Can I use square to schedule orders for a later date?

[MarkSpiegelman]

Hello everyone,

We make and sell pasta dishes, both for lunch and dinner takeout, using Square's online, POS, kiosk, and KDS systems, which are working well for us.

I'd like to expand our services to include catering for events and parties with items like pasta trays that serve multiple people. I'm wondering if it's possible to schedule a future order—such as ten pasta trays for next Saturday at noon—directly through our Square POS system after discussing it with a client.

Could you let me know if this is feasible? Thanks!

[Breffni]

Hi @MarkSpiegelman 👋 thanks for posting! 

We have a pre-order tool available that may work for you. 

If you’re selling items for collection and local delivery which are only available on certain dates (holiday specials, for example), your customers can preorder on Square Online and get the items when they become available.

It would be a manual process in that you would need to make the items available in advance of the lunch/event.

To set up preordering for items available for pickup and local delivery:

1. From your Square Item Library, select the item you want to edit.
2. Under Ordering, toggle on Sell as preorder. Note: Your item must have pickup or delivery enabled.
3. Select Edit preorder settings to choose the date or date range when the item will be available for pickup or delivery. You can choose any date or time from 24 hours up to 365 days in advance.
4. Optionally check Customize fulfillment hours to choose the specific fulfillment hours within the selected date range. For example, if you set the time range as 10am - 2pm, buyers can choose only these hours for pickup or delivery on the specified pickup or delivery dates. If you leave this option unchecked, your location’s standard pickup or delivery hours will apply.
5. Enter a Preorder cutoff date. This is a date and time after which you’d like to stop taking orders for the item. The item won’t be available to order online after the specified date and time. Click Done.
6. Click Save when finished.

Let me know if this option might work for you! 

[MarkSpiegelman]

Hi Breffni,

Thank you so much for chiming in!  Your suggestion is workable, but as you state, it is not an efficient way of doing things.

There is an option to schedule orders in Square POS but not in Square for restaurants.

I did find a workable solution that works great for my needs because these orders are typically made over the phone, not online.  For example, Mary is on the phone asking if she can order a large batch of items for next Saturday at noon. 

I can handle this by logging into my Square console.  I will start a new order and click on the fulfillment option to enter a specific date and time.  It even allows me to send a link for payment, and when that is made, the order shows up in Square POS and the KDSs.  This works great because the KDS will not show the order until the date/time/prep order time.

Works for me!  I'll chime back in if I find anything odd as I implement this process.

[CreeksideDiveLL]

FYI I tried to replicate this and couldn't, do you have a Square for Restaurants subscription? I think that may limit the features available, and there's nothing similar to the steps you went through in my setup.

[MarkSpiegelman]

Yes, I am Square for Restaurants (standard).  My POS devices won't allow this process, but it is available on my Square Online Dashboard.

SQUARE ONLINE DASHBOARD: 

-> Items and Orders

-> Create Order

-> Add Items, Payment Details, Fulfillment

-> Enter the order name, date, and time for pickup.

Does this work?

[CreeksideDiveLL]

Not currently, in the way you're intending. This is one of our main pain points with Square for the last couple of years, we run a pizza restaurant and run into the same issue. The main workaround we've done for these types of orders is to just invoice the customer and have the details in the invoice, then hang the invoices up in-restaurant and have our team pull them down for the current day each morning before we open. These won't display on your KDS at all. If you want to have them on the KDS, unfortunately they'll show up immediately and just sit there, and you risk someone marking it as completed on accident.

I will also say I hope that Square is working on this as a part of the order fulfillment changes they're doing behind the scenes. I've mentioned this issue in a couple of interviews I've had recently, so fingers crossed. The rest of the fulfillment changes are awesome, and give you the ability to treat POS-entered sales the same as online sales, for tracking purposes and inside the Orders tab.

[MarkSpiegelman]

Check my post above and see if this works in your environment.

[MarkSpiegelman]

By the way, the order is respected by the KDS display option. I set my KDS to show orders 8 hours before the scheduled completion time. So, online orders show immediately, as the items are typically marked as 20-minute prep time. My normal orders show immediately, and the orders >8 hours away won't display until 8 hours before. Of course, the KDS timer can be adjusted to any time you want.

[MayaP]

Hello @FlaxFest,

Thanks for reaching out—I’m happy to help!

You can indeed have multiple booths linked to the same Square account. @JK_Fiber_Art's suggestion of using favorite items is a great workaround. If you can provide more details, we can assist you further.

[MarkSpiegelman]

Maya, I think your post was to the wrong user/thread.

[Breffni]

Thanks for letting me know @MarkSpiegelman, I'm glad that you've found a workable solution. 

Thank you also for your input and for sharing your current workflow @CreeksideDiveLL!

We are always working on improving our features and additions for Square Online. Keep an eye on our product update boards so you don't miss anything. 

If you have more questions just let me know.