Square announced a suite of new software and hardware restaurant solutions. Built on the company’s experience in serving hundreds of thousands of restaurants over more than a decade, these new solutions help restaurants of all types and sizes, particularly full-service restaurants (FSRs), improve their bottom line and increase the efficiency of their operations.
Square launched Square for Restaurants mobile POS, which gives servers the power of Square for Restaurants, an all-in-one restaurant POS, in their apron pocket - enabling them to quickly and seamlessly take orders and payments tableside or in line. Restaurants using the Square for Restaurants mobile POS beta program have been able to turn more tables and grow their sales even when they were short on staff. Square for Restaurants mobile POS runs on two handheld devices: Square Terminal and the forthcoming Restaurant Mobile POS kit, and as a launch promotion, restaurants will be able to use the software for $0 per location until early next year and just $50 after the promotional period ends.
“We're seeing a lot of additional efficiency in our operations with Square for Restaurants mobile POS because our staff are spending more time on the floor rather than out of reach putting in orders, With the layout of our restaurant, Square for Restaurants mobile POS is saving a lot of physical steps, which has increased staff satisfaction and alleviated some of the stress on their positions. Alcohol sales also rose by 22% and we have seen voids due to out of stock items decline by 57%.”
- Frankie DiCarlantonio, owner Scaffidi Restaurant Group.
Square also announced Square Stand Mount, a versatile iPad point-of-sale that can be easily affixed to any wall or countertop right out of the box, or used as a kiosk. Coming soon, Square Stand Mount will allow restaurants to optimize space by mounting their POS to their ideal surface and helps waitstaff make checkout more efficient with integrated payments built in.
Further, the company announced updates to the broader Square for Restaurants POS system, including:
Coursing, a feature that helps restaurants manage the flow of orders to and from the kitchen, is now available on Square Register, Square for Restaurants mobile POS, and Square KDS. Now significantly more powerful, Coursing enables servers to send items as additions to courses already sent to the kitchen. At the same time, prep stations and expeditors will soon be able to flip between viewing everything fired, held, or completed, improving ticket readability, reducing errors, and providing diners an exceptional hospitality experience.
Square KDS will soon enable restaurants to route tickets from a specific POS to a specific KDS, giving restaurants more flexibility in how they organize their kitchens to better support growing delivery and pickup orders. Along with other recent KDS feature launches such as seating and kitchen-facing names, restaurants can now use KDS as a full digital replacement for messy and expensive kitchen printers.
Square’s powerful ecosystem offers first- and third-party integrations to seamlessly and efficiently power every element of a restaurant’s business operations, from delivery orders to team management.
With Square Loyalty, sellers can schedule one-off or recurring promotions to drive more business on slower days. Square Payroll can help restaurants attract and retain staff in a challenging hiring market, with popular employee features such as On-Demand Pay, which enables W-2 employees to access up to 50% of their earned income before the pay period ends.
Square will soon be introducing its first reservation & table management system integration with OpenTable, which will allow restaurants the ability to connect the data from their POS with the data from their OpenTable reservations system, unlocking better, more personalized customer experiences.
Restaurants can now use SoundHound to take voice orders automatically without having to dedicate their limited staff to answering the phone, and this summer will be able to power their own delivery services (and maintain higher margins) via new integrations with Cartwheel and Vromo.
“Square is dedicated to building the most robust ecosystem of products and services for restaurants of all types and sizes - from multi-location FSRs to QSRs, bars, breweries, and everywhere in between, No two restaurants are exactly alike and one solution doesn’t always fit all. That’s why we’re constantly working to grow and improve our suite of first-party products and partner integrations to enable restaurants around the globe to thrive in 2022 and beyond.”
- Bryan Solar, Head of Restaurants at Square.
Restaurant operators attending the National Restaurant Association Show from May 21-24 can visit Square’s booth #6057 for a preview of Square’s new and existing restaurants product suite. Attendees who meet with our Sales team and sign up with Square at the NRA Show will receive 3 months of Square SaaS software and may qualify for additional discounts on hardware and from Square partners.
Square is also launching a new referral program available for a limited amount of time - offering exclusive perks to both the referrer and the referred as well as custom promotions for the Illinois Restaurant Association members - our latest partner.