Square for Restaurants: Ask a Product Manager Anything!

[Tom]

On July 28th at 11am PT / 2pm ET, our Square for Restaurants product manager hosted a Q&A in this thread — questions related to getting started through taking glimpse into what's down the road.

We were excited to have @maeve join our Community again to host this session. She's been part of Square for Restaurants since its initial launch through our most recent partnership with the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. With over four years of experience at Square, she’ll make sure you have the latest information that's available. Learn more about Square for Restaurants: Your all-in-one restaurant POS system.

A few example questions:

• I just created my account, what are the next steps to complete setting up?
• How can Square for Restaurants help me with physical distancing guidelines?
  

[tlester]

modifiers is there a way to put it on my screen to pick and add to sandwiches...is modifiers what i need or what...  i think im missing something just having a hard time understanding the software.  feel like im going in circles...i started with items then went to create menu and then adding modifiers (toppings for sandwiches) and variations (small large )

[maeve]

Yes! Modifiers can be created from your Square Dashboard in 'Menus' and applied to items. You can also toggle on 'conversational modifiers' at the modifier set level to add 'add, extra, side, sub, no and allergy' to the modifiers that you create.

Check out this article on creating menus with Square for Restaurants for more information on getting started and how to create your menu.

[drewmogck]

Hi I have a restaurant and we are looking to start selling out of a truck. Can you guide me on what product to use?

Sincerely, 

Drew

[maeve]

Great! Square for Restaurants Free plan is likely a great option for your business. You can run Square for Restaurants on an iPad or iPad mini to easily take orders and payments from the truck, as well as run Square for Restaurants in your restaurant to manage your floor plan, menus, etc.

For more information on what features are included as part of the Square for Restaurants Plus and Free plans, check out this article.

[Devolution]

Square did a great job back in the day making it easy to sign up, but now that I am starting a restaurant and need assistance, your sales info is terrible. I have no idea where to start, how I can call and simply ask questions. I need a POS within a few weeks and I am finding it incredibly difficult to get anyone to speak with simply to confirm what I need and sign up...

[Leahmjo]

You will continue to find it difficult to reach anyone.  I've been on hold for literal hours listening to Here Comes the Sun.  Some reps are outstanding when you do get through though.  Good luck!

[Babbs-Food]

I have an item that I use in multiple places of one store.

So lets say I have (30 eggs in my total inventory) I use 1 egg for a salad. Then I use 4 eggs for an egg salad. (We all know that it will 25 eggs left. But how do I put it like that app so that the tracker will count it down for me, and let me know when my stock is low. So I don't have to do inventory every day?

[elaine_p]

Hi @Babbs-Food - we aren't able to support this kind of ingredient-level inventory, but we do have plans to do so. Our first step toward this capability is in beta for Retail Plus now and supports selling different units of measure. For eggs, you could sell them by the half dozen or dozen, and depending on the unit selected we would decrement the correct amount from your total egg inventory. I know that does not solve your example and is not available yet in Restaurants, but I'm sharing it to let you know we are making progress. In the meantime, we do have some partners like Market Man that can help you with ingredient-level tracking.

[theflowerbasket]

I am a florist and own a flower shop, so I work with perishable product and create orders for in-house delivery on a schedule. My order tracking system is similar to how many restaurants that deliver track orders, except on a slightly longer scale (orders are places hours and days in advance vs. minutes).

I think Square for Restaurants would be a great fit, but I would like to hear your point of view. Square for Retail doesn't have the order management piece I need. I currently use Square for my POS and double enter all of my orders into my current order management system (I've tried a few) and again in Square for payment processing. I love the idea of having my CRM, order management, website, and POS all in one place, and have been very happy with Square as my POS. What are your thoughts?

Thank you in advance 🙂 

- Nora [she/her/hers] 

[maeve]

Great question! It sounds like either Square for Restaurants or Square Point of Sale could work for you. Based on what you're saying, it might make sense to use Square Point of Sale because of the access to invoices in the app. You can also enable 'open tickets' to create a ticket, save it, and pay for it at a later date. Hope that helps!

[woodwardamg]

Currently a POS system with you all for small retail. Now opening a restaurant! How can we best convert to a restaurant software?! Addition to the current one? Order new? 
thank you! 

[maeve]

Congratulations on expanding! You can subscribe to Square for Restaurants from your Square Dashboard in the lefthand navigation (scroll to the bottom). There's no need to create a new account if you'd like to have your retail and restaurant locations consolidated in one place. Once you subscribe to Square for Restaurants, you'll be able to create menus, build floor plans (if you need!), and create a device code to log in to the Square for Restaurants app on your iPad or Square Register.

You can learn more about the different Square for Restaurants plans here and more about getting started with Square for Restaurants here. 

[tlester]

How to get my modifier buttons (ex: lettuce tomato mayo to show up on my POS to place order to print. This is new to me. I’ve created item. Created modifiers but can’t see them when I go to order screen. I can see hamburger just doesn’t give choice of toppings

[lovemychaos]

I believe this might be your answer.  The same thing happened to me when I first started using the restaurant software. 

In the create an item screen (or edit item if it's already in your system),

1.  Make sure you've checked all the modifiers that apply to the item.  I assume you've done this by your post. 

2.  At the very bottom of the screen there is an option that says "automatically add item to check".  This is usually toggled to "on" by square.  Toggle it off, and you will be able to see all your modifiers when you choose an item in your POS to order.  

[tlester]

Thank you for your help, i  assumed that needed to be toggled.  thank you so much you have helped me so much.  Now will i be able to print out two tickets one for the sale and one for the kitchen?

[lovemychaos]

Yes.  In your printer settings, you’ll want to add the kitchen printer and toggle on to get “order” tickets... and then turn on the categories the kitchen should get. ie burgers, appetizers, etc. Any categories the kitchen needs. 
Then add the receipt printer and toggle on “receipts”, etc. 

You’ll do this for each POS device. 

[maeve]

Thanks for chiming in - you're spot on, on both counts!

'Automatically add item to check' bypasses modifiers that are not required. For items like a soda or tea that isn't often modified, it's a great way to get an item added to the cart quickly. 

For printer stations - you'll be able to set these up to receive whatever types of tickets you need (receipts, order tickets, etc.) and items through category routing.

[Leahmjo]

We are still doing a lot of takeout since we've reopened.  Does Square for Restaurants integrate with Online Ordering?  Are inventory counts placed in-house translated to online inventory or vice versa?

[maeve]

Yes! You can enable Order Manager from your device settings on Square Dashboard for Square for Restaurants. Orders placed through Square Online or a third-party integration will appear in the 'Orders' tab of your app. Inventory is tracked across in store and online purchase, while 'item counts' are only available in the Square for Restaurants app. You can learn more about managing inventory with Square for Restaurants here.

[Leahmjo]

Item counts is what I meant.  If we offer a super popular but limited special, we are jumping through hoops to manage "item count" and not oversell.  My rep says online and SFR  are synched but we don't see that.  Of course, she won't give me any more help or information; just tries to sell me training!  This is a dealbreaker and if we can't figure it out, we will have to leave Square.  We are doing more take out than ever and it feels impossible to stay ahead of this.  At this time, we create two items (ex:  Lobster Roll Dine-In and Lobster Roll To-Go) and put some on online and some in house on SFR.  All night, we move counts around as people order which is time consuming and tedious.