I'm sorry - but to describe Square as behind the game is quite funny. Regarding compatibility, I've replied to your main thread but I'd suggest buying the hardware that runs the app you want to use if you want all the features.
Totally more features we'd all love to see, but you seriously need some perspective in all this.
What you're asking for is (nearly) available as it is now & I have this implemented, although it's a tweak & needs a bit of explaining. Square have their online store where customers can order, customise & pay - I use the collection option & for sit in I ask them to just put their location in the customer note bit.
Not perfect I know - but it's working fantastically well.
There are also a few 3rd party options out there for self serve kiosks that integrate with square - although these come with their own set of challenges as multi user stations.
@TradMusicTrust wrote:
That would require us to have to buy iPad's for all waiting staff, but iPads can't take contactless payments so we'd have to buy additional Square Readers, and staff would have to carry those around with them too.
Yes it would, there are a few cases out there that let you attach the reader to the case so it ends up as an all in one.
@TradMusicTrust wrote:
...and would the Square Reader recognise/sync the payment with the ticket/order created in Square for Restaurants on the iPad?
Yes it would. You'd be running the same app across the board - this seems to be what you want to do? The reader is paired with the iPad & the app knows all the open tickets/tables etc.
@TradMusicTrust wrote:
...and what about outside, where we've no WiFi signal? Staff would also have to utilise another device to act as a 4G hotspot, or we'd have increased expense in purchasing cellular iPads.
OK, this is an issue with your business? How do you expect it to work with any device?
Personally I'd recommend a solid mesh network (as you'd want all your devices on the same network to be able to effectively send the order tickets to the correct place (the iPad sends the ticket to the printer when it goes through & also syncs the ticket with the account. The printers don't connect to the Square servers to be able to get any information themselves).
@TradMusicTrust wrote:
I'm glad it's working for your business, honestly I am, but for newbies like ourselves looking for a solution at this time, it's confusing feeling and talk of tweaks to get something to work isn't ideal.
If all of this is ahead of the game, then I'm a bit lost tbh.
This is true - but (don't take this the wrong way, everyone here is trying to help) if you want a unicorn you're going to have to fork out the cash to get something custom for your business.
Squares offering is mainly as a card processing provider that also has a sturdy software offering alongside an increasing number of extras. You have to understand that it's on you to find the tools you need - it might be the case that Square isn't the tool for what you need.
I think though the tool for what you really want is a bespoke install that would probably run into the thousands for the set up cost & hundreds for the monthly costs + transaction charges.
Are you going to go down that route or are you looking for the best balance of cost effectiveness while offering a much enhanced produce over the app based/fixed structure card processors?
This probably reads as being confrontational, so I'll apologise as it's honestly not intended that way - we've all just got to be realistic about the situation we're in, what's available & what's commercially viable for each business we're running.
Right now we're just trying to stay ahead of the game!
I'm a mobile pizza business with only 1-2 staff working at any one time - all of whom have their hands right in the food. Because of this I've embraced tech that a lot of people are just starting to push in their places now. We've been cash free for 2 years & the only slight change has been asking all customers to order online (even if their standing in front of me 😂) instead of taking walkup orders too - although this will relax soon with more people 'sitting in'.
My main/biggest wants & needs are all focused around the online side of things. Since Square has branded the weekly side more (& I'm assuming taking more of the management too) things have leapt forwards but there are still some quirks & features that would be awesome.
Key things (all fed back already...)
• Orders screen for the Terminal
• 'Dine in' option for online orders
• Able to check out with items from multiple locations
• Clearer options for timed collections (ASAP says 'ready after' rather than 'ready at' - small point but some customers don't understand & order for asap & turn up hours later or put a note in. Also apple pay & google pay can only order for ASAP no scheduled pick ups and would be nice to be able to force scheduled option so customers have to confirm when they want to collect).
I know this really isn't Restaurants focus!
I've only just started using the Restaurants app & don't use many of the features, the standard software (& Terminal) has worked so well for us.
