's great that a resource like sellercommunity.com exists, but a list of current features and planned features specific to the Square for Restaurants product would be extremely helpful.  A few of the things that don't currently work with Square for Restaurants, but do with Sq for Retail seem like they could be added to this page: https://squareup.com/us/en/solutions/restaurants?solution=solutions-restaurants-rpos to avoid some confusion between the products.  Hope that was helpful.

[azcomps]

Please explain how payments will work at full service table restaurants. For example, are you expecting servers to bring an iPad to the table to run customers' credit cards? If so, do you offer a solution that will allow a server to carry an iPad with Square Contactless and Chip Reader attached as one portable unit? If we prefer to process payments in a more traditional way with a paper credit card receipt (with tip line) for customer to sign, is that still supported?

[Redlight2015]

@azcomps I know for a fact that you can do “traditional” card processing with tip line and signature on paper right now (without Square for Restaurants)! Just turn it on in settings. It’s called “Sign and Tip on paper” or something similar. 

Your Apple Pay customers will have the option of walking up with the server to pay at your server stations. The rest using regular credit cards will do it the traditional way. 

Though that being said, I as a customer do do prefer you bring the iPad to the table as I don’t like my card leaving my sight at US restaurants. Wish US restaurants would get on board the “European” way of bringing the card reader to the table. 

[kevinyien]

Hi @azcomps - Every restaurant is different and we’re here to help support the workflow that makes you successful. Many restaurants using Square for Restaurants today close out checks the “traditional” way you mentioned with paper receipts. A growing number are moving to paying at the table for quicker turn times and improved interactions with guests. For this iPads or iPad Minis are great for both ordering and payments. There is no bundled hardware with Square Contactless and Chip Reader today, but we’re thinking deeply about how to improve this experience.

@Redlight2015 also had some great tips 🍻 Thanks!