Setups for PopUp's, Farmer's Markets and Event Sites.

[MarkSpiegelman]

Here is my hope: please chime in, especially if this concept would have issues.

First, from the item side, we will select items, mark them for sale only at the PopUp location, and add them to the location POS menu.

On-site, we will use a Square register, cash drawer, receipt printer, and a stuck printer to print out the order at the serving station.  The POS would use a local iPhone to connect to the Internet.  All of the hardware is to be connected via a USB hub.  

-Can I enter menu items to be explicitly sold at the PopUp site?

-Can sales at the PopUp site be sent to the on-site serving station's printer?

-Are there any issues with Internet connectivity via iPhone, or is a Hotspot preferred?

Thank you for any and all feedback and advice!

Mark

[Breffni]

Hi @MarkSpiegelman, thanks for your post! 

I'd be happy to help. 

-Can I enter menu items to be explicitly sold at the PopUp site?

Yes - this can be done by creating a PopUp location and assigning the items to that location only, as you mentioned at the start of your post. Doing this will also allow you to have sales reports for the PopUp specifically. 

-Can sales at the PopUp site be sent to the on-site serving station's printer?

To clarify here - do you mean can receipts from the PopUp be printed at your main location? What is the distance between the two locations, and what is your current printer set-up? (WiFi, USB, Ethernet)

-Are there any issues with Internet connectivity via iPhone, or is a Hotspot preferred?

A Wi-Fi connection is preferred but if you don't have Wi-Fi, a mobile hotspot should work fine. 

Let me know if you have more questions and I'll keep an eye out for your reply! 

[ryanwanner · Accepted solution]

Hi @MarkSpiegelman !

I second everything that @Breffni said, but I’d like to add on my 2¢

I do popup markets throughout the week. I usually just use the square terminal linked to a hotspot for the markets, but I do have a square stand with a usb printer I break out at the markets that have a coffee bar at them. 

The biggest worry I have for you is heat. Most technology doesn’t play nicely in hot environments, and I’ve had problems with my square stand mount overheating and killing its cell connection in the past. I’d assume that a register would have the same issues. Be sure you keep the device in the shade as much as possible. 

As for the hotspot connection, I highly encourage you to plug in the register on a WiFi network the night before your event and force an update to the software. Having one of Square’s forced updates over your hotspot connection will cause serious data usage and a few angry emails from your cell provider when you go over your data limits. 

As long as your printers are usb driven, you shouldn’t have any issues with printing. I have a similar setup for one of my markets. 

Oh, and with a register setup: try not to look down on fellow vendors with only the headphone swiper dongle. They know not the powers of Square. Or is that just me that does this? 😜