Today, Square unveiled Square Kiosk, a fully integrated software, hardware, and payments solution that enables self-serve ordering for quick-service restaurants.
Designed with fast-moving and fast-growing restaurants in mind, Square Kiosk empowers guests to customize and place orders through its sleek and intuitive design, an easy-to-use interface, and embedded contactless and chip payment technology. It also untethers restaurant staff from the counter, freeing them to focus on other tasks. Square Kiosk is the latest technology from Square as it continues to invest in its hardware and software portfolio and expand its food and beverage offerings.
Square Kiosk works seamlessly with Square for Restaurants and Square’s broader ecosystem of banking, customer engagement, and business insights tools. It’s easy for restaurants to set up, saves precious counter space, and can be placed anywhere – from the wall to flat on the counter to mounted on a stand or swing-arm. Square Kiosk tracks sales data and instantly syncs menu updates, ensuring that customers have real-time visibility into what’s currently available – and nothing that’s been 86’ed. Through this fully integrated solution, and like all Square products, all payments on Square Kiosk are instantly accessible via Square Checking,1 offering greater liquidity and convenience for restaurateurs in an industry where cash flow is often tight.
For diners, using Square Kiosk is a sleek and simple experience that lets them bypass lines and easily customize their orders. According to the 2024 Future of Commerce report, 78% of customers prefer to place orders through self-serve kiosks or online, and Square Kiosk’s intuitive UI and built-in payments lets diners quickly and easily order their food. Guests are able to select exactly what they want, with customization options being sent directly to the kitchen, and restaurants can grow their check sizes by offering upgrades and add-ons on every order without any awkward exchanges.
Finally, amid growing labor costs, Square Kiosk gives operators the ability to staff up other areas of their businesses while still taking orders. By deploying self-serve kiosks, restaurants can bust lines and cut down on wait time for customers while freeing up their staff to focus on other tasks.
“Before, we were using QR code ordering and wanted to reduce the time it took to place an order. People struggle to type credit card numbers on their phones and prefer tap-to-pay; today, it’s a lot easier for guests to order with Square Kiosk,” said Erik Göranson, CEO of Recess, a multi-location quick-service restaurant in Atlanta, GA. “Our guests can modify multiple items and complete their checkout in under 60 seconds. We plan to add more Square Kiosks in 2024.”
Beyond Square Kiosk, today Square introduced a number of additional new features that will further help restaurants streamline and grow their businesses.
- With a redesigned Square Restaurants POS, restaurants can spend less time inputting orders and more time interacting with guests. Navigation is faster and menu grids and layouts are now fully customizable, allowing for quick ordering and checkout.
- Guests can now pay for their meals more quickly with Scan to Pay – by scanning a QR code on their receipt, customers can settle up on their phones and businesses can turn over more tables.
- With an updated Orders tab, dine-in, to go, and delivery orders all live in a single dashboard, regardless of whether they’re placed in-person or online, with clear organization. Servers can easily understand the current state of orders with just a quick glance, allowing restaurants to keep better track of orders – and keep customers happy – amid the daily bustle.
- Release Manager allows operators to choose when to enable software updates, with enterprise-level functionality that gives more flexibility and time to train up staff on any POS changes.
“Two of the biggest challenges for restaurants right now are maximizing orders while also balancing increasingly expensive labor costs,” said Ming-Tai Huh, Head of Food and Beverage at Square. “With razor-thin margins, restaurants need to find efficiencies through technology like kiosks – and at Square, we’re laser-focused on bringing restaurateurs the tools they need to succeed.”