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?
  

[maeve]

Going to cross post from @elaine_p  here: 

'The idea is that you can use the "unavailable" setting in the Restaurants app. You long press the menu item, then select Unavailable, and after a few minutes it will show as unavailable online. If you'd like to join the beta, I'd be happy to add you, or it will be fully available in the next month.'

This new functionality will allow you to sync available/unavailable items across channels (whether in store or online). However item counts in Square for Restaurants are still separate from inventory. Hope that helps!

[Colinsolacoffee]

We've been using square for restaurants for just over a year and were excited to hear about the "square kitchen display" that integrates even more seamlessly than the general KDS app. However, there are a few big red flags about it that have kept us away.

-when will orders be more visibly detonated by type? (i.e. colored bands for to-go vs. online orders)

-are you working on an update that allows you to bring back an order accidentally marked as completed?

Just want to see what the general timeframe is.

Thanks!

[maeve]

Glad to hear you're excited about Square KDS! Today, you are able to recall a ticket that was previously completed on the KDS in the case that it was accidentally marked complete. You can navigate to the completed check view and click the recall button.

Thanks for sharing the product request around highlighting important information on the kitchen ticket in color, I can't offer a specific timeline, but we are tracking this request and understand how important this is in a fast paced kitchen environment.

[Bickering]

Square has made so many advancements in the last few years I just can't keep up! Do you have services to help take advantage all of you offer? I have 2 restaurants that I would like to update but I just get lost every time I start, there are so many options I just can't decide which is best for each place. My 2 locations have the same menu but 1 is located downtown with an outdoor patio and the other is located inside an airport, 2 very different needs. Also how can Square's new tech help with staffing shortages? 

Thank You!

Karen Larrabee 

The Bickering Sisters

[Bcenigma]

I would love to see some color options for items on the menu, similar to how display groups have color options. Currently all the items in a display group are black text on white background. Is this a possible feature change?

[maeve]

Thanks for the feedback! While you can change the item 'color' and this will update the lefthand stripe on the item tile and you can change the size of the tiles, you're not currently able to update the entire item tile color. We're constantly iterating based on seller feedback and though I can't offer a specific timeline for when this might be included on our roadmap, we'll keep this in mind for future updates.

[Bcenigma]

It would be EXTREMELY helpful for the "change amount" to stay on the screen longer than a few seconds.  If you look away for a moment, and forget the amount, you have to pull up the ticket and do the math. It would be nice if I could have the option of leaving the change amount on the screen until I touch it.

[maeve]

Thanks for sharing the product request! Completely understand how this would be helpful to double check and reduce extra clicks outside of inputting an order. I can't offer a specific timeline, but please do keep in touch for updates, and for more context on how we manage feature requests, check out Feature Requests and the Seller Community.

[emilio1976]

Hi, it looks like the only way to make items unavailable on the online store is through the dashboard which takes time and I'm the only one that has access to it. I have asked my account manager and she said it's not a feature yet. We don't use inventory, it doesn't work for us. There has to be an easy buttom on each item at the register for the cashier to make items available or unavailable; all delivery service tablets have this function and we use it every day multiple times a day. 

Thanks

[elaine_p]

Hi @emilio1976 - we have this in beta now! The idea is that you can use the "unavailable" setting in the Restaurants app. You long press the menu item, then select Unavailable, and after a few minutes it will show as unavailable online. If you'd like to join the beta, I'd be happy to add you, or it will be fully available in the next month.

[emilio1976]

Yes, please add me

[elaine_p]

You should be all set.

In Square Point of Sale, in your item library, if you tap on an item variation, then tap on manage stock, you will see an option to mark as sold out. (if you are tracking stock, we will use the stock count. When it reaches 0, it will appear grayed out).

In Square for Restaurants, you long press a menu item and then mark it unavailable.

In Square Dashboard, you will see this when you click into an item, click on the stock column. 

[Sflikkema]

I would like to be added to the Beta for one of my locations. Please advise

[elaine_p]

It's on! We cannot specify a location, so the feature is turned on for all of your locations. If you don't want that, I can turn the feature flags off. 

In Square Point of Sale, in your item library, if you tap on an item variation, then tap on manage stock, you will see an option to mark as sold out. (if you are tracking stock, we will use the stock count. When it reaches 0, it will appear grayed out).

In Square for Restaurants, you long press a menu item and then mark it unavailable.

In Square Dashboard, you will see this when you click into an item, click on the stock column. 

[Sflikkema]

It this only available in the Sq for Res? 

[elaine_p]

The verbiage is slightly different, but it's available in Square Point of Sale and Square Online too. 

[Sflikkema]

How can I see the User Interface if I am off site? I work in a home office and we use all types of square at all types of retail/restaurant/cafe. I need to be able to see what they see at their locations?

[maeve]

Great question! In Square for Restaurants, you're able to adjust your menu and the POS grid view remotely from 'Menus' in your Square Dashboard.

However, if you're looking to see the Point of Sale while you aren't physically in your business (whether Restaurants, Retail, or otherwise) to monitor open tickets, you'd need to have an iPad available and the Square POS app downloaded. 

[bearandbeak]

I want to utilize my orders page on my PoS, I don't care what app it's with. The only orders that appear are ones placed through my Square Site. I want to have new invoices generate an open order.

We are a small bakery, so when we send invoices, we don't create the product immediately. So, I want the invoices to be saved as open orders so we can sort by due date or production date. I also want to be able to do this through the POS - if my invoices automatically created open orders, it would be easy since I have "invoices" toggled on as a payment method.

Open Tickets doesn't work as you can't put dates or anything there.

I also went to Settings - Orders - Order Creation - Enable order creation in checkout and toggled that on, but I can't figure out what that actually does.

Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

[theflowerbasket]

This is very relevant for me, too: I own a flower shop and am considering using Square for restaurants to track our tickets. We receive orders up to several months in advance, and the ability to organize by due date is critical to us. 

[Sam_400º]

OK, so seeing as it's AMA.....

@maeve when you go out for a meal & the place is using Square do you resist the urge to to them tips on how they can use the system?